In the past week, two well-known people inside the college football world called for the same thing many of the sport's fans have been craving from the outside for decades: a playoff.

With their comments, Florida State president T.K. Wetherell and Penn State coach Joe Paterno both went against the grain in their professions. University presidents and chancellors long have been the most significant obstacle to a playoff system. The majority of coaches also favor the current bowl system, under which more than 30 staffs can put smiley faces on their seasons each year with a bowl victory.

"It's not a question of if there is going to be a playoff, it's going to be a question of when," said Wetherell, a former FSU football player. "It's going to be driven by money. ... You talk to ABC and ESPN, you're talking something in the neighborhood of the Final Four-type thing. That's a huge amount of money. We'll run out of money, then we'll...

North Carolina's recent media release on the transfer of Alex Stepheson focused on an ill family member as the reason for his departure. Duke's three-paragraph statement on the late March decision of Taylor King to leave the Blue Devils didn't mention a reason for his exit.

Here's the reality of the situation: Stepheson and King view themselves as professional basketball players in the long run, and they no longer saw their original schools of choice as their best opportunities to fulfill their dreams.

Here's another reality of 21st century college basketball: Like it or not, the transfer route is more popular than ever. According to research by the ACC Sports Journal and ACCSports.com (see recent data below), ACC basketball programs have averaged approximately one transfer per school per year over the past decade.

"Transfers are a fact of life, and not all transfers are a bad thing," said Miami coach Frank Haith,...

Johnny Dawkins is almost three weeks into his tenure as the head coach at Stanford, after spending the last 11 seasons as an assistant coach under Mike Krzyzewski at Duke, including the last nine as the associate head coach of the Blue Devils.

At Dawkins' introductory press conference at Stanford, athletic director Bob Bowlsby said that Krzyzewski had described Dawkins as his "likely successor" with the Blue Devils during conversations leading up to Dawkins' hiring with the Cardinal.

Below is Part Two of the conversation in which Dawkins caught up with ACC Sports Journal editor David Glenn:

DG: Bob Bowlsby recently joined a long list of people who have referred to you as Coach K's "likely successor" at Duke. Did you decide to take on a head coaching challenge with that in mind, to solidify your candidacy for the Duke job some day?

Dawkins: I know that a lot...

Johnny Dawkins is about two weeks into his tenure as the head coach at Stanford, after spending the last 11 seasons as an assistant coach under Mike Krzyzewski at Duke, including the last nine as the associate head coach of the Blue Devils.

Krzyzewski has mentioned Dawkins, 44, as someone who should receive serious consideration for the Duke head coaching position whenever Krzyzewski steps down. The Stanford job is Dawkins' first as a head coach.

Dawkins recently caught up with ACC Sports Journal editor David Glenn:

DG: It's been only two weeks since you were officially announced as the head coach at Stanford, and I've tracked you from Durham, N.C., to Washington, D.C., to Phoenix for an Olympic commitment, to Texas and Delaware and North Carolina on recruiting trips, and back and forth to Palo Alto, Calif. Have you had any time to exhale during this wild ride?

Dawkins: I have not had a moment...