Clemson was named one of Front Office Sports’ “Best College Athletic Departments.”

CLEMSON, SC (Clemson Athletics) – Sports Business Publication Front Office Sports named Clemson one of seven “Best College Athletic Departments” in the country in its first award year.

Accordingly frontofficesports.com“The award recognizes those athletic departments that set a model for innovation to the rest of the university athletic sector, regardless of school size or resources.”

The Sports Innovation Lab, which drives the awards and nominee evaluation, has worked to understand how athletic departments view key college sports initiatives and activities that address the specific challenges of school sports in the modern era. Clemson joins Oregon, Oklahoma, USF, Fairfield, ODU and Wake Forest on the 2024 roster The full release is available on frontofficesports.com.

Factors considered for this award included: student fan opportunities, student-athlete support, mental health support, training and competition facilities, integration of novel technologies, game day experience, and name, image and likeness support.

Clemson is led by Athletics Director Graham Neff, who has overseen significant growth and investment in the areas mentioned above. The department is largely supported by IPTAY, the nation’s oldest fundraising organization, and is recognized as one of the nation’s leading mental health, wellness and facilities departments.

“It is a great compliment to be considered for this award and it is truly a ‘team’ award,” Neff said. “There are so many incredibly talented people who flock to Clemson and make this place a special place. This reflects the alignment of our university leadership, IPTAY and so many other areas coming together to provide a first-class experience for our student-athletes, fans and students.”

Clemson opened its state-of-the-art lakefront Athlete Recovery Center in March and is nearing completion of the 50,000-square-foot Watt Family Performance and Wellness Center, which will give a new home to sports medicine, sports science, strength, conditioning, nutrition and more. Clemson’s 100 Yards of Wellness and Brook T. Smith Sports Science Labs are also fully operational at the Reeves Complex

Clemson welcomed more than 1 million fans to its home events in 2023-24, which included the lacrosse program’s inaugural gymnastics season and second season. Clemson has added four women’s sports since 2012 (women’s golf, softball) and continues to have facilities that are among the best in the country.

The Tigers have opened new homes for basketball, baseball, soccer, tennis, soccer, volleyball, softball, lacrosse and gymnastics over the past decade.

In the 2023-24 season, Clemson advanced to the Elite Eights or better in four sports for the first time since 1979-80, including men’s soccer’s fourth national championship, and was one of only two schools in the country to advance to the Sweet 16 Men’s basketball, win a bowl game in football and win a baseball regional championship.

Neff also recently announced the formation of Clemson Ventures, an independent company focused on commercial revenue generation. Clemson is the only school in the country with this structure, having managed its own multimedia rights for three years.

Within the past 12 months, the Clemson athletic department has also won three Southeast Regional EMMYs for original content, fully launched a new streaming platform and podcast network, and entered into a new over-the-air distribution agreement for its original programming.

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