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Gene Corrigan was athletics director at Virginia (1971-81) and Notre Dame (1981-87) and commissioner of the Atlantic Coast Conference (1987-97).

(Univ. of Virginia)

Imagine Penn State in an Eastern all-sports conference including Syracuse and maybe even Pittsburgh. Not just any Eastern conference, not an ersatz Big East, but one with regular road trips to mild locales in Florida, Georgia and South Carolina.

It was a hair's breadth from happening. But at the 11th hour, after six months of haggling among its athletic directors and coaches, the Big Ten's presidents voted by the narrowest of possible margins to follow through on their stated intention and officially admit Penn State into its fold.

So ended in June 1990 a drama that very nearly extended PSU to Plan B in its quest to join a major conference. And what would that plan have been?

According to the man who was then commissioner of the Atlantic Coast Conference, he would have done everything in his considerable power to convince his league's university presidents that inviting Penn State was a no-brainer. Gene Corrigan says Penn State would likely have become a member of the ACC and would now have been so for over two decades.

I first heard this story from then-Penn State athletics director Jim Tarman back in 1994. He told me that Corrigan called him shortly after PSU's stunning invitation to the league became public on Dec. 14, 1989. It was an invitation fast-tracked by then-Illinois president Stan Ikenberry, a former Penn State vice provost, who was then chairman of the Big Ten presidents “Council of Ten.”

Only the league presidents knew; nobody else, including the Big Ten ADs, faculty reps and coaches, had been told. And when the ADs were gathered on a conference call and informed by their new commissioner, many were not amused.

Michigan's Bo Schembechler, then just retired as football coach and having assumed the AD's role, reacted with unbridled anger. He told me in 1994 that after a moment of stony silence he blurted into his phone to Delany for all to hear: “You gotta be s--tting me!”

Corrigan remembers being just as flabbergasted as everyone else, then remorseful that the ACC hadn't thought of inviting Penn State first. Tarman told me Corrigan called him the next day and lamented: “Why didn't you tell us you wanted in a major conference? We would've taken you in a heartbeat.”

“It's true,” said Corrigan, now 85 but as spry and sharp as when he was Notre Dame athletics director in the 1980s. His first reaction upon hearing the news?

“Aww, s---!,” replied Corrigan, using the barnyard expletive with a laugh. “What were we thinking of? What were we not thinking of?

“I remember having a meeting with [associate commissioner] Tom Mickle and some of our people and I said, 'We have been sitting here sound asleep while this thing happened.' And that's when we started thinking about getting Florida State.

“I remember saying, 'It's time. This is something that's got to be done. This is a new time in the world. Let's not sit here and regret later on because we didn't do anything.' I drove our people absolutely crazy. They used to get so mad at me because I kept bringing up expansion.

“But that was a great move that the Big Ten made. It was fabulous. I was just blown over. And I congratulated the Big Ten because I thought that was a hell of a move by them.”

But what if the 7-3 vote of the Big Ten presidents had gone 6-4 and the conference had been forced to renege on its offer? Would the ACC have pounced? Corrigan said he would have made it his mission:

“I would've liked it very much. Our people would have. Because we had a lot of respect for them. They were a good solid program. There were no bad stories about them out there.

“I would've. Now, I don't know if our [presidents] would have bought it. But I would have had no reservations at all.

“I honestly thought that it would've been a lot easier in a lot of ways for Penn State to come to the ACC. It would have been a whole lot easier travel-wise for them to be part of us.”

Had PSU become an ACC rather than Big Ten member in 1990, the potential ramifications by this time are staggering. Florida State likely would have still come aboard in 1991 to make the ACC 10 schools. But what about the 2003 expansion that added Virginia Tech, Miami and Boston College from the Big East? Would the ACC have bothered with BC with Penn State already in the fold and surely dominating the Northeast college football market? And is there any conceivable way Maryland leaves the ACC last year with neighbor PSU already in?

Moreover, does the Big Ten have the ratings boom-pow to launch the Big Ten Network with such audacity and demand the rates from cable providers it has? Does it make the money it has without Penn State? Does Nebraska jump from the Big 12 without that guaranteed annual revenue?

Of course, Penn State would not undo the move now. Neither would anyone in the Big Ten.

PSU has immeasurably benefitted from research resources and grant opportunities provided by Big Ten membership. It is a much better academic institution for having been a member 23 years.

The conference has very measurably benefitted from Penn State's massive alumni base, fan support and television ratings for football. They are part and parcel of the launch six years ago of the BTN.

That doesn't make the game of “What If...” any less intriguing. And it all could have been a very different story but for a single president's vote a generation ago.

The 2013 Big Ten football season will mark the 20th year that Penn State has competed in the storied conference. Find the rest of our Penn State: 20 years in the Big Ten series below.

Penn State in ACC instead of B1G? Former commish Gene Corrigan says it easily could've happened

Penn State and the Big Ten: A look back at the Nittany Lions' first season (1993)

Sizing up the highs and lows of Penn State's first season in the Big Ten

Penn State Numerology 101: A look at Penn State's inaugural Big Ten season

DAVID JONES: djones@pennlive.com.