Notre Dame Joins ACC in All Sports Except Football

Notre Dame's men's basketball team has played in tbe NCAA Tournamnet five of the last six years. (Matt Cashore)

Conference alignments have resurfaced the face of college sports over the last several seasons. One school that has always distinguished itself from all of the chaos is Notre Dame. However, the free-thinking Fighting Irish aren't even immune from the changes anymore. On Wednesday morning, news broke that Notre Dame was joining the Atlantic Coast Conference as a full member with the excption of football.

Jack Swarbrick, Notre Dame vice president of and director of athletics released this statement, "We have monitored the changing conference landscape for many months and have concluded that moving to the ACC is the best course of action for us. We are able to maintain our historic independence in football, join in the ACC's non-BCS bowl package, and provide a new and extremely competitive home for other sports."

While this affects all men's sports, the two prominant one's are football and baseketball. As was already mentioned, Notre Dame does remain independent in football. However, the Fighting Irish are required to play five games annually against ACC opponents. This will only make ACC football more competitive and followed.

As far as basketball is concerned, the ACC may have just become the most dominant conference in the history of the sport. Notre Dame joins Syracuse and Pittsburgh as members set to join. The conference already boasted the likes of North Carolina, Duke, Florida State, N.C. State, Georgia Tech, and Wake Forest. That is nine either current or former basketball powerhouses.

Notre Dame's move to the ACC also effects the landscape of women's collegiate athletics across the country. The biggest change is taking place in soccer. The Fighting Irish are the only team other than North Carolina to win at least three national championships in the sport. This move is equivalant of a team like Kansas joining the ACC in men's basketball. Speaking of basketball, it can't be neglected either. After all, Notre Dame has been to four Women's Final Fours since 1997. They won the national championship in 2001. Softball, lacrosse, and volleyball will all be effected as well.

The last major impact of this move is the further crippling of the Big East Conference. The conference has already been gutted by moves to the ACC and Big 12. With the addition of Notre Dame, the ACC currently has 15 members. Of course, the rumor mills are overflowing with speculation about the conference adding one more team. Georgetown, Louisville, Connecticut, and Rutgers are among the most likely candidates.

The ACC denies any supposed claims that are out there. However, the Notre Dame move seemingly came out of nowhere. College sports is drastically changing. This move reminds us that it all isn't over yet. What is for certain is that the ACC is now even more fully loaded than ever. It should be a fun conference to watch across the sports spectrum.