Latest / Beyond the Paw - Clemson Athletics / Ep 56 - Graham Neff on Clemson Ventures, National Championships & Leading Clemson Athletics

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Ep 56 - Graham Neff on Clemson Ventures, National Championships & Leading Clemson Athletics · Beyond the Paw - Clemson Athletics

0:04
Speaker 1: Welcome everyone to a very special episode of Beyond the Pod.
0:07
Speaker 1: Today we have our director of Athletics. We have Graham
0:10
Speaker 1: Nef on the podcast now in his fourth year leading
0:12
Speaker 1: the department. Under his watch, Clemson has won multiple ACC championships,
0:16
Speaker 1: claimed a men's soccer national championship, returned to the College
0:20
Speaker 1: Football Playoff in twenty twenty four, and maintains a ninety
0:23
Speaker 1: six percent graduation success rate, best among public power for
0:26
Speaker 1: schools in the nation. He's overseen more than two hundred
0:29
Speaker 1: million in facility investments, launched Clemson Plus, and most recently
0:33
Speaker 1: spearheaded Clemson Ventures, a first of its kind commercial revenue
0:37
Speaker 1: model within the department. He's also a sports business journal
0:40
Speaker 1: forty under forty honoree, please welcome Graham Nef.
0:43
Speaker 2: I'm no longer eligible for the forty under forty now okay, no, I.
0:47
Speaker 3: Did win it. You were right, the superlative was accurate.
0:49
Speaker 2: I'm just now I've exceeded the eligibility for those type
0:52
Speaker 2: of awards.
0:53
Speaker 4: Gotcha.
0:53
Speaker 1: Getting old is hard.
0:54
Speaker 3: Thank you for call it what it is.
0:57
Speaker 1: Yes, Graham, Welcome to Beyond the Fall. I first start
1:00
Speaker 1: off with how we.
1:01
Speaker 2: Got here so well, you ran through some of the
1:05
Speaker 2: ACC Championships, the most recent as we see here today,
1:07
Speaker 2: the most recent ACC championships into.
1:10
Speaker 5: Yeah shut up.
1:13
Speaker 2: So yeah, we got here because Eve was hosting our
1:17
Speaker 2: letter Jacket award ceremonies right for whether that's freshman or
1:21
Speaker 2: transfer students, those student athletes that earn their their first
1:24
Speaker 2: year letter and Block C and so the event, the
1:27
Speaker 2: program was you know, your parents are there, certainly the
1:30
Speaker 2: student athletes and different Block SEA president and ip Tay
1:34
Speaker 2: and I, you know, I said a few things, but
1:35
Speaker 2: we did it in an interview type form like this
1:38
Speaker 2: hosted by uh Misteve Jackson, and I said, hey, why
1:41
Speaker 2: haven't I, you know, been hosted on Beyond the Paw
1:44
Speaker 2: called out?
1:45
Speaker 1: I literally got called out on STEA, but you.
1:48
Speaker 3: Took me up.
1:48
Speaker 2: I think it was like by the next morning there
1:50
Speaker 2: was an email of like, hey, let's get this schedule
1:52
Speaker 2: with Graham.
1:52
Speaker 4: And so here you know, oh yeah, we got a
1:54
Speaker 4: text right away that was that.
1:57
Speaker 3: On the stage.
1:58
Speaker 1: I literally was texting on the stage, we need to
2:00
Speaker 1: get Graham on the podcast right now.
2:02
Speaker 4: Really absolutely, yes, So it happened.
2:05
Speaker 1: I was like, why haven't I ever thought of this?
2:07
Speaker 1: Like that is so true?
2:08
Speaker 3: Well, I'm very intimidating.
2:09
Speaker 2: I get it now, but listen, like I like this
2:12
Speaker 2: forum obviously watching what you all have done with just
2:16
Speaker 2: the content and the beyond the.
2:18
Speaker 3: Paul write the story, the stories of it.
2:20
Speaker 2: My my wife Kristen, who is part and parcel. We're
2:24
Speaker 2: talking about her, yeah, I mean like she's she is
2:27
Speaker 2: as part of my story. We can get wherever we
2:28
Speaker 2: want to take the conversation. But just you know, love
2:31
Speaker 2: what I do and college athletics, let alone Clemson, holy cow.
2:37
Speaker 2: But it's like such an integrated lifestyle. And we have
2:40
Speaker 2: twenty one sports and I want to win in all
2:42
Speaker 2: of them as we all do. And all we have
2:46
Speaker 2: five hundred student five hundred plus student athletes, and so
2:49
Speaker 2: you know we love football. Here I'm kind of pointing
2:51
Speaker 2: over here to the football stadium, and that's seven saturdays.
