Clemson athletic director Graham Neff met with the media on Tuesday, and among the various topics he discussed is the “Gathering at the Paw” after football games.

Neff stressed that Clemson needs fans to help the university “abide by and support” the ACC’s “new court and field storming” policy.

As announced by the conference last month, ACC schools will be fined for court and field storming to protect players and coaches, especially those on the visiting teams. This new rule will affect how Clemson conducts its tradition of “Gathering at the Paw,” which has been allowed at Clemson since Memorial Stadium was first built in 1942.

“We’ve talked a lot about it,” Neff said Tuesday. “The Gathering at the Paw tradition is really, really special at Clemson. Really unique. You saw our statement from a couple weeks ago around the ACC policy — it’s something that we want to continue. Now, it’s gotta look different.

“We’re going to abide by and support the new ACC policy, and so we need our fans to help with that. In recognition of that, that we’re trying to balance respecting the unique tradition and continuing the neat tradition that we have, while also respecting the policies, and just the safety environment of what the postgame field looks like, particularly after charged games, LSU or otherwise.”

ACC Commissioner Jim Phillips detailed the fine structure for schools violating the league’s new court and field storming rules: $50,000 first offense; $100,000 second offense; $200,000 third offense. The timeline for those fines will reset every two years. Those dollars will go to the ACC’s postgraduate scholarship fund.

As Neff mentioned, Clemson released a statement after Phillips announced the new field and court storming rules.

“The ACC’s revised Sportsmanship policy provides an important framework for all institutions to evaluate and enhance their safety procedures for fans, teams, and game officials in line with other major conferences and venues,” the statement reads. “Clemson is in the process of finalizing our updated protocol in accordance with this policy. Our approach acknowledges the significance of Gathering at the Paw on Frank Howard Field at Memorial Stadium, and we intend to allow for its continuation once visiting teams and personnel have safely exited the field. We ask our fans for their cooperation in this matter beginning this fall.”

Fans at Clemson have always been allowed to go on the field, win or lose, after every home game at Memorial Stadium.

Neff said that Clemson will have additional security on the field at games this fall.

“Absolutely,” he said. “We’re staffing up and we’re going to reconcentrate what that looks like postgame.”

Neff added that Clemson is “working on what the sequencing, what the postgame process looks like,” and reiterated that the university needs fans to comply with the new ACC policy.

“Certainly over the coming couple of weeks, we’re going to communicate to the fans of what that looks like,” Neff said. “I’ll double down and say it again – we need our fans’ help and support in recognition of that. … So, we’re going to manage each game as they come — seven a year, maybe more, depending on playoff circumstances.

“So, those are our expectations for the first one, for the LSU game, and we’ll go through our postgame sequencing and respect and manage from a safety and an ACC policy standpoint, see how the first game goes and then continue to adapt and adjust from there.”

Clemson will get to see if the new plan will work on Aug. 30 when the Tigers host LSU in the season opener for both schools.