GREENSBORO -- Retired ACC associate commissioner Fred Barakat died Monday. He was 71.
In a statement, ACC commissioner John Swofford remembered Barakat as someone who "served college athletics well throughout his career, and was a significant and impactful influence especially within the basketball community."
The conference provided no details as to the cause of death.
Barakat, a 1961 graduate of Assumption College, joined the ACC in 1981 as the coordinator of basketball officials and held numerous duties, including manager of the men's basketball tournament. He retired in 2007 as associate commissioner of men's basketball operations.
He spent 11 years as head coach at Fairfield before joining the ACC, compiling a 160-128 record and leading the Stags to three NITs.
"Fred [Barakat] was one of my dearest friends, and a man who loved people, loved life and was a giant in our conference," Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski said in a statement.
"He helped build ACC basketball to where it is today, especially during the '80s, with TV and promotions and officiating. He was the leading person in the country as far as - for a conference - how to run basketball. And he was a heck of a basketball person - a great coach with a beautiful family, just the epitome of a good man. And it's shocking to me that he has passed."
