Graham Neff acknowledged Tuesday was a tough one.
Neff made the first significant personnel decision of his brief tenure as Clemson’s athletic director when he opted not to bring Monte Lee back for an eighth season as the Tigers’ head baseball coach. Neff said making that call after meeting with Lee earlier in the day was difficult for reasons that go beyond the field.
“Certainly with my role here, it’s important to evaluate and make tough decisions,” said Neff, who was promoted from deputy athletic director following Dan Radakovich’s departure for Miami in December. “And that’s what this is primarily because of who Coach Lee is as a person.”
Yet Neff voiced optimism about the future of a once-revered college baseball program that’s hit a rough patch. Clemson has played in the last two ACC Tournaments as a double-digit seed and has missed consecutive NCAA Tournaments for the first time since the 1985-86 seasons, but that didn’t stop Neff from expressing both his convictions and expectations of a program that’s made a dozen College World Series appearances.
“I consider Clemson baseball a top-15 job. Period,” Neff said. “With the tradition, the resources, the facilities, the fan base and the talent within this state of South Carolina and the region, I think that’s where Clemson baseball should be. And what that means from a competition for postseason – regionals, super regionals and Omaha. We’ve been to 12 College Worlds Series and intend to increase that number.”
In terms of Lee’s replacement, Neff said he plans to hire accordingly.
Neff indicated money won’t be an object when it comes to landing his guy. Clemson will owe Lee a buyout of roughly $500,000 for the remaining two years on his contract, which was set to run through June 2024. In the world of college athletics where buyouts in the millions are more the norm, it’s not an amount that will hinder Clemson from a financial standpoint in attracting top candidates, Neff said,
“Certainly we have done our due diligence on the market and what that looks like from an investment standpoint for coach, staff and program,” Neff said. “We intend to win and win big, and we’re prepared to invest and invest big as it relates to attracting a coach to be able to restore and meet those expectations we have for Clemson baseball.”
So what kind of coach will he be looking for when he officially begins his search Wednesday? Neff said he intends to start with “high-profile, accomplished coaches,” which could mean waiting at least another week to potentially talk to candidates who are coaching in the NCAA Tournament.
But Neff didn’t rule out the possibility of hiring a top assistant or even someone in the professional ranks, adding he doesn’t have a specific type.
“Very open and not exclusive to any type of profile,” Neff said. “Again, we intend to invest and go seek the best. That’s easy to say, but, again, we’ve done our due diligence on the market and have a sense of where that could be and where that could take us.”
Clemson is hiring its third baseball coach since the end of the 2015 season when Lee replaced Hall of Famer Jack Leggett, who led the Tigers to 21 NCAA Tournaments in 22 seasons before his dismissal. The Tigers never advanced beyond the regional round during Lee’s tenure.
