CLEMSON -- Less than a year ago, we were interviewing former Clemson University president Jim Barker and the shockwaves were still reverberating from Oklahoma and Texas going to the SEC.

A decade ago, Barker was a key figure in the ACC's covert courting of Notre Dame before the Irish joined the conference as a part-time member.

And something he said amid last summer's seismic event resonated last week upon the news of this summer's seismic event: