spending money and recruiting
This may be a rambling affair, so I apologize in advance.
A couple of observations before I posit my question. First, I have read where people talk about Clemson underachieving in previous years, talking about the team having all the talent, but wasting it with 7 and 8 win seasons. However, a close look at the numbers reveal many years where it was either meh, or downright bad:
1998 26th
1999 24th
2000 31st
2003 67th
2004 61st
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2005 17th
2006 16th
2007 16th
2008 12th
2009 37th (I think this was the year Bowden was fired, great class fell apart)
20010-2014 have all been top 15 classes
The demarcation line indicates when Clemson really started spending money on facilities upgrades. Cris Ard (Clemson Rivals site) relayed that the ten years previous to that time Clemson ranked dead last in facilities spending (for example, player lockers were the exact same as the year Clemson won the Natty-81). It had gotten so bad that Bowden would not show the locker room to recruits on visits, and rented bulldozers to park next to the stadium to give the impression that proposed renovations were ready to start.
There is a positive correlation to Clemson's improved performance and increased spending. I read people's posts about just winning and that takes care of recruiting. History would suggest that is backward.
I recently read on a Syracuse board where the president wants to better understand athletics spending (code words for cutting funding in my opinion). Is Syracuse starting a move to deemphasize football? There is the new stadium fiasco (if that is the right word) where an opportunity for public grants were lost. An IPF that may or may not be built?
I know that Syracuse has a larger athletic budget than Clemson, so don't take it as an attack on Syracuse. Clemson's administration basically gutted our viability as a contender by deemphasizing Football after firing Coach Ford, and I would not like to see any program be hamstrung while the people doing the damage talk about supporting the program.
As for Clemson, we have spent 120 million in athletics facilities enhancements. Current plans call for much more. For football, plans are to finish the West Zone project's 3rd phase (occulus, museum, and concourse extension), building a new 80,000 sq ft operations center next to the new IPF, a 10,000 sq ft lounge area in the West Zone, and a new 260,000 sq ft mixed use athletic facility including student housing and dining, a convenience store, retail restaurant and administrative support spaces. We are currently 175 million under our debt limit for athletic spending, and it looks like we are going on a spending spree.
I read where Louisville is expanding their stadium. Duke is upgrading their stadium capacity. I would assume each school is undertaking projects.
So, the question: "What is your school actively doing in upgrading or building facilities to improve recruiting success?"
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