Atlantic Coast Conference The Atlantic Coast Conference ( ACC ) is a collegiate athletic league in the United States . Founded in 1953 in Greensboro , North Carolina , the ACC sanctions competition in twenty - five sports in Division I of the National Collegiate Athletic Association for its twelve member universities . In 2011 , the conference announced it was adding Syracuse and Pittsburgh to expand to fourteen members . Football teams participate in the Division I Football Bowl Subdivision ( FBS ) , the higher of two levels of Division I college football . The ACC is considered one of the six " power conference s , " and the ACC football champion receives an automatic bid to one of the Bowl Championship Series games each season . History . Seven universities were charter members of the ACC : Clemson , Duke , Maryland , North Carolina , North Carolina State , South Carolina , and Wake Forest . Previously members of the Southern Conference , they left partially due to that league ' s ban on post - season play . After drafting a set of bylaws for the creation of a new league , the seven withdrew from the Southern Conference at the spring meeting on the morning of May 8 , 1953 . The bylaws were ratified on June 14 , 1953 , and the ACC was created . On December 4 , 1953 , officials convened in Greensboro , North Carolina , and admitted Virginia into the conference . In 1971 , South Carolina left the ACC to become an independent . The ACC operated with seven members until the addition of Georgia Tech from the Metro Conference on April 3 , 1978 . The total number of member schools reached nine with the addition of Florida State , also formerly from the Metro Conference , on July 1 , 1991 . The ACC added three members from the Big East Conference during the 2005 cycle of conference realignment : Miami and Virginia Tech joined on July 1 , 2004 , and Boston College joined on July 1 , 2005 , as the league ' s twelfth member and the first and only one from New England . The expansion was not without controversy , since Connecticut , Rutgers , Pittsburgh , and West Virginia ( and , initially , Virginia Tech ) filed lawsuits against the ACC , Miami , and Boston College for conspiring to weaken the Big East Conference . The ACC Hall of Champions opened on March 2 , 2011 , next to the Greensboro Coliseum arena , making the ACC the second college sports conference to have a hall of fame . On September 17 , 2011 , Big East Conference members Syracuse University and the University of Pittsburgh both tendered a formal written application to the ACC to join its ranks . The two schools were accepted into the conference the following day . Because the Big East intends to hold Pitt and Syracuse to the 27 - month notice period required by league bylaws , the most likely entry date into the ACC ( barring negotiations ) is July 1 , 2014 . On July 16 , 2012 , the Big East and Syracuse came to an agreement that allows Syracuse to leave the Big East on July 1 , 2013 . On July 18 , 2012 the Big East and Pittsburgh also came to an agreement which allows Pitt to join the ACC on July 1 , 2013 . Membership . The twelve ACC schools cover seven states , each having coastline along the Atlantic Ocean . With the addition of Pitt and Syracuse , there will be fourteen ACC schools covering nine states . Membership timeline . < nowiki > * < / nowiki > Note : On July 16 , 2012 Syracuse and the Big East reached an agreement that allows Syracuse to leave the Big East on July 1 , 2013 . Two days later Pittsburgh and the Big East made a similar agreement . Sports . Member universities compete in the following sports : Outside of the ACC , Boston College plays ice hockey as a member of Hockey East ; and Maryland , North Carolina , and NC State are members of the East Atlantic Gymnastics League for women ' s gymnastics . Baseball . Wake Forest won the ACC ' s only national championship in 1955 . Miami won its four national championships ( 1982 , 1985 , 1999 , 2001 ) prior to joining the ACC . Basketball . History . Historically , the ACC has been considered one of the most successful conferences in men ' s basketball . The early roots of ACC basketball began primarily thanks to two men : Everett Case and Frank McGuire . The North Carolina State coach Everett Case had been a successful high school coach in Indiana who accepted the Wolfpack ' s head coaching job at a time that the school ' s athletic department had decided to focus on competing in football on a level with Duke , then a national power in college football . Case ' s North Carolina State teams dominated the early years of the ACC with a modern , fast - paced style of play . He became the fastest college basketball coach to reach many " games won " milestones . Case eventually became known as " The Father of ACC Basketball . " Despite his success on the court , he may have been even a better promoter off - the - court . Case realized the need to sell his program and university . That is why he organized the funding and construction of Reynolds Coliseum in Raleigh , North Carolina , as the new home court for his team . At the time , the Reynolds Coliseum was the largest on - campus arena in America , and it was therefore used as the host site for many Southern Conference Tournaments , ACC Tournaments , and the " Dixie Classic " , an annual event involving the four ACC teams from North Carolina as well as four other prominent programs from across the nation . The Dixie Classic brought in large revenues for all schools involved and soon became one of the premier sporting events in the South . Possibly Case ' s most lasting contribution was the ACC tournament , which was created when the league started in 1954 . The