Kaplony
Palmetto State Deplorable
Posts: 25,393
Joined: Apr 2013
I Root For: Newberry
Location: SC
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New age for Clemson
Excellent article on how Clemson has overcome the hurdles that ACC membership presents to get to where it is today
https://clemson.rivals.com/news/new-age-11
Quote:Even without Carl Lawson and Montravius Adams, Clemson had a decorated recruiting class to celebrate in February of 2013.
The haul was plenty impressive in the moment, with a No. 14 ranking by Rivals.com, and it has to be considered even more impressive now upon scanning a list that includes Mike Williams, Shaq Lawson, Cordrea Tankersley, Ben Boulware, Jordan Leggett, Jadar Johnson, Wayne Gallman, Mackensie Alexander and Jayron Kearse.
The Tigers’ coaches had every reason to sit back and marvel at a class that followed their first 11-win season in decades, capped with a stirring triumph over LSU in the Chick-fil-A Bowl.
But Jeff Scott didn’t sit back and marvel. He restlessly wondered why the class was not better. He set about diagnosing exactly how and why it did not include Lawson and Adams, two sure-fire stud defensive linemen who strongly considered Clemson but went to The Plains at the last instant.
Quote:The most impressive part of Clemson’s 59-9 run over the past five seasons? The Tigers have made a habit of dusting teams they supposedly couldn’t compete with because of the aforementioned financial disadvantages.
Take a look at the Top 20 revenue producers in the most recent USA Today financial database, and you’ll see quite a few of Clemson’s skins on the wall. South Carolina, ranked 17th at $113 million, has become the Tigers’ little brother once again and was fortunate to merely make a bowl game this season. Clemson beat No. 15 Georgia ($116 million) three years ago, and no one questions the Tigers’ superiority over the struggling Bulldogs at the moment. After losing three straight to Florida State (13th at $120.8 million), Clemson has taken control of that rivalry by winning back-to-back games. After losing to Auburn in 2010, the Tigers have won three straight over the nation’s No. 11 revenue producer ($124 million). LSU ranks No. 7 at $138 million.
Then there’s Oklahoma and Ohio State. The Sooners rank eighth in the most recent revenue figures ($134 million), but there are two tombstones beside Clemson’s indoor practice facility that suggest the money disparity didn’t mean much in the Tigers’ 40-6 and 37-17 romps in 2014 and 2015.
The Buckeyes’ athletics department brings in $167.2 million a year, according to the most recent figures. That’s more than double Clemson’s $83.5 million (ranked 39th nationally), but it didn’t stop the Tigers from completely dismantling Urban Meyer’s team last week in the Fiesta Bowl. Nor did it stop Clemson from outclassing the Buckeyes three years ago in a 40-35 Orange Bowl victory.
And now Clemson takes on another financial juggernaut in Alabama, which made $148.9 million according to the most recent figures. Given how far the Tigers pushed the Tide last year in Glendale, no one in his right mind doubts Clemson can stay on the same field with the Nick Saban monster.
It is important to note that the most recent figures in the USA Today database are from 2014-15 reports the schools submitted to the NCAA. A lot can change in two years, and a lot has changed at Clemson: Neff anticipated Clemson’s revenues will surpass $100 million this fiscal year, a remarkable increase from the $66 million the athletics department brought in during the 2012-13 timeframe.
Another key caveat: Clemson has just 19 sports to, for example, 36 for Ohio State. So while the Buckeyes bring in double the revenue, their expenses are also spread over a wider area. That explains why Clemson’s total expenses attributed to football ($27.3 million) aren’t very far behind Ohio State’s ($29.1 million), though they are well behind Alabama’s (48.3 million). Also according to the most recent numbers, Clemson spent $100,000 more than Alabama in 2014-15 on both football support staff and assistant coach salaries.
That said, Clemson’s ability to overcome significant financial disparities has to be regarded as a central element in the Tigers’ remarkable rise to powerhouse status. It’s reasonable to say no one has mastered the dollars-and-sense game better, because Clemson has become a new-age trendsetter that the rich and famous are trying to emulate.
Quote:When you’re playing from behind financially, it’s imperative to have everyone in the administrative chain of command pulling in the same direction. There’s zero doubt that is a check mark in Clemson’s favor. Neff and Scott emphasized the importance of IPTAY to this whole process, creating a surplus of funds that can help offset advantages enjoyed by other conferences who are bringing in more TV money. In addition, Radakovich and Neff have worked in recent years to rework contracts for apparel, media and licensing. Add in tweaks to ticket costs and giving levels, and much of the revenue surge is internally driven.
“There’s a gap there with some of these programs that are getting more money through TV and different things,” Scott said. “And if we didn’t have IPTAY and 25 million dollars a year that we could count on, there would be no way to keep up with that gap.
“I give Dan Radakovich and Graham Neff a lot of credit. Because for the last two or three years, pretty much anything we felt we really needed to keep progressing as a program and would make us better as a team, they’ve found a way to get it done. And that doesn’t happen anywhere.”
Quote:In a month, the football program will move from Memorial Stadium to a lavish $155 million operations facility that will be the envy of just about everyone else in college football. The football program’s pioneering social-media model was emulated by Meyer and Ohio State when the Buckeyes decided to devote resources to enhancing their brand. Just this week, new Texas coach Tom Herman said the Longhorns football colossus needs to play some catch-up in the area of support staff improvements.
“We were under-staffed for the elite teams in the country from a support-staff standpoint,” Herman said. “President Fenves and the athletic director have been great in terms of allowing me to create a number of positions, whether it be recruiting, graphics, operations, just to get us where the Alabamas, the Ohio States, the Clemsons of the world are, so we can be competitive with those programs.”
Quote:Said Scott: “We’re in a place that -- in this time of all times, when there’s a lot of money out there by your competitors that can go spend money and add resources and add facilities – we’re not taking a back seat to anyone. And to be honest, we feel like we’re at the forefront. We have some of those top programs that were ahead of us 10 or 15 years ago that are now trying to catch up to us. We have an alignment of power around here that has allowed us to improve ourselves very quickly. It’s no secret why we are where we are now.”
When Carl Lawson and Adams signed with Auburn almost four years ago, Scott and the Tigers’ staff could have just called it a day and celebrated a star-studded 2013 class. Instead, not long thereafter Scott was going undercover to an Auburn player’s apartment to document what the competition had.
When a restless desire to get better coincides with a complete and total commitment from the athletics department and university, you get the beautiful and enviable blossoming of a certified monster at little ‘ole Clemson.
You get the Tigers ripping Ohio State to shreds, and now taking aim at the Saban Death Star.
“Let’s don’t hold back,” Scott said. “We don’t have to look at ourselves in a different light from some of the other top programs.”
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