Clemson Athletic Director Graham Neff published a letter to Tiger fans on Wednesday. Neff addressed how the changes in the college landscape will impact the athletic budget.

Clemson Family – 

I hope you and your family have had a wonderful Independence Day weekend and are having a great summer.

The 2024-25 athletic year has officially come to a close in June, and as we look out upon a new era of college athletics, I wanted to take a moment to reach out to Thank You. There’s never been a more transitional time in college athletics, and I’ve never been more confident in our position. This year had an incredible number of records, big-time hardware and many big steps forward in our department – competitively and in the classroom – and we’re looking for even bigger things in 2025-26.

In May, nearly 100 student-athletes walked the stage, and our program’s academic accomplishment continues to set a national standard. We’ve led the nation among public Power Four institutions in graduation success rate (96%), had our second-best Academic Progress Rate on record (996 out of 1000), and our student-athletes have set GPA records in eight consecutive semesters.

We saw Lacrosse go to the NCAA tournament for the first time in their brief history, and advancing to the Sweet 16, our Men’s Tennis team advanced to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2013, and our Women’s Tennis program made the Tournament for the first time since 2018. Our women’s indoor track and field program took home the ACC title. Rowing took great steps in its first season under Adrienne Martelli, who led the Tigers to a top-25 ranking in the final poll for the first time since 2014.

The Softball program, still in its relative infancy, won its first ACC Tournament Championship and advanced to a Super Regional for the third time in five full seasons, and won its first Super Regional game at eventual National Champion Texas’s home field. The whole Regional weekend McWhorter Stadium was electric!

Baseball was among the top 15 teams throughout the season, and is one of just two baseball programs to host a regional in each of the past three seasons. Gymnastics had another strong season, and we recently welcomed Justin Howell and Liz Crandall-Howell as Co-Head Coaches, which sent a major message that our program is poised and ready to take yet another step forward.

This year, we’re one of two schools nationally with our Football, Men’s Basketball and Baseball teams ranked at the end of the season, and Clemson led those programs in graduation success rate. Additionally, we won 40+ Baseball games, 25+ Men’s Basketball games and 10+ Football games in the same season for the third time ever.

Our football program has a tremendous core intact and is being talked about nationally as a contender after its ACC Title and CFP appearance in 2024. We also recently announced a 12-year series with Notre Dame, and we’re excited that our game with LSU on Aug. 30 will be in primetime on ABC.

We recently opened the Watt Family Performance and Wellness Center, a new 55,000-square-foot wellness facility, which is the new national standard, and a day-to-day home for 18 of our 21 sports. Rarely do we have the opportunity to impact so many of our programs with one facility, and this fits the bill.

Suffice it to say – there’s never been a better time to be a Tiger.

Much has changed in the past few months as we’ve positioned ourselves for the future.

We have settled our lawsuit with the ACC, and in doing so negotiated an enhanced revenue distribution model that rewards viewership in football and men’s basketball. While we’ve been among the best in the conference in those metrics previously, we must continue to keep those incentives a focus.

The settlement of the House Case was recently approved by Judge Claudia Wilken, and the new roster limits, scholarship allowances and the ability to enter into licensing agreements with student-athletes are transformational. I’ve had the privilege to serve on a committee to outline the “new era,” and that has allowed Clemson to stay informed and strategic.

As we unveiled previously, we plan to be among the most aggressive in support of our programs, and will add nearly 150 new scholarship opportunities, share the full allotment of revenue allowed ($20.5 million in 2025-26), and be thoughtful in our approach. We released a lengthy letter and FAQ in October 2024, and most of the philosophy and direction released then has not changed. There are still many nuances that need to be ironed out, but Clemson continues to be positioned for broad-based success nationally, and certainly among the most visible sports.

While the landscape has been fluid, one thing that has been reinforced is that culture matters. The support Clemson and IPTAY provide to our student-athletes off the field and court, the people we have in place, and our leadership have offered so much more than just a chance to play. We’ve vowed to “keep Clemson Clemson,” and each of our donors and fans play a central role in that.

We’ve continued to innovate in our business practices, while scrutinizing our expenses and seeking several new revenue categories within Clemson Ventures. Alcohol sales in our venues began at the Spring Football Game, and we’ve seen consistent support that will have an impact on our bottom line. We also hosted the Savannah Bananas in a surreal night in Death Valley, and unique events in our venues will continue to build new opportunities.

To cut to the chase, there’s a lot going on, and we couldn’t invest in our programs and perform at the highest level without your support.

We are so grateful to you, and we can’t wait to see you this fall.

Graham

—courtesy of Clemson Athletic Communications