Tag: Dan Radakovich

‘We need to get like that’: Radakovich, Miami playing catchup with former program

FERNANDINA BEACH, Fla. – Dan Radakovich will soon return to a place he’s familiar with. Even when it comes to his new point of entry at Clemson’s Memorial Stadium. “I know where the visiting team buses park,” Radakovich told The Clemson Insider this …

FERNANDINA BEACH, Fla. – Dan Radakovich will soon return to a place he’s familiar with. Even when it comes to his new point of entry at Clemson’s Memorial Stadium.

“I know where the visiting team buses park,” Radakovich told The Clemson Insider this week during the ACC’s spring meetings at Amelia Island. “I’m going to try to go into that tunnel and make my way upstairs as quickly as I can.”

Radakovich is the director of athletics at the University of Miami. He’s been on the job less than six months after spending nine years in the same position at Clemson, but, for the first time since leaving Clemson in December, Radakovich will return to Clemson when the Tigers host Miami in football in late November.

“(I will) certainly say hello to a lot of great people that I’ve had the pleasure to work with over nine years,” Radakovich said.

Radakovich spent much of that time watching Clemson morph into a dominant program in the ACC. The Tigers won six straight ACC championships and made six consecutive College Football Playoff appearances from 2015-2020. They won two of the program’s three national championships during that time (2016 and 2018 seasons).

Clemson pulled off its 11th straight 10-win season last fall, a level of consistency for which Radakovich said Miami’s football program is striving. The Hurricanes, who are entering a new era under first-year coach Mario Cristobal, haven’t won more than eight games since 2017, the last time Miami played in the ACC championship game.

“Miami football right now is not at that level from a talent perspective and certainly a number of perspectives, but we aspire to that,” Radakovich said. “It’s wonderful that Clemson is that bellwether for everyone in the league to look at (and say) we need to get like that. And I think, inside that room, there’s a lot of athletic directors who’ve said that and continue to say that.”

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NIL not the only major talking point at ACC spring meetings

FERNANDINA BEACH, Fla. – Name, image and likeness is a hot topic in the world of college athletics, and understandably so. Student-athletes have had opportunities to profit off their name, image and likeness (NIL) since last summer when the NCAA …

FERNANDINA BEACH, Fla. – Name, image and likeness is a hot topic in the world of college athletics, and understandably so.

Student-athletes have had opportunities to profit off their name, image and likeness (NIL) since last summer when the NCAA adopted an interim policy making it legal for them to do so. Less than a year later, though, college sports’ governing body has already added more guidelines in an effort to curtail the unintended consequences.

NIL collectives have popped up at schools nationwide as a way for boosters and businesses to pool their money to facilitate NIL deals with athletes currently enrolled at their schools. But to the surprise of no one, some groups are using collective funds to persuade recruits to sign with their schools. 

On Monday, the NCAA released NIL guidelines prohibiting collectives from paying players who haven’t yet signed with a school as well as current student-athletes looking to transfer. The announcement came late Monday afternoon while ACC athletic directors and coaches convened for the first day of the league’s annual spring meetings.

Clemson athletic director Graham Neff said the updated bylaws help provide some clarity as to what is and isn’t allowed in the NIL world, but with many states having their own NIL legislation and potential antitrust concerns, whether or not the NCAA’s perceived crackdown turns into anything more than a threat remains to be seen.

“I think everyone in there is eager to see what the feedback is like from the board and how we can implement it,” Clemson athletic director Graham Neff said.

NIL may have been a major talking point, but it wasn’t the only one athletic directors discussed while meeting for more than three hours inside a ballroom at The Ritz-Carlton on Monday on Amelia Island. There was also “lots of football scheduling discussion” that could result in the elimination of the Atlantic and Coastal divisions, Neff said.

Like every other Football Bowl Subdivision conference, the ACC has an annual title game that pits division winners against each other, a format the league has used to determine its champion since expanding to 14 teams in 2005. But thanks to another potential change to the rules, that may not be the case much longer.

The NCAA’s Football Oversight Committee is recommending legislation to remove FBS requirements for teams to play in their respective conference championship games. If the recommendation gets approved later this week as expected, how a champion is decided would be left to the discretion of the individual conferences, which could eliminate divisions and leave the teams with the two highest conference winning percentages to play for the title.

Miami athletic director Dan Radakovich said he’s on board with that possibility.