2:54
Speaker 2: There matters for our student body experience for student like
2:57
Speaker 2: no question, right, let's you know, business of it, of course,
3:00
Speaker 2: but all twenty one it's it's incredibly it's incredibly important
3:04
Speaker 2: and so for me and even in Kristen, as I
3:06
Speaker 2: got on this point to start, like just that integration
3:09
Speaker 2: and sure the relationships. We have three boys nine, six
3:13
Speaker 2: and six and so just like you know, town in
3:16
Speaker 2: a place like Clemson is just so perfect for our
3:18
Speaker 2: season of life and for what you know is passionate
3:22
Speaker 2: for me, for for all of our sports. Grew up
3:24
Speaker 2: playing a little bit everything, and just love the broad
3:27
Speaker 2: based nature of college athletics sitting on a higher education campus,
3:32
Speaker 2: you know, the educational aspect you talk on our GSR
3:34
Speaker 2: rates like, it's just all I love the comprehensive nature
3:38
Speaker 2: of it. It really fits me and things that I'm
3:39
Speaker 2: passing about fits our family back to Kristin and our
3:42
Speaker 2: family and season of life, and so I love this.
3:45
Speaker 2: My point is I love the forum and the content
3:46
Speaker 2: here that you guys dive deeper beyond just what we
3:49
Speaker 2: see on the fields and courts and mats to stories
3:52
Speaker 2: and things like that of our student athletes or staff,
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Speaker 2: et cetera.
3:54
Speaker 1: Yeah. I want to say to Kristen too, She's absolutely
3:57
Speaker 1: my favorite person. But she traveled with us to region
4:00
Speaker 1: halls this year and I was like, Hey, I think
4:03
Speaker 1: we're actually going to have Graham on our podcast. I
4:06
Speaker 1: was like, can you please tell me anything about him
4:08
Speaker 1: that I should ask to surprise him with. Unfortunately I
4:10
Speaker 1: didn't get many surprises, but yeah.
4:12
Speaker 2: Yeah, no, she filtered that through. I'm just kidding, but yes, no,
4:16
Speaker 2: but she's man. Couldn't couldn't do without her. And again
4:20
Speaker 2: she grew up playing ball sports. Her sister was a
4:23
Speaker 2: collegial student athlete. Both her parents played collegiately. Her mom
4:27
Speaker 2: was actually just inducted into the She was a swimmer
4:30
Speaker 2: in college, so she was just inducted to the Bowling
4:33
Speaker 2: Green State University Athletic Hall of Fame. That was his
4:36
Speaker 2: past fall. So we all went to support Becky grandma,
4:40
Speaker 2: and it was cool for me just to be sitting
4:43
Speaker 2: in the audience supporting one of the you know, the
4:45
Speaker 2: honorees and seeing the athletic director at Bowling Green kind
4:48
Speaker 2: of give there some of their remarks, et cetera. So
4:51
Speaker 2: I was just able to be you know, like proud
4:53
Speaker 2: son in law and dad are three boys that are
4:56
Speaker 2: running around, so you know, like it's just it's our
4:58
Speaker 2: dinner table talk, just sports ball, whatever the whatever the
5:02
Speaker 2: sport may be.
5:03
Speaker 3: And so just love that integration. And Christen's a huge
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Speaker 3: part of it.
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Speaker 4: We're going to talk a lot about being the athletic
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Speaker 4: director and your story, but you're in your sport, dad Era,
5:12
Speaker 4: You're just entering that you said, being a spectator, but
5:15
Speaker 4: I know your boys are getting involved. What's that been
5:18
Speaker 4: like being in the stamps cheering on your kids playing sports.
5:21
Speaker 2: It's hard to and I'm not coaching at this point.
5:25
Speaker 2: I don't know, you know, I don't know if that's
5:27
Speaker 2: going to make sense. But but yes, but Grady, thank you.
5:30
Speaker 3: Tory.
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Speaker 2: Grady is nine, third grade and an Emmett is six
5:34
Speaker 2: and Nolan is six. So yes, twins kindergarten at this point.
5:38
Speaker 2: And yes, Dad Era, So last night we had a
5:41
Speaker 2: baseball game, TENU baseball game Monday night, we had two
5:44
Speaker 2: of them. Emmett's doing cook school. He's a big martial arts.
5:47
Speaker 2: He's getting stripes on the bell.
5:48
Speaker 1: That's awesome.
