AMELIA ISLAND, Fla. — Atlantic Coast Conference Commissioner Jim Phillips told a small group of media members at the league’s spring meetings on Amelia Island that he is restless.

The Commissioner is not restless because of any pending lawsuit battles like they had this time last year with Clemson and Florida State. He is not restless because the league is not making the amount of money they need to be competitive.

No, he is restless because it has been a long time since the ACC held up a national championship trophy in its two signatures sports. The league last won a football national championship in 2018 when Clemson beat Alabama by 28 points in the College Football Playoff National Championship Game.

The last time the ACC won a national championship in men’s basketball was when Virginia won March Madness in 2019.

“Yes, I am restless. I am restless with holding that ultimate prize because we have done it so often in the past,” Phillips said to The Clemson Insider and a few other media members as the ACC wrapped up its spring meetings at the Ritz Carlton on Wednesday. “That continues to be a priority for myself and the league. There are not many days that go by that we do not talk about that because of the history that we have.

“Over that period of time, we have not reached that mountain top, as often as we have in the past.”

Unfortunately for the league, it does not appear it is going to get any easier. One of the problems the ACC and other conferences—not named the SEC or Big Ten—are having is they are getting few opportunities to get there, including the College Football Playoff.

The CFP expanded to 12 teams last year and now there is talk of expanding to a 14- or 16-team field. However, it appears the ACC will get just two teams in either field, while the SEC and Big Ten are expected to get four teams each.

“I remain steadfast about fairness in the system and access regardless of the model, etc., but I respect my colleagues that I work close with, so I will hold off on commenting on specific models, AQs or the rest of it,” Phillips said.

Phillips and the rest of the Power 4 Commissioners are expected to meet in the weeks to come and discuss more of these issues that will carry into June. Of course, seeding in the CFP will be a big talking point in these meetings.

“We have been in a nice rhythm where we are talking often about a lot of things, including this,” Phillips said. “But I stand true to what I said before about the playoffs and my thoughts there.

“We thought a lot about a variety of options that might be there. You cannot go down any road until you have the finality with what the model looks like. I will say this, one of the things we have to look at is seeding. It just seems like a straight seed might be the best thing for us to consider. But we will get to that point when we get to that point and just see where it goes.”