CLEMSON — The 2025-’26 academic year was a weird one for the men’s athletic programs at Clemson.
In one hand, the men’s teams handled their business against the school’s biggest rival. The football, men’s basketball, baseball, men’s soccer and men’s tennis teams all defeated South Carolina in head-to-head competition.
At Clemson, that is always a win, right?!
However, that was not enough to make those programs truly want to celebrate a good season.
For one thing, South Carolina was not all that good in any of those sports, especially in the three biggest sports – football, men’s basketball and baseball. Clemson had no trouble taking down the outmanned Gamecocks in any of those sports.
In men’s soccer, Clemson has owned South Carolina, even more than the football and baseball teams have. The Tigers are 10-0-1 against the Gamecocks on the pitch, including nine straight wins from 2015-’23.
Though beating the Gamecocks is good, it is not the way the programs are measured.
For instance, the football team beat the Gamecocks for a ninth time in the last 11 years. However, the Tigers did not make the College Football Playoff, did not win an ACC Championship and were blown out by Penn State in the Pinstripe Bowl.
Let me write that again, the Pinstripe Bowl.
The Tigers finished the season 7-6 – the program’s worst since 2010.
Men’s basketball, overall, had a better year than any men’s team at Clemson. Not only did the Tigers beat the Gamecocks, but they advanced to the ACC Tournament Semifinals for a second consecutive year – a first for the program.
The Tigers won 24 games and played in the Big Dance for a third consecutive year. Check, check, check, right?
However, the team fizzled down the stretch a little. After starting the ACC season 10-1, they lost five of their last seven games entering the ACC Tournament and then lost in the first round of the NCAA Tournament for a second straight year.
Though going 24-11 in men’s basketball is a good year at any time at Clemson, going 4-7 in the final 11 games did take a little shine off the season.
The men’s soccer team, as I already wrote, beat South Carolina for a 10th time in the last 11 years. However, it was an inconsistent season for Mike Noonan’s team. The Tigers went 0-3-1 in their last four matches, including first round exits in the ACC and NCAA Tournaments.
The soccer team finished the year 8-6-3.
The baseball team took two of three games from the Gamecocks and won the weekend series for the fourth time in the last five years and for the ninth time in the last 12 seasons. Things appeared great, especially after opening the 2026 season 15-1 overall.
But things fell off after that, as Clemson lost 25 of its last 41 games and failed to make the NCAA Tournament for just the third time since 1987.
The Tigers also had their worst season in ACC play since the league went to at least a 20-game schedule in 1987, while their .333-win percentage was its worst since 1957.
These are definitely not numbers to brag about.
Though the men’s tennis team did not break any records, it did achieve the most of any of the men’s sports at Clemson.
The Tigers had their best season in a while, winning 17 matches and qualifying for the NCAA Tournament, where they won their first tournament match since 2014.
To top off what was a really good season for the men’s team, Clemson snapped its 9-match losing streak to South Carolina, as they blanked the Gamecocks 7-0.
So, beating the Gamecocks always needs to be a part of the standard at Clemson, it just can’t be the standard, which unfortunately was the case for most of the men’s athletic teams in 2025-’26.