Clemson Family,
What a great Fall Semester it’s been! Football, men’s soccer and women’s soccer all have put together tremendous seasons through the month of October and look to compete for championships in November. Our fans have sold out each of our seven football home games and our men’s soccer team is among the best in the nation in attendance, averaging more than 3,000 fans per game. Your support has been remarkable!
We’ve opened several new facilities – the new baseball player complex at Doug Kingsmore Stadium, the Oculus/Bridge, our renovated suites and club levels at Memorial Stadium – and continue progress on several others. Construction on Littlejohn Coliseum continues as risers are being poured in the seating bowl and the new basketball operations areas are starting to take shape.
Coach Swinney’s football team is 8-0 and ranked among the best in the nation, Mike Noonan’s men’s soccer team finished the regular season with a 14-1-2 record and will host the quarterfinals of the ACC Tournament next Sunday. Eddie Radwanski and his women’s soccer program posted a 13-3-1 regular season mark and advanced to the four-team ACC Tournament for the first time since 2007.
FOOTBALL
Winning isn’t easy! Congrats to our football program for putting together 11-consecutive wins, the longest winning streak since 1980-82. We’re 8-0 for only the fifth time in school history and have a huge opportunity this weekend to clinch the ACC Atlantic Division and a berth in the ACC Championship Game.
This season has been fun already, with remarkable wins in the rain over Notre Dame and Georgia Tech and big road victories along the way. We have a challenging November ahead, but as we prepare for the postseason, take a moment to check out the Bowl Ticket Information available on ClemsonTigers.com HERE.
We’ve know the passion of our fan base, let’s make sure we continue our stellar reputation of travelling to support our Tigers in the postseason.
As many of you know, I have the honor of being a member of the College Football Playoff selection committee. I look forward to participating in the process, however please know the committee rules prohibit me from participating in any Clemson-specific discussions. With the continued success of our program, I may be in the hallway a good bit!
WOMEN’S SOCCER
Without question, the ACC is the best conference in the country in women’s soccer. With 7 teams ranked in the top 17 of the NCAA RPI entering last week, it’s no small accomplishment to advance to the four-team conference tournament. That’s exactly what our young women achieved with a huge road win at Syracuse on Saturday. The women’s team takes on No. 1 Virginia in Cary, N.C., Friday evening and, with at top-10 RPI entering the postseason will likely host an NCAA Tournament match later this month.
MEN’S SOCCER
If there’s no doubt about ACC women’s soccer being the best in the nation, there’s even less of a question about our leagues’ men’s soccer programs. A remarkable TEN teams (of 12) rank in the RPI top 30, with our Tigers #2 heading into the postseason.
I had an opportunity to attend last Friday’s game at NC State along with President Clements and a few members of the Board of Trustees. A 4-1 victory over the Wolfpack was a great start to the weekend, and the win sends the men into the ACC tournament on an eight-match winning streak and unbeaten in the last 12 games dating back to early September.
Along with hosting an ACC Tournament match this Sunday against Boston College at Historic Riggs Field, the men are almost certain to host NCAA Tournament matches in November as well.
MEN’S BASKETBALL
With an exhibition game on Thursday, we officially embark upon our season in Greenville. Not only are our players excited, it’s clear our fans are as well. Season ticket sales have eclipsed last year’s totals at Littlejohn, and we recently began single-game ticket sales both at Clemson and at the Bon Secours Wellness Arena box office.
Along with Thursday’s exhibition, we’ll host three regular season games at The Well in November and five more in December. Coach Brownell and his team are excited to get the year started in their home away from home and need your support. We look forward to seeing you in Greenville!
WOMEN’S BASKETBALL
Coach Smith’s team took the court in Jervey Gymnasium yesterday for the first time with an exhibition game and I can tell you it’s going to be an intimidating, intimate atmosphere in there all year!
Our young women are going to provide an entertaining brand of basketball during seven non-conference home games the next two months, so come out to Jervey and support them.
CROSS COUNTRY
Congratulations to Grace Barnett on her 10th-place finish at the ACC Cross Country Championships earning her All-ACC accolades. Grace is the first Clemson woman named to the All-ACC team since 2009 and the walk-on from Waccamaw HS in Pawleys Island, S.C., was also an Academic All-ACC honoree last year.
GRASS LOTS
I don’t think enough can be said about the efforts of Mike Echols and our grounds crew in their preparation of the grass lots following the torrential rainfall last month. Their efforts salvaged the lots and made more than 90% of parking spots available for the Boston College game.
With outside contractors and materials, we spent $45,000 to get the lots back into shape, and I think every IPTAY donor who parks and tailgates in those lots will agree that was money well spent!
FACILITIES
With progress ongoing at the rebuilt Littlejohn, we’re continuing to Expand and Enhance our facilities to benefit each of our athletic programs. This week, we’ll have a ceremonial groundbreaking on our new football operations complex. The $55 million building will be the new daily home for the football program. The 140,000 square-foot complex, located adjacent to the indoor practice facility, includes locker rooms, coaches offices, training and equipment rooms as well as state-of-the-art amenities for our student athletes. We’ll begin construction in December with the scheduled opening in February 2017.
With football’s eventual move out of the second floor of the WestZone, we’ll remodel that area for the benefit of our entire athletic program. There are several options we’re exploring and we’ll announce plans for the future of that facility soon.
THANK YOU!
As you can tell there’s a great deal of momentum surrounding our athletic programs this Fall, and none of the successes would be possible without the generous support of our IPTAY members. Thank you for all you do, from donations to ticket purchases, in support of our student-athletes.
We hope to see you on campus during this championship stretch of November!
Go Tigers,
April 17, 2024