“I think the two best teams in the league having an opportunity to play is really important,” Radakovich said. “You can spin the opportunity to get to a championship game just as you can spin the opportunity to win a division. I think if we’ve done it this way before, if there’s good reason for us to alter our schedule where no divisions come into play because we want our student-athletes to play more people within the league, then I think it’s something we should take a look at and certainly give a try.”

As for what a new scheduling model would look like without divisions, Neff nor Radakovich detailed that to The Clemson Insider. But, according to ESPN’s Pete Thamel, there are a couple that would keep the league schedule at eight games that are possible: two permanent opponents and six that rotate on and off the slate every other year or three permanent opponents and five that rotate on and off every other year.

Under the current scheduling format, Clemson plays fellow Atlantic Division members North Carolina State, Wake Forest, Florida State, Syracuse, Louisville and Boston College every year. Georgia Tech is the Tigers’ permanent cross-division opponent while the eighth conference game rotates among the other Coastal Division teams annually.

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ESPN analyst sees ACC trending toward becoming a Clemson, Miami conference

An ESPN analyst was a guest this week on WCCP 105.5 FM The Roar and discussed the hype around Miami and new head coach Mario Cristobal, and what the potential re-emergence of the Hurricanes as a nationally relevant college football program might …

An ESPN analyst was a guest this week on WCCP 105.5 FM The Roar and discussed the hype around Miami and new head coach Mario Cristobal, and what the potential re-emergence of the Hurricanes as a nationally relevant college football program might mean for the ACC and Clemson moving forward.

ESPN’s Roy Philpott believes things are looking up for Miami with Cristobal now in charge.

“There is a lot of buzz surrounding Mario Cristobal and Miami,” Philpott said in an interview with Kelly Gramlich on The Roar. “Now, it’s taking him a little bit of time to put that staff together. That’s generated a lot of conversation behind the scenes. But I think that as you look around at schools that have recruited Florida, the state of Florida, with a lot of success the last 10 to 15 years … Because Miami has just stunk and Miami has been without an identity and Miami has been without a quality head coach for any consistent period of time.

“Coach (Mark) Richt did it for a year or two, it was good. But it wasn’t what it was when Larry Coker, Dennis Erickson and Jimmy Johnson were doing their thing. Mario Cristobal at Miami, it feels like to me that legitimately they’re about to be back on the football map.”

If that’s the case, Philpott says it’s a good thing for the conference, especially from a financial and exposure standpoint.

“If you’re a fan of Clemson, if you’re a fan of the ACC, you’re looking at this from a twofold approach,” he said. “One, the league needs it. The conference needs it. If you’re talking about making up revenue gaps and generating more cash and more eyeballs and more television sets and that kind of thing, you need another brand to step up within the league, and you’re looking at potentially conference expansion somewhere down the line where you can renogiate and get a bigger deal. Again, that starts to maybe help close revenue gaps.”

On the other hand, Philpott wonders if Cristobal’s presence at Miami — and to a lesser extent, Billy Napier taking over as Florida’s new head coach — will negatively impact Clemson’s recruiting efforts in the Sunshine State, with what he sees as a “perfect storm” coming together at The U with Cristobal and new athletic director Dan Radakovich.

“From a Clemson perspective, maybe the downside is will you have as much success in Florida now with Mario Cristobal and with Billy Napier and what they’re going to try to do to recruit better,” Philpott said. “Florida’s got a long way to go in that regard with their talent. Miami, I don’t know if it’s quite as far.

“So that, to me, is something to watch in how quickly will a good coach like Mario Cristobal with credentials who can recruit, ties to the area, loves it, wants to be there … There’s talk of an on-campus stadium, you’ve got Dan Radakovich there who Clemson fans certainly understand what he brings to the table. All of that coming together, I think is a perfect storm for Miami.”

Philpott, though, doesn’t expect the powerhouse program that Dabo Swinney has built at Clemson to fall off.

But he thinks Miami is on the rise and that the ACC is trending toward becoming a Clemson, Miami conference as this decade continues.

“So if we look ahead to the future five to 10 years, can Clemson stay where it has? My guess there is yes,” Philpott said. “And then who else is getting set to emerge? Does this become a Clemson, Miami conference over the course of the rest of this decade? My educated hunch would be yes, and that brings more stature and prestige to the ACC in football, which is something I think the league really needs right now. And they’re getting closer to that. I think they’re working towards that, and there’s a chance that could happen here in the next couple of seasons.”

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Clemson makes the call on next athletic director

It didn’t take long for Clemson to make a final decision on its next athletic director. In a move that’s been expected since Dan Radakovich left for the same post at the University of Miami, Graham Neff has been promoted to serve as Clemson’s …

It didn’t take long for Clemson to make a final decision on its next athletic director.

