Northwestern athletic director Jim Phillips is set to become the new commissioner for the ACC.

Back in the summer, current ACC commissioner John Swofford announced that he would retire this upcoming June. He had been acting as the conference's commissioner for close to 25 years, but he was finally ready to step down.

That cleared a path for Phillips, who has been the athletic director for Northwestern since 2008. Here is the official statement made by the ACC on Monday:

It's a wild time to take over these responsibilities, but hopefully we'll be past the COVID-19 pandemic -- or at least most of it -- by the time Phillips takes over in February of 2021.

At one time, Phillips seemed poised to take over as the Big Ten's commissioner following the retirement of Jim Delany back in January. Unfortunately, he was beat out for the job by current commissioner Kevin Warren.

The Big Ten's loss is the ACC's gain, however.

Phillips is grateful for the opportunity to serve in his new role, which he discussed in a statement of his own.

Maybe Phillips can convince Notre Dame to make the temporary move to the ACC permanent. The addition of the Fighting Irish has put the conference in a position to get two teams into the College Football Playoff.

The permanent move is a long shot, but we'll see what happens.

Follow Clint Lamb on Twitter @ClintRLamb.

John Swofford

Northwestern AD Jim Phillips Set to Become New ACC Commissioner