For more than a year, Graham Neff was fairly scarce when it came to public appearances and press conferences and such. When your school is embroiled in lawsuits against and from its conference, probably wise to keep a low profile.
CLEMSON — For more than a year, Graham Neff was fairly scarce when it came to public appearances and press conferences and such.
When your school is embroiled in lawsuits against and from its conference, probably wise to keep a low profile.
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If the filing of lawsuits marked the end of a collegial innocence, whether real or imagined, the news of a settlement in March commenced the beginning of the clock ticking toward more conference realignment.
It also signaled a shift for Neff toward being more visible.
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Not that he was hiding from anyone before.
But the settlement with the ACC makes things a lot less strained and thus allows Clemson’s AD to be more of a public presence.
That mostly explains why Neff will hold a press conference late this afternoon inside the Reeves Football Complex as the football team goes through its fifth practice of preseason camp.
The mere fact that Clemson has a star-studded roster is a testament to the fact that it’s in the money game when it comes to revenue sharing.
Quite a few big-ticket players had decisions to make after last season ended at Texas in the first round of the College Football Playoff. The fact that they all chose to remain was driven in part by the pull of this place, but also the pull of lots of money as Clemson paid big to set the Tigers up for what could be a banner season.
Neff forecast this back in late November when he had a press conference to unveil Clemson’s plans for revenue sharing. Seeing was believing when a list including Cade Klubnik, Peter Woods, TJ Parker, Antonio Williams, Bryant Wesco and plenty others elected to remain.
The implementation of the official revenue-sharing model in college athletics has barely gotten off the ground this summer and there are already legal challenges to the idea that revenue share can be capped.
The wheels seem to be turning toward collective bargaining. Or federal intervention. Or both.
In the meantime, the race is on to find ways to pay players above the cap of $20.5 million while still complying with whatever the rules become.
Clemson has phased out its collective in favor of Clemson Ventures, a corporate-driven model of paying athletes. But in light of recent events, and recent brazen disregard of above-the-cap guardrails, should Clemson consider restoring its collective? It’s a question Neff and administrators are probably asking themselves, and we’ll ask that of him later today.
Another hot topic, as always, is realignment speculation. Last week Inside Carolina reported that North Carolina “could be exploring a move away from the ACC to the SEC,” and that the Tar Heels are “one of several schools interested in seeking a potential departure from the ACC” whenever the next round of realignment happens.
Inside Carolina also said UNC “could even be considered at the front of that pack, alongside Clemson.”
First off, not exactly stop-the-presses stuff here. It would be major news if Clemson, North Carolina and other high-profile schools were not performing their due diligence and having back-channel conversations with the SEC and Big Ten.
Again, the settlement changed a lot. Including the ACC schools’ ability to have conversations with whoever they want.
Here’s an excerpt from something we wrote this past April:
“Our ability to be nimble and flexible has been the focus,” Neff said to Mickey Plyler. “And that means clarity on the Grant of Rights, sure, the fundamental notion of it. But also for us to be well read, to invest, to perform, to grow our brand, to educate our fans and viewers, so to speak, while the rate of change in sports and sports entertainment and media viewing behaviors, let alone in college athletics, we just know we need to be positioned to be able to be adaptable in that.”
That’s saying a lot more than he could when Clemson was locked in the early stages of a court battle with the ACC.
And we’d also assume Neff could do a lot more behind the scenes now that there’s no lawsuit and nothing keeping him from having conversations with movers and shakers from elsewhere.
That’s maybe the biggest part of the settlement that flew under the national radar.
This from Dennis Dodd of CBS Sports 13 months ago after Clemson joined FSU in filing suit:
“Both schools must officially leave the ACC before talks can begin with another conference. If not, get familiar with the phrase “tortious interference,” which is a fancy legal term for tampering. You can bet ACC commissioner Jim Phillips has warned his Power Four peers to lay off illegal pursuits.”
Is there such a thing now with the lawsuits gone? We don’t get the sense there is.
Neff will probably be asked about the recent reports later today, and he’ll probably reiterate what he’s said before about being nimble and reacting to whatever shape-shifting events occur in college athletics over the next five years.
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The past couple months alone have shown us how quickly models and notions can change.
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Neff can’t predict the future, but he can now tell us a lot more than he did back during the courtroom days when documents and lips were sealed.
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Category: General Sports