In a move that’s been expected since Dan Radakovich left for the same post at the University of Miami, Graham Neff has been promoted to serve as Clemson’s athletic director. Neff’s contract in his new role was approved by the Clemson University Board of Trustees Compensation Committee on Thursday.

“Graham is well respected in his field and is considered a rising star in collegiate athletics,” Clemson President Jim Clements said. “He is, in every sense of the word, a five-star.”

Neff’s contract will run through June 30, 2027 with an annual salary of $850,000, which includes $100,000 of deferred compensation. His salary will increase by $50,000 each year beginning in 2023. Neff will also receive a $30,000 signing bonus.

Neff could also make up to $200,000 in annual bonuses, which would be earned based on “athletic success, fundraising success and academic performance,” Clements said.

Neff had spent the last couple of weeks as the school’s acting athletic director after Radakovich, who had been Clemson’s director of athletics since 2012, was officially hired at Miami on Dec. 9, but The Clemson Insider learned before then that Neff was a serious candidate to take over the position on a permanent basis. His former boss seemed to know what was coming earlier this week, delivering a message to Clemson coaches, athletes and fans about Neff during an appearance on the “Packer and Durham” radio show.

“You are going to be in great hands,” Radakovich said.

As Clemson’s deputy athletic director, Neff has been working with many of the Tigers’ coaches and athletic department staffers for the last eight years as Radakovich’s right-hand man. Most of that time has been spent with the football and men’s basketball teams as the supervisor of those sports, which have had plenty of success during Neff’s time at Clemson.

The football team, which will go for its 11th consecutive double-digit win season against Iowa State on Dec. 29 in the Cheez-It Bowl, won a pair of national titles in 2016 and 2018 and made six straight College Football Playoff appearances with six consecutive ACC championships before this season. Meanwhile, the basketball team has made four consecutive postseason appearances, including the last two NCAA Tournaments.

Other notable on-field accomplishments for Clemson during Neff’s tenure include the softball team’s first-ever regional appearance last spring in just the program’s second year of existence and, most recently, a national championship in men’s soccer.

“Dan has prepared Graham well,” football coach Dabo Swinney said. “He’s a special guy.”

Outside of the competitive arena, Neff has had a hand in developing different aspects of the athletic department, including fundraising. He’s helped oversee more than $200 million in capital projects during his tenure, which include facility additions and renovations.

Men’s basketball coach Brad Brownell all but lobbied for Neff to get the job permanently days after Radakovich’s departure.

“I think he’s a rising star in the profession, and hopefully our administration sees that,” Brownell said following the basketball team’s win over Drake on Dec. 11. “I know he’ll continue to do great things for Clemson athletics.”

The 38-year-old Neff is one of the country’s younger athletic directors. A Georgia Tech graduate, Neff worked in senior administrative roles within Middle Tennessee State’s athletic department before arriving at Clemson in 2013. Neff began his time at Clemson at associate athletic director of finance and facilities, and Clements gave him credit for helping increase the athletic department’s revenue from $65 million to $140 million projected for 2022.

“He has a great working relationship with the coaching staff and has been a key part of our athletic success,” Clements said. “He is also well respected among donors and ITPAY members. Clemson athletics, as you all know, is a big-time job, and Graham Neff is well-equipped to lead our program.”

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Are adjustments coming to ACC’s COVID-19 policies?

Adjustments could be coming to the Atlantic Coast Conference’s COVID-19 policies including game rescheduling. That’s when the league’s athletic directors approved a revised policy for football and men’s and women’s basketball among other sports …

Adjustments could be coming to the Atlantic Coast Conference’s COVID-19 policies including game rescheduling.

That’s when the league’s athletic directors approved a revised policy for football and men’s and women’s basketball among other sports regarding testing protocols, mitigation strategies and the forfeiture of games amid the lingering coronavirus pandemic. Former Clemson athletic director Dan Radakovich, who’s moved on to the University of Miami in the same role, said the conference’s athletic directors are going to meet Wednesday to discuss more potential alterations to the policies given the vaccination status of many of the ACC’s coaches and student-athletes.

“We may need to adjust our medical advisory group information as it relates to getting back to play,” Radakovich said Tuesday during his appearance on “Packer and Durham.” “It’s a very different circumstances today than it was even a year ago. A lot of people are vaccinated. A lot of athletic teams.”

