CLEMSON — Following Tuesday’s loss to Notre Dame in the first round of the ACC Baseball Tournament, Clemson head coach Erik Bakich said there will be “Sweeping improvements” in the program.
The Clemson Insider has learned there will be some shakeups in the clubhouse. As one source told TCI, “There will be some changes.”
That’s a start, and it makes sense.
Clemson baseball is not making the NCAA Tournament for the third time in the last six years, and the first time under Bakich. This isn’t acceptable at Clemson, especially when you consider the program missed one NCAA Tournament in 32 years from 1987-2019.
To make matters worse, the program had one of its worse years in ACC play. The Tigers’ 10 wins were their fewest since the league went to a 20-game conference schedule in 1987. Their 20 losses tied for the most in school history.
Their .333 win percentage in league competition was the program’s worst since 1957. Clemson finished 15th in the ACC standings, its lowest finish ever. Again, those kinds of numbers are not acceptable at Clemson.
“It ultimately falls on my shoulders, it starts with me,” Bakich said. “I have to be better and I will be better. There are a lot of things to point to, but it is on me to get it right and I will.”
The question is how can he?
Though shuffling the coaching staff and getting some deadweight off the roster might help a little, it’s not going to solve the problem.
The 2026 baseball team showed all of us that Clemson has some serious issues to address, in particular, with NIL funds.
Since he came on board in 2023, Bakich has always relayed that if he could just get his players on a full-ride, the Tigers will be able to catch up to those who have dominated baseball in the 11.7 scholarship era, which ran from 2010-’23.
But that has not come to fruition. Why?
Because baseball is not just about full-rides anymore. It is about full-scholarships, plus NIL money. And though revenue sharing helped with scholarships, Clemson baseball is in a pinch when it comes to NIL.
Baseball, as of right now, just does not have that go-to NIL money that can put it over the top.
Clemson baseball needs a lot. The Tigers need at least two more power hitters in the lineup. They need three solid weekend arms, and that is just to compete.
I know what you think, “Why don’t they just jump into the transfer portal and go get those players?”
You do not think Bakich has tried that.
Bakich isn’t afraid to use the transfer portal, he just does not have enough money to entice the right athletes to come to Clemson.
The baseball program desperately needs more funding from the NIL world, but I am not sure how they can get it done, unless Mark Cuban or someone like that is walking through the door, and I seriously doubt it.
But I have been wrong before.