If you’re from the Chicagoland area or have ties to Northwestern you’ve likely heard the name Jim Phillips.
Phillips has served as Northwestern’s athletic director since 2008 and oversaw an athletic program that reached new heights in both football and basketball during his tenure, but he also was incredibly impressive in making the University relevant in such a professional sports city like Chicago.
Phillips was officially named the new ACC commissioner on Monday, a job he’ll take over in February. To those that know anything about how he’s operated at not just Northwestern but at Northern Illinois University beforehand, this is an incredible coup by the ACC.
The man has an incredible ability to market his teams and programs and I’m certain that he’ll only continue to do that in the ACC. In my personal opinion, had the Big Ten hired him as commissioner and not Kevin Warren, the embarrassment of leadership in the conference never would have been on display like it was this past summer.
Phillips also has connections to Notre Dame, having spent time there from 2000-2004 as the senior associate director of athletics for external affairs.
Pete Sampson of The Athletic did a piece on Phillips a few years back which he brought up Monday in regards to what the hire might mean for Notre Dame’s football independence.
Three years ago I did a story on Notre Dame’s independence as viewed by Big 10 AD’s with ND connections.
Phillips: “If you step on Notre Dame’s campus for one day, you appreciate the independence of that football program and what that has meant to the culture of that place."
— Pete Sampson (@PeteSampson_) December 14, 2020
It certainly wouldn’t appear that Phillips will be putting much, if any, pressure on Notre Dame to join the ACC full-time.
Then again, a man that knows marketing and selling as well as Phillips does knows how much power the Notre Dame brand still carries and how big that could be in growing a brand.
Something he’s done continuously throughout his career.