Atlantic Coast Conference

The **Atlantic Coast Conference** (ACC) is one of the major college sports conferences in the United States. It was formed in 1953 by a group of seven colleges and universities that left the Southern Conference.

## Members

In the 2023–24 school year, the only sport in which the conference's members were split into groups—the Atlantic and Coastal Divisions—was baseball. The Atlantic–Coastal split was also used in football before the 2023 season. The ACC has not announced whether a divisional split will continue in 2024–25 after the arrival of two new baseball members (California and Stanford; the other 2024 arrival, SMU, does not have a baseball team).

Notre Dame does not play football in the ACC; in that sport, it remains an "independent" school that does not play in a conference. However, it has agreed to play five of its 12 regular-season games each year against other ACC schools. Syracuse does not have a baseball team; Notre Dame takes its place in the Atlantic Division for that sport.

Amid a major NCAA conference realignment in the early 2020s, the ACC announced on September 1, 2023 that it would add three new members for the 2024–25 school year. Two left the Pac-12 Conference, which collapsed at the end of the 2023–24 school year, and the other left the American Athletic Conference.

|School|Location|Founded|Type (affiliation) !! Nickname !! Joined ACC|||
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
|Boston College|Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts|1863|Private (Catholic)|Eagles|2005|
||Berkeley, California|1868|Public|Golden Bears|2024|
|Clemson University|Clemson, South Carolina|1889|Public|Tigers|1953|
|Duke University|Durham, North Carolina|1838|Private (nonsectarian)|Blue Devils|1953|
|Florida State University|Tallahassee, Florida|1851|Public|Seminoles|1991|
|Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech)|Atlanta, Georgia|1885|Public|Yellow Jackets|1979|
||Louisville, Kentucky|1798|Public|Cardinals|2014|
|<span style="display:none">Miami</span>University of Miami|Coral Gables, Florida|1925|Private (nonsectarian)|Hurricanes|2004|
|<span style="display:none">North Carolina</span>University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill|Chapel Hill, North Carolina|1789|Public|Tar Heels|1953|
|North Carolina State University|Raleigh, North Carolina|1887|Public|Wolfpack|1953|
|<span style="display:none">Notre Dame</span>University of Notre Dame|South Bend, Indiana|1842|Private (Catholic)|Fighting Irish|2013|
|<span style="display:none">Pittsburgh</span>University of Pittsburgh|Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania|1787|State-related|Panthers|2013|
|(SMU)|Dallas, Texas|1911|Private|Mustangs|2024|
|Stanford University|Stanford, California|1891|Private|Cardinal|2024|
|Syracuse University|Syracuse, New York|1870|Private (nonsectarian)|Orange|2013|
|<span style="display:none">Virginia</span>University of Virginia|Charlottesville, Virginia|1819|Public|Cavaliers|1953|
|Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (Virginia Tech) || Blacksburg, Virginia || 1872 || Public || Hokies || 2004||||||
|Wake Forest University|Winston-Salem, North Carolina|1834|Private (nonsectarian)|Demon Deacons|1953|

### Former members

Two schools have left the ACC:

|School|Location|Founded|Type (affiliation) !! Joined !! Left !! Current conference !! Nickname|||||
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
||College Park, Maryland|1801|Public|1953|2014|Big Ten Conference|Terrapins|
||Columbia, South Carolina|1801|Public|1953|1971|Southeastern Conference|Gamecocks|

## Sports

As of the 2024–25 school year, the ACC holds championships in 28 sports. Thirteen of these are men's sports and 15 are women's sports. One sport, fencing, has had separate ACC men's and women's team championships since the conference reinstated that sport in the 2014–15 school year. At that time, the NCAA held a single coeducational (men's and women's) NCAA team championship. Starting in 2025–26, the NCAA will again hold separate men's and women's team championships in fencing. (It had held separate men's and women's championships from 1982 to 1989.)
- Baseball (men only)
- Basketball (both)
- Cross country (both)
- Fencing (both)
- Field hockey (women only)
- Football (men only)
- Golf (both)
- Gymnastics (women only)
- Lacrosse (both)
- Rowing (women only)
- Soccer (both)
- Softball (women only)
- Swimming and diving (both)
- Tennis (both)
- Track and field, indoor (both)
- Track and field, outdoor (both)
- Volleyball (women only)
- Wrestling (men only)