Clemson takes on 'concerted shift of mentality' in promoting NIL's importance

Clemson takes on 'concerted shift of mentality' in promoting NIL's importance

Baseball

Clemson takes on 'concerted shift of mentality' in promoting NIL's importance

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Late last year, Clemson’s coaches and administrators became more public with their messaging about the importance of keeping up amid the new era of college athletics.

That wasn’t an accident.

“You’ll see the same in baseball and softball when we have first pitch this spring,” Clemson athletic director Graham Neff said.

It’s been roughly a year and a half since the NCAA made NIL opportunities legal for college athletes, which has also given birth to collectives around the country that raise money to fund some of those opportunities for the student-athletes at their respective institutions. Clemson’s two collectives, TigerImpact and Dear Old Clemson, were created early last year. Since then, Neff has helped push Clemson’s messaging of the importance of NIL, which can play a role in attracting prospective athletes and then retaining them with the transfer portal also part of college athletics’ new landscape.

Clemson showed videos at home football games during the fall featuring Neff and head football coach Dabo Swinney promoting the importance of supporting the collectives. Internally within the last year, Clemson has also hired a full-time NIL coordinator for football and constructed the Clemson Branding Institute, a 12,000 square-foot add-on to football’s indoor practice facility that serves as a hub to educate and help create NIL opportunities for all of the school’s student-athletes.

“We did have a concerted shift of mentality or maybe shift of assertiveness in the fall, and you saw that with videos and things like that,” Neff said.

Neff said he feels good about how the role NIL plays in helping keep the Tigers’ athletic programs competitive is viewed by coaches and the department as a whole.

“No one has chosen to come to Clemson because of NIL, but we want to be sure that we’re really invested there and, now that that’s available, that’s part of it,” Neff said. “I know I’ve talked a lot about it for the past year as far as being bold and aggressive with that. I know I’m a younger guy and probably think that way on a lot of different things. I think we’ve had a measured and appropriate position from an NIL standpoint, but we’re going to keep going. We’re going to keep turning the spicket, so to speak. Playing with integrity. Playing by the rules. That’s without question. But I think the external prominence is going to continue to show itself.”

Clemson still faces some obstacles in the NIL space. While Neff praised the way TigerImpact and Dear Old Clemson have worked together – “That’s not the case everywhere, I can tell you,” Neff said – the collectives provide financial opportunities to current student-athletes primarily through donations. With donors also contributing to IPTAY, Clemson’s fundraising arm for athletic scholarships, coming up with adequate NIL funds can be challenging, particularly when both entities are seeking money from the same donors.

Neff said that makes spreading the word publicly even more important for Clemson moving forward.

“I feel like that’s easy for me because I am in it day to day and I feel like I know all of the mechanics of what NIL is and isn’t and how it works. I need to. That’s my job,” Neff said. “But we have to continue to remind ourselves that for our donors, a lot of times, it’s NIL, it’s uncertain and can IPTAY pay for that? Well, no, IPTAY can’t do that, so we need you to continue your IPTAY support and consider supporting these collectives.

“The educational side of things needs to continually be ready, and this goes up to the institution. President (Jim) Clements, you all know well of what type of recruiter he is and how he’s engaged athletically from a recruiting standpoint and a fundraising standpoint. His understanding, his support, his consistency of messaging with our donors that he, I and IPTAY need to have of where NIL fits, how it works and where we need you. The institutional message on that is what we talk a lot about.”

Neff said the school’s annual Prowl & Growl tour around the state this spring will be a prime opportunity to continue getting the message out.

“I think the external prominence is going to continue to show itself,” he said.

Dear Old Clemson has added the Tiger Sack Pack to our online store.  Save by getting the Two Pack of signed cards from two of the nation’s top defensive ends, Myles Murphy and Xavier Thomas.

Now there is a new way you can support Clemson student-athletes. Purchase collectibles from Dear Old Clemson and the proceeds with go to support Clemson student-athletes. 

Dear Old Clemson is doing NIL the ‘Clemson way’, but we need your help to make sure we build a sustainable, repeatable model that will help keep Clemson competitive with the other top programs around the nation.

Dabo Swinney: “We need your assistance more than ever to provide meaningful NIL opportunities. Tiger Impact, Dear Old Clemson and other collectives allow student-athletes to utilize their voice and platform to maximize their NIL opportunities and strengthen their impact in the community.”

Graham Neff:
“Tiger Impact, Dear Old Clemson and other collectives need your support to help provide meaningful NIL opportunities for our student athletes. We are doing things the right way, the Clemson way with integrity as a non-negotiable and we fully support the mission of these groups.”

Join the Tiger Club or Lady Tiger Club to help these great student-athletes and help the Tigers compete at the highest level!

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