ACC and AAC announce joint officiating alliance for college football
The Atlantic Coast Conference and American Athletic Conference announced Monday that they will join forces from an officiating standpoint with an alliance that includes scheduling, training, development, recruitment, retention and evaluation of college football officials.
ACC supervisor of officials Dennis Hennigan will serve as the lead administrator for the alliance and handle the assignment, hiring and training of game officials. The AAC will name a point person to serve as the liaison to the conference's head coaches as well as provide evaluation of game officials.
"We are excited to partner with the ACC regarding the administration of our football officiating program," AAC commissioner Mike Aresco said in a statement. "This alliance will provide both conferences with a deep roster of the best college football officials and will provide for greater efficiency and consistency in the training and evaluation of officials as well as enhanced opportunities for the recruitment of officials. We look forward to working with Dennis Hennigan, who was regarded as one of the top on-field officials in college football and has since become a leader on the administrative side. I also want to thank [ACC] commissioner John Swofford for his cooperation in reaching this mutually beneficial arrangement"
So if you see a different set of officials at games involving ACC and AAC teams, now you know why. The new arrangement goes into effect immediately.