conference was unique in that until multiple bids to the NCAA tournament were granted to conferences following the 1975 season , its sole representative was the tournament champion rather than the regular season champion . In 1961 , the conference altered its bylaws to reflect this , declaring that from then on , the tournament champion would be the sole champion of the ACC , eliminating the conference ' s regular season title . Fans and media do occasionally claim a school has won a conference title when it finishes first in the regular season , but the conference does not recognize these titles as official . The bylaw declaring the tournament champion the sole champion remains in place to this day , making the ACC the only Division I college basketball conference that does not officially crown a regular season champion . At North Carolina , Frank McGuire was hired as the men ' s basketball coach to counter Case ' s personality , as well as the dominant success of his program . McGuire began recruiting in his home area of New York . McGuire knew that basketball was the major high school athletic event of the region , unlike football in the South . Case and McGuire literally " invented " a rivalry . Both men realized the benefits created through a rivalry between them . It brought more national attention to both of their programs and increased fan support on both sides . For this reason , they often exchanged verbal jabs at each other in public , while maintaining a secret working relationship in private . In 1957 , when McGuire ' s North Carolina team won the national championship , an entrepreneur from Greensboro named Castleman D . Chesley noticed the popularity that it generated . He developed a five - station television network which began broadcasting regular season ACC games the following season . From that point on , ACC basketball gained large popularity . The ACC has been the home of many prominent basketball coaches , including Terry Holland , Everett Case , Frank McGuire , Vic Bubas , Press Maravich , Dean Smith , Norm Sloan , Bones McKinney , Lefty Driesell , Jim Valvano , Mike Krzyzewski , Bobby Cremins , Gary Williams , and Roy Williams . Present - day schedule . With the expansion to 12 teams by the 2005 – 2006 season , the ACC schedule could no longer accommodate a home - and - away series between every pair of teams each season . In the new scheduling format that was agreed to , each team is assigned two permanent partners and nine rotating partners over a three - year period . Teams play their permanent partners in a home - and - away series each year . The rotating partners are split into three groups : three teams who are played in a home - and - away series , three teams who are played at home , and three teams who are played on the road . The rotating partner groups are rotated so that a team will play each permanent partner six times , and each rotating partner four times , over a three - year period . Beginning in the 2012 – 2013 season , the in - conference schedule will expand to 18 games regardless of whether Syracuse and Pittsburgh have joined the ACC in time for that season . As of February 7 , 2012 , the ACC had not specified how the 18 - game schedule would be arranged in the absence of Syracuse and Pittsburgh . When those two schools do join the ACC , however , a new scheduling format will see each team paired with one " primary partner . The scheduling model will be based on a three - year cycle during which teams will play every league opponent at least once every season . " Primary partners " will play home and away every season , while the other 12 opponents will rotate in groups of four : one year both home and away ; one year at home only ; and one year away only . Over the course of the three - year cycle " primary partners " will play a total of six times and all other conference opponents will play four times . The table below lists each school ' s two permanent scheduling partners until Syracuse and Pittsburgh join the ACC , followed by the post - expansion pairings . National championships . Over the course of its existence , ACC schools have captured 12 NCAA men ' s basketball championships . North Carolina has won five , Duke has won four , NC State has won two , and Maryland has won one . In addition , 8 of the 12 members have advanced to the Final Four at least once . ( note : UNC also claims a 1924 national championship awarded by the selection panel of the Helms Athletic Foundation . The NCAA did not begin declaring a basketball champion until 1939 . ) In women ' s basketball , the ACC has won two national championships , North Carolina in 1994 and Maryland in 2006 . In 2006 , Duke , Maryland , and North Carolina all advanced to the Final Four , the first time a conference placed three teams in the women ' s Final Four . Both finalists were from the ACC , with Maryland defeating Duke for the title . Field hockey . The ACC has won 17 of the 31 NCAA Championships in field hockey . Football . Divisions . In 2005 , the ACC began divisional play in football . Division leaders compete in a playoff game to determine the ACC championship . The inaugural Championship Game was played on December 3 , 2005 , in Jacksonville , Florida , at the stadium then known as Alltel Stadium , in which Florida State defeated Virginia Tech to capture its 12th championship since it joined the league in 1992 . The 2011 ACC Championship Game was played at Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte , North Carolina with Clemson defeating Virginia Tech 38 – 10 . The ACC was the only NCAA Division I conference whose divisions were not divided geographically ( North / South , East / West ) until