Clemson Family,
I hope you’re enjoying the beginning of summer. Coach Mark Elliott’s track and field program is headed to the NCAA Championships next weekend, and their trip will close the book on the 2014-15 athletic year.
It’s been a year of great highlights for our athletic programs. Beginning with Coach Mike Noonan’s men’s soccer team claiming the 2014 ACC Championship and continuing with Coach Dabo Swinney’s fourth-consecutive 10-win football season and progressing in the spring with Coach Elliott’s women’s indoor and outdoor ACC Titles. Women’s soccer and men’s golf returned to NCAA play following excellent seasons, and Coach Nancy Harris’ women’s tennis team earned a berth in the Sweet 16 for the 10th time in the last 12 seasons.
Off the field, Steve Duzan and his staff in Vickery Hall, along with each of our coaches and student-athletes, do a great job of emphasizing the academic mission of Clemson. This year, student-athletes posted a 3.02 GPA in both the fall and spring semesters and recorded the highest NCAA APR and GSR numbers in school history.
Our finances continue to grow, with a budgeted $87 million in revenues for FY2016. Upon that strong base, we continue to progress on $176 million of capital projects underway or in the planning stages. This year IPTAY is projecting $35.4 million in cash revenue, a new record for the storied organization that does so much for our athletic department and entire university.
BASEBALL
Last week was a difficult one for all of the Clemson Family. There’s no adequate way to describe the legacy of Jack Leggett and his record of achievements, and I described the difficulty of my decision to make a change and the reasons for it last week in our announcement and meeting with the media. Now, we must move forward together, providing a new momentum and surrounding our baseball program with optimism.
As expected with such a nationally relevant program, we’ve already had tremendous interest from a number of coaches around the country. I’m grateful for the counsel and input of several former players and friends of Clemson, and I’ve met with our selection committee to set the parameters of the search and discuss initial candidates. This week, we’ll have an opportunity to meet with a few potential candidates, understanding some may still be participating in postseason play. While we won’t set a specific timetable for the announcement of a new coach, I will assure you we’ll work quickly and diligently, and we’ll take as long as it needs to identify the best choice to lead our program into the future.
FACILITIES
Construction continues all around the athletic district, with the Doug Kingsmore Stadium player addition scheduled to be complete within the month. The oculus/bridge project at Memorial Stadium continues to take shape, and the suite and club level renovations are coming along nicely.
If you haven’t had a chance yet, please take a moment to visit our Expand and Enhance page on ClemsonTigers.com, where you’ll find up-to-date pictures, webcams and renderings for each ongoing project.
FOOTBALL SEASON TICKETS
Tickets for the 2015 season continue to move at a record-setting pace. As of June 5, 53,460 season tickets have been ordered with 2014 ticket purchasers renewing at a 91.4 percent rate.
With 4,938 new season ticket orders and 4,965 requests to review seat assignments, our ticket office staff is hard at work processing orders and requests to ensure we do everything we can to accommodate our loyal fans.
If you’ve ordered your tickets, you’ll receive an email from our ticket office soon providing a bit more detail on the seating request process.
SOFA BOARD
In late May we had another opportunity to gather the Solid Orange Fan Advisory Board, a group of fans from a variety of IPTAY levels charged with bringing ideas to our staff to continue making the Clemson Gameday Experience an enjoyable one at each of our events. It’s always great to hear from our fans, and this group has done an exceptional job of bringing items to our attention that might not be at the top of our lists but matter to those who make Clemson such a special place.
We’ve implemented several of their ideas. Some behind the scenes and some you may have seen such as the first-time visitors guide, additional communication about services provided on gameday, better use of video boards and better signage in different facilities to list a few. And at our last gathering, they gave valuable ideas to help with projected hot temperatures for the first two football games this fall. Following their suggestions, we’re looking into “cool zones” for the upper levels and more readily available ice at concession stands among other ideas.
We’re grateful for such passionate fans and supporters, and constantly looking for ways to improve. Their input – as is each of our fans’ input – is much appreciated.
Hope you each have an enjoyable summer, and we’ll be in touch soon. Be sure to stay up-to-date on all of our happenings at ClemsonTigers.com and @ClemsonTigers.
Go Tigers,
Dan Radakovich
December 13, 2024
December 12, 2024
