CLEMSON — Clemson Athletic Director Graham Neff is getting a raise and a contract extension.

Clemson University’s Board of Trustees officially approved a contract extension for Neff on Friday, which will run through July 1, 2030. The total value of the contract is $9 million, including deferred compensation.

Graham has been Clemson’s director of athletics since December 21, 2021.

Clemson will fund a split dollar life insurance plan (deferred compensation) with annual premiums of $250,000. Obligations to make the premium payments, which ends upon early termination of the contract. Employer will fund a $100,000 final payment to complete initial split dollar life insurance policy currently in effect.

Not including the deferred compensation, Neff will make $1 million this year, with a $100,000 raise in each of the five remaining years of the contract.

As for incentives, Neff can receive up to $250,000 based on the overall post-season success of certain programs, ACC and NCAA Championships and so forth within the athletic department. He will also receive a $300,000 retention bonus that will be paid on July 1, 2026.

Regarding the school’s and Neff’s buyout clauses, upon termination by Clemson without cause the University shall pay 75 percent of the total compensation, plus licensing fee (maximum value never to exceed $5M) with no obligation on employee to mitigate. Clemson may elect to pay in a lump sum or make regular monthly payments over the remaining term of the agreement.

Should Neff accept an athletics related position elsewhere, he will be required to pay Clemson 25 percent of total compensation, plus licensing fee left on the remaining term of the contract. Payment shall be made within 30 days of termination.

During his tenure, Neff has established himself as a forward-thinking leader with a focus on student-athlete well-being and academic and athletic success. Additionally, he’s helped to navigate a complicated national landscape, working closely with key stakeholders to stay at the forefront of the issues with an emphasis on the impacts to Clemson.

He’s overseen significant facility development, including investments in football and a women’s sport expansion project to house Clemson’s new lacrosse and gymnastics teams, and in 2025 opened the 55,000-square-foot Watt Family Performance and Wellness Center. He led the bringing of Clemson’s multimedia rights in-house, developed a comprehensive NIL program and launched a streaming service, Clemson+. Recently, Clemson announced the formation of Clemson Ventures, which is an innovative take on commercial revenue generation within the athletic department, including sales, media creation, digital marketing, NIL and events verticals.  Additionally, IPTAY has seen record-breaking growth in the past two years, which included the largest gift in IPTAY history.

On the field, it has led to significant results. In the 2022-23 season, Clemson’s teams won four ACC championships in a single season for the first time since 1998-99. In the 2023-24 year, four programs advanced to national quarterfinals in a single season, an accomplishment that had not occurred since 1979-80. In 2023, the men’s soccer program claimed its second national championship in three years. Men’s soccer also won the 2023 ACC title, while there was a historic run by the men’s basketball program, which knocked off powerhouses Baylor and Arizona in the NCAA Tournament. Women’s soccer advanced to its first College Cup as well.

Clemson made its return to the College Football Playoff in 2024 after claiming the ACC Football Championship and won an ACC Championship in Softball and Women’s Indoor Track & Field in 2024-25, as well as NCAA appearances from Lacrosse (Sweet 16), Men’s Soccer (Sweet 16), Gymnastics (Regional Quarterfinals) and men’s and women ‘s tennis.

Neff has been in senior leadership positions within Clemson Athletics since 2013, including as chief financial officer and director of capital projects prior to his most recent role as deputy director of athletics.

—Clemson Athletics Communications contributed to this story