James J. "Jim" Phillips is an American college athletic administrator. He is the commissioner of the

Atlantic Coast Conference The Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) is a collegiate athletic conference located in the eastern United States. Headquartered in Greensboro, North Carolina, the ACC's fifteen member universities compete in the National Collegiate Athletic Associa ...

(ACC), a position he has held since 2021. Phillips served as the

athletic director An athletic director (commonly "athletics director" or "AD") is an administrator at many American clubs or institutions, such as colleges and universities, as well as in larger high schools and middle schools, who oversees the work of coaches and ...

at Northern Illinois University from 2004 to 2008 and

Northwestern University Northwestern University is a private research university in Evanston, Illinois. Founded in 1851, Northwestern is the oldest chartered university in Illinois and is ranked among the most prestigious academic institutions in the world. Charte ...

from 2008 to 2021. Phillips is a

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

native and received a bachelor's degree from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, followed by a Master of Education from

Arizona State University Arizona State University (Arizona State or ASU) is a public research university in the Phoenix metropolitan area. Founded in 1885 by the 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature, ASU is one of the largest public universities by enrollment in the ...

and a Ph.D. in educational administration from the

University of Tennessee The University of Tennessee (officially The University of Tennessee, Knoxville; or UT Knoxville; UTK; or UT) is a public land-grant research university in Knoxville, Tennessee. Founded in 1794, two years before Tennessee became the 16th state, ...

. In 2023, Phillips was accused of covering up widespread

hazing Hazing (American English), initiation, beasting (British English), bastardisation (Australian English), ragging (South Asian English) or deposition refers to any activity expected of someone in joining or participating in a group that humiliates, ...

and sexual abuse in

's football program. Dozens of lawsuits have been filed against Philips in litigation headed by noted civil rights attorney

Benjamin Crump Benjamin Lloyd Crump (born October 10, 1969) is an American attorney who specializes in civil rights and catastrophic personal injury cases such as wrongful death lawsuits. His practice has focused on cases such as Trayvon Martin, Michael Brown, ...

. Despite Phillips involvement in the sex abuse scandal, The Atlantic Coast Conference has made no effort to investigate or punish Phillips.

Personal life

The youngest of 10 children from a

Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

family, Phillips has been described by ''

Sports Illustrated ''Sports Illustrated'' (''SI'') is an American sports magazine first published in August 1954. Founded by Stuart Scheftel, it was the first magazine with circulation over one million to win the National Magazine Award for General Excellence twic ...

'' writer Pat Forde as "an emphatic Catholic" and "punctilious in the practice of worship". When working at the ACC's

uptown Charlotte Uptown Charlotte, also called Center City, is the central business district of Charlotte, North Carolina. The area is split into four wards by the intersection of Trade and Tryon Streets, and bordered by Interstate 277 and Interstate 77. The a ...

headquarters, he attends the 12:10 pm

mass Mass is an intrinsic property of a body. It was traditionally believed to be related to the quantity of matter in a physical body, until the discovery of the atom and particle physics. It was found that different atoms and different elementar ...

at a church within walking distance of the headquarters daily. He and his wife Laura, herself the youngest of seven children from a Chicago Catholic family, have five children.

References

External links

Atlantic Coast Conference profile
Year of birth missing (living people) Living people Atlantic Coast Conference commissioners Northern Illinois Huskies athletic directors Northwestern Wildcats athletic directors Arizona State University alumni University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign alumni University of Tennessee alumni {{US-sport-bio-stub