As part of the league’s revised policy, teams that have a vaccination rate of at least 85% are required to test their unvaccinated players just once a week with a minimum of three tests per week required of unvaccinated individuals on teams with a vaccination rate any lower than that. Fully vaccinated individuals aren’t required to participate in surveillance testing.

But if an ACC team can’t play a contest on its originally scheduled date due to an insufficient number of available players because of COVID-related issues, the policy calls for that team to forfeit. In that scenario, the forfeiting team would be assigned a loss and the scheduled opponent a win that would both count in the league standings.

If both teams have COVID-19 issues that prevent them from playing on the originally scheduled date of their contest, each would have to forfeit and take a loss in the league standings, according to the current policy.

Radakovich said the forfeit policy will likely be “another piece” that’s discussed among the athletic directors.

“I think the forfeit policy was put into place back in the early fall to encourage student-athletes to get vaccinated because if you weren’t and your team did’t have the requisite players, your team would forfeit,” he said. “So it was something out there that was another encouragement for student-athletes to get vaccinated. Now, just as we’ve learned during this pandemic period, there’s new information, and there are new variants that are coming out. So we have to adjust this policy.”

The ACC made it through the football season without any of its conference games being affected by COVID-related issues. But with the United States seeing a surge in coronavirus cases recently, particularly those linked to the Omicron variant, the policy is already having an impact on the basketball season.

Multiple men’s basketball teams within the conference, including Florida State, Wake Forest and Boston College, have had games postponed or canceled. Wake Forest and Boston College were scheduled to play each other Wednesday, but that game has been canceled because of coronavirus-related issues within Boston College’s program.

With the forfeit, Boston College drops to 1-1 in ACC play. Wake Forest, assigned the win, moves to 2-0 in the league.

“The variant, while it hits, might not be as severe to those who are vaccinated, but we’ll hear a lot more about that in the next day or so from our medical advisory group and then look forward to making some decisions because (COVID-19) is still here,” Radakovich said. “It’s still prevalent. And we’ve got to be able to do as we’ve done in the last 18 to 20 months and navigate it to allow us to have a safe and competitive athletic season whether it was football in 2020 or 2021 and now basketball and moving into the spring sports.

“There’s a way to get it done. We’ve shown that can happen. We’ll just need to continue to adjust.”

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Why the move from Clemson to Miami? Radakovich explains

Former Clemson athletic director Dan Radakovich, who was named vice president and athletic director at Miami last week, joined “Out of Bounds” with William Qualkinbush and Kelly Gramlich on WCCP 105.5 FM The Roar on Monday. Radakovich, who earned …

Former Clemson athletic director Dan Radakovich, who was named vice president and athletic director at Miami last week, joined “Out of Bounds” with William Qualkinbush and Kelly Gramlich on WCCP 105.5 FM The Roar on Monday.

Radakovich, who earned his master’s degree at Miami in 1982 and got his start in administration as Miami’s athletic business manager, was asked why he decided to leave Clemson and why now is the right time to make the move to UM.

“I have one of the diplomas on my wall that says ‘University of Miami Master’s Degree,’ and throughout my entire career, always wanted them to do well,” Radakovich said. “Whomever was the AD there, I kind of kept in touch with, and anything I could do to help. That’s kind of what I was looking at, as it related to talking to some of the folks associated with their search. And one thing led to another, and they said, why don’t you consider this? And then we sat and met, and they were really great people, understanding that they knew where they were as it relates to investment in the program, etcetera.

“So, once they had been able to land Coach (Mario) Cristobal and kind of moved into the next phase of looking at the AD position, I was fortunate enough to come forward with them and reach a deal.”

Radakovich added that he feels Dabo Swinney’s program will still be relevant in the ACC and national college football landscape without him leading Clemson’s athletic department, and his goal is to get the Hurricanes back to that point.

“The ACC and college football in general is better when Miami is good,” Radakovich said. “So, I know that Dabo and his staff are going to continue to create an incredible team here and one that’s going to be not only competitive in the ACC but nationally. So, I think it’s important for the league and nationally that Miami tried to get there. So, the administration and their board and their president are really looking to invest in a way that we’ve invested here at Clemson, to be able to get to a point of being nationally relevant again.

“So, it’s exciting to be able to take what we’ve learned and what we’ve done here and see if we can transform it to another great ACC member.”

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Radakovich has a final message for Clemson fans as he transitions to Miami

Former Clemson athletic director Dan Radakovich, who was named vice president and athletic director at Miami last week, joined “Out of Bounds” with William Qualkinbush and Kelly Gramlich on WCCP 105.5 FM The Roar on Monday. As the interview wrapped …

Former Clemson athletic director Dan Radakovich, who was named vice president and athletic director at Miami last week, joined “Out of Bounds” with William Qualkinbush and Kelly Gramlich on WCCP 105.5 FM The Roar on Monday.

