Search Shop
Announce
From the Desk of Dan Radakovich – May 18, 2015

From the Desk of Dan Radakovich – May 18, 2015

Clemson Family,

What a great week it was for our Clemson Tigers! Mark Elliott’s women’s track team claimed another ACC Championship with a win in Tallahassee while Jack Leggett’s baseball squad won four games including a three-game sweep of Florida State. Larry Penley’s men’s golf team advanced through NCAA Regionals, qualifying for the NCAA Championship beginning May 29 in Bradenton, Fla.

Also last week, the rowing team hosted the ACC Championships at Lake Hartwell and finished a promising first season under head coach Stephen Frazier-Wong by placing fifth. The men’s track and field team came in fourth down in Tallahassee and women’s tennis closed another remarkable season with a trip to the Sweet 16. Coach Nancy Harris’ squad has advanced to the Sweet 16 in 10 of the last 12 seasons. Four members of the team are staying in Waco for the NCAA Singles & Doubles Championships, which begin on Wednesday. Beatrice Gumulya and Jessy Rompies are the No. 4-national seed in the doubles tournament.

While several of our teams were competing for championships, Faculty Athletics Representative Janie Hodge, Senior Women’s Administrator Natalie Honnen and I joined Coaches Dabo Swinney, Brad Brownell and Audra Smith at ACC Meetings. We each enjoyed productive conversations and discussions with counterparts at other member institutions, and you can read a few stories with Commissioner Swofford’s comments following the meetings here and here.

On campus, construction officially began on the rebuilding of Littlejohn Coliseum last week. It’s been a long process to get to this point, and much work is yet to be done, but it’s exciting to see the construction fence up and dirt being moved. As with any project, there will be some inconveniences along the way. Avenue of Champions between Perimeter Road and Centennial Blvd. is closed as the demolition phase begins, and a few trees were removed from the area last week. Please know athletics and the university’s facility planning department has developed a tree plan that will replace every tree in the area.

While work is just beginning on Littlejohn, the player development area at Doug Kingsmore Stadium will be wrapping up in the next month. The renovation of the club and suite levels at Memorial Stadium continues in full swing and will be complete prior to the season opener on Sept. 5. For updates on each of our facilities projects, you can visit our recently launched Expand and Enhance page on ClemsonTigers.com, where you’ll find up-to-date pictures, webcams and renderings for each.

At last week’s meetings, the conference announced the ACC Network selected our football season opener against Wofford for its 12:30 p.m. start time, and that our Week 2 game would be on ESPN3. The 12:30 p.m. kickoff of the Appalachian State game allows for a few hours more recovery for our student-athletes before the short turnaround of an ESPN Thursday night game at Louisville the next week.

And as we prepare for those early season games, it’s been tremendous to get weekly reports on season ticket sales. We’ve already eclipsed the 50,000 season ticket mark, and as of last week the renewal rate from last season is 89 percent compared to 85 percent at the same date a year ago. Our ticket office continues to contact those who have not renewed as of this writing. Additionally, it’s exciting to see nearly 60 percent of all season ticket sales have taken place online. We’re working with our ticketing provider to constantly upgrade the online experience, and appreciate all who have utilized the system already.

We close out the 2015 Prowl and Growl tour Tuesday evening in Charleston, and I’ve enjoyed meeting so many of you and the excitement for Clemson Athletics is visible at each stop. Due to your generosity, IPTAY is on pace for a record breaking year!

Thank you for your support of Clemson Athletics and IPTAY. It is truly appreciated by each of our student-athletes and staff. We hope you have a great summer and can’t wait to see you again in the fall.

Go Tigers,

Dan Radakovich

News