the Big Ten announced its division names after the 2010 regular season . The existing division structure leads to each team playing the following games : On February 3 , 2012 , the ACC announced a new regular - season scheduling format which added Syracuse to the Atlantic division and Pittsburgh to the Coastal division . These new teams will be cross - divisional rivals . This change will take effect once Pitt and Syracuse officially enter the conference in July 2013 . The new division structure will lead to each team playing one additional game within their division , and one fewer out - of - conference game . In the table below , each column represents one division . Each team ' s designated permanent rival is listed in the same row in the opposing column . Bowl games . Within the Bowl Championship Series , the Orange Bowl serves as the home of the ACC champion against another BCS at - large selection unless the conference ' s champion is selected for the national championship game . The other bowls pick ACC teams in the order set by agreements between the conference and the bowls . The ACC Championship Game runner - up is guaranteed to fall no lower than the Sun Bowl , the 4th pick , in the conference bowl hierarchy . Previously the ACC Championship Game runner - up had been guaranteed the Music City Bowl with usually then the 5th pick . The other rule change that will be in effect for the next four years is that the ACC has eliminated the clause in the contract that states if a bowl team has already selected the runner - up , it doesn ' t have to choose it again . Moreover , a bowl game can bypass a team in the selection process only if the two teams in question are within one game of each other in the overall ACC standings . This rule was instituted in response to concerns over the 2005 bowl season , in which Atlantic Division co - champion Boston College fell to the ACC ' s then - last remaining bowl slot , the MPC Computers Bowl in Boise , Idaho . < nowiki > * < / nowiki > Unless the ACC champion is ranked # 1 or # 2 in the BCS poll , in which case the ACC champion will play in the national championship game , and the Orange Bowl will select one of the other BCS teams . < nowiki > * * < / nowiki > The Kraft Fight Hunger Bowl has a conditional arrangement with the ACC : if its primary partners are not bowl eligible , and if the ACC has nine bowl - eligible teams , then the bowl takes the ninth selection of ACC teams . National championships . Although the NCAA does not determine an official national champion for Division I FBS football , several ACC members claim national championships awarded by various " major selectors " of national championships as recognized in the official " NCAA Football Bowl Subdivision Records " . Since 1936 and 1950 respectively , these include what are now the most pervasive and influential selectors , the Associated Press poll and Coaches Poll . In addition , since 1998 the Bowl Championship Series ( BCS ) has used a mathematical formula to match the top two teams at the end of the season . The winner of the BCS is contractually awarded the Coaches ' Poll national championship and its AFCA National Championship Trophy as well as the MacArthur Trophy from the National Football Foundation . " * denotes championships won before the school joined the ACC . " Lacrosse . Since 1971 , when the first men ' s national champion was determined by the NCAA , the ACC has won 12 national championships , more than any other conference in college lacrosse , including at least one by every team currently playing in the ACC . Virginia has won five national championships , North Carolina has won four national championships , Maryland has won two national championships and Duke has won one national championship . In addition , prior to the establishment of the NCAA tournament , Maryland had won nine national championships while Virginia won two . On September 17 , 2011 , Big East Conference members Syracuse University and the University of Pittsburgh both tendered a formal written application to the ACC to join its ranks . The two schools were accepted into the conference the following day . The expected date of arrival for Syracuse lacrosse is July 1 , 2013 . Women ' s lacrosse has only awarded a national championship since 1982 , and the ACC has won more titles than any other conference . In all , the ACC has won 13 women ' s national championships : Maryland has won ten and Virginia has won three . " Italics denotes championships before it was part of the ACC . " < br > Soccer . In men ' s soccer , the ACC has won 14 national championships , including 13 in the 26 seasons between 1984 and 2009 . Six have been won by Virginia - including 2009 against the previously undefeated Akron Zips . The remaining eight have been won by Maryland ( 3 times ) , Clemson ( twice ) , Duke , North Carolina , and Wake Forest . During the 2007 season , Virginia Tech and Wake Forest advanced to the College Cup , the " final four " of men ' s soccer . The 2008 season saw two ACC teams , Maryland and North Carolina , meet in the championship game with Maryland winning by a score of 1 - 0 . In women ' s soccer , North Carolina has won 20 of the 27 NCAA titles since the NCAA crowned its first champion , as well as the only Association for Intercollegiate Athletics for Women ( AIAW ) soccer championship in 1981 . The Tar Heels have also won 18 of the 21 ACC tournaments , losing to North Carolina State in 1988 and Virginia in 2004 , both times by penalty kicks . In 2010 for the first time they failed to make the championship game , falling to eventual champion Wake Forest in the semi - finals . Facilities . Note : Future members in gray .