As the interview wrapped up, Radakovich was asked if there was anything he wanted to say to Tiger fans or if he had any final thoughts for the Clemson faithful as he transitions to the next chapter of his life and career at Miami.

“Just thank you,” Radakovich said. “Thank you on behalf of my wife, Marcie, my two boys. Grant had the great opportunity to play for Dabo in 2016, so that was certainly a highlight of his career. It’s just been a blessing to be here. We just love this area. Like many folks around the country, we have a house on a lake, and maybe we’ll keep it there and come back again at some point in time to retire. Because this is just a beautiful, beautiful place with great people and folks that love their university, love their Tigers, and that’s something to be incredibly proud of.”

“It’s been the biggest blessing of my life to be able to be here,” Radakovich continued. “I do have that gene that kind of says, ‘OK, let’s go out and see if we can do another challenge,’ and that’s what I’m following right now. But only pleasant and incredible memories of this place, and it’s because of the awesome people.”

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Reviewing Radakovich’s legacy, looking forward to Neff

Plenty of change has occurred at Clemson over the last week, but one change has TCI excited for the future of Clemson athletics. Robert and Davis hit the TCI studio to discuss Radakovich’s departure and look ahead to the rising star Graham Neff.

Plenty of change has occurred at Clemson over the last week, but one change has TCI excited for the future of Clemson athletics.

Robert and Davis hit the TCI studio to discuss Radakovich’s departure and look ahead to the rising star Graham Neff.

Brownell weighs in on Radakovich’s ‘unheralded’ tenure as Clemson’s AD

Clemson’s men’s basketball coach doesn’t think his former boss may be getting enough credit for the job he’s leaving Dan Radakovich’s tenure as the school’s athletic director ended Thursday when the University of Miami officially hired him for the …

Clemson’s men’s basketball coach doesn’t think his former boss may be getting enough credit for the job he’s leaving

Dan Radakovich’s tenure as the school’s athletic director ended Thursday when the University of Miami officially hired him for the same job. Radakovich spent a decade filling that role at Clemson.

Brad Brownell has been at Clemson for the duration of that time, taking over the men’s basketball program in 2010. That’s when former athletic director Terry Don Phillips was still the one hiring coaches.

“I have a lot of respect and admiration for Dan,” Brownell said. “I think he did a terrific job during his time at Clemson.”

Dabo Swinney, who’s elevated Clemson’s football program to national prominence with six straight ACC championships at one point and two national championships in the last six seasons, was already in place, too. Meanwhile, Brownell has led the men’s basketball program to two of the last three NCAA Tournaments.

It’s easy to understand why Brownell would sing Radakovich’s praises given Radakovich gave him a contract extension and a raise this fall. But while Radakovich may not have hired Brownell or Swinney, Brownell said Radakovich deserves credit for much more than Clemson’s performance in the playing arena and the coaches’ contracts outside of it.

“Probably a little unheralded at times because he didn’t hire Coach Swinney, and we all know what Coach Swinney has done and what he’s meant to the athletic department and the university,” Brownell said. “But Dan was a big part of doing things necessary to help that program be what it is in terms of not only building facilities but hiring coaches, assistant coaches and salaries to pay for those things. And also just streamlining things within the department.”

Those facility upgrades in recent years include renovations to the buildings most important to Brownell’s program.

“He was very supportive of me and our program,” Brownell said. “He helped us renovate Littlejohn (Coliseum) and the Swann Pavilion (practice facility), which has made a major impact on our guys.”

Just how much of an impact? Brownell pointed to sophomore forward PJ Hall — a former top-100 recruit from nearby Spartanburg — while sitting next to him during the Tigers’ postgame press conference following their overtime win over Drake on Saturday, one in which Hall posted 22 points and a career-high 13 rebounds.

“Probably wouldn’t have this guy next to me if we didn’t have those renovations,” he said.

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Radakovich releases statement after moving on from Clemson

Dan Radakovich, who served as Clemson’s director of athletics for the past nine years, has been named vice president and director of athletics at Miami. After the news was officially announced Thursday, Radakovich released the following statement in …

Dan Radakovich, who served as Clemson’s director of athletics for the past nine years, has been named vice president and director of athletics at Miami.

After the news was officially announced Thursday, Radakovich released the following statement in a post on Twitter, which you can see below:

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