5:49
Speaker 2: Yeah, and so so yes we are you know, planes
5:53
Speaker 2: and trains and auto taxis and things. Christien's parents live
5:57
Speaker 2: here in town. Her sister's also up in Greenville, so
6:00
Speaker 2: have a lot of help, so to speak. But it's
6:02
Speaker 2: but it's awesome to your point, and were it's baseball now,
6:05
Speaker 2: it was hoops in the winter, soccer in the fall.
6:09
Speaker 3: Like this will probably be the first.
6:10
Speaker 2: Summer where we're camping all over summer camps and like
6:14
Speaker 2: the hey like Monday to Thursday. Your baseball camp this week,
6:17
Speaker 2: and then it's soccer camp, and then it's you know,
6:20
Speaker 2: so like that's a cool you know, leverage point here
6:22
Speaker 2: in college town Clemson. So so yes, it's a lot,
6:26
Speaker 2: but but they're also getting to the point, all three
6:29
Speaker 2: of them, where they're you know, playing ball, understanding, watching
6:33
Speaker 2: Clemson and they're really realizing that, hey, dad's job's pretty
6:36
Speaker 2: cool too. Before it was like they were coming tagging along.
6:40
Speaker 2: We'd have to manage them and I'm watching the game
6:42
Speaker 2: or trying to do some stuff or Christen you know.
6:43
Speaker 2: So now they're able to be you know, more integrated
6:46
Speaker 2: and hey, well we get to walk on the court
6:48
Speaker 2: over there. That's kind of you know, like that's that
6:50
Speaker 2: realization is we're getting to that point too, which is awesome.
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Speaker 3: It is fun.
6:53
Speaker 1: Both of your all of your kids are super athletic.
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Speaker 1: I've seen them multiple times in our gymnastics facility playing around.
7:00
Speaker 2: They are around, they are very comfortable on the trampolines.
7:03
Speaker 3: They're the you guys probably.
7:05
Speaker 2: Do the ropes that you usually that's like our telltale sign.
7:10
Speaker 1: Yeah, that's like our conditioning. So she don't like rope climbs,
7:13
Speaker 1: because they're super hard, but they've turned that perspective so
7:16
Speaker 1: it's fun.
7:17
Speaker 2: Well, the Neft boys don't climate for conditioning. They are
7:21
Speaker 2: Indiana Jones, so we're swinging and like sometimes I pull
7:24
Speaker 2: out the Spotify and get the Indiana.
7:26
Speaker 3: Jones like soundtrack.
7:27
Speaker 2: So yeah, I'm sure there it's known when the Nephts
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Speaker 2: are have spent a Sunday afternoon up at the gymnastics
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Speaker 2: training facility because we probably have like hieroglyphics of chalk
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Speaker 2: on the mats.
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Speaker 1: Like handprints chalk on Yes, it is so fun.
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Speaker 3: Yes, no, but they are.
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Speaker 2: They're all boy and Kristen's an awesome boy mom in
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Speaker 2: this case, and so it's it's a fun season of life.
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Speaker 3: To your point, Toy's so sweet.
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Speaker 5: I don't want to go into your background. How did
7:52
Speaker 5: you get into sports? I know you were at Georgia
7:55
Speaker 5: Tech kind of how talk about you know, your perspective
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Speaker 5: on it and how you got into it?
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Speaker 2: Well, yeah, me, no, great question. So from Atlanta when
8:04
Speaker 2: a school at Georgia Tech. I actually grew up a
8:05
Speaker 2: Georgia Tech fan in the state of Georgia, which that's
8:08
Speaker 2: a you know, that's a little niche niche kind of
8:11
Speaker 2: fandom in bulldog country of Georgia. But when I was
8:15
Speaker 2: an undergrad at Georgia Tech, my degree is in engineering.
8:17
Speaker 2: I was going to be a hell of an engineer.
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Speaker 2: But I was a manager on the basketball team, and
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Speaker 2: my sophomore year went actually went to the final four
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Speaker 2: national championship game.
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Speaker 3: This is four girls, this is right around how about that?
8:30
Speaker 3: My goodness? So, but that was my that's to your question.
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Speaker 2: That was my first entree into into college athletics, admittedly
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Speaker 2: just a student manager, and I didn't want to coach,
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Speaker 2: and I wasn't sure. But for me a common thread
8:44
Speaker 2: or a mentor certainly was was rad of COVID was
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Speaker 2: Dan Radakovich, who when I was when I was an undergrad,
8:49
Speaker 2: a senior actually at Georgia Tech, he came to be
8:52
Speaker 2: the to be the a D.
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Speaker 3: So he was new ad guy.
8:54
Speaker 2: I was the head manager guy, and so I got
8:56
Speaker 2: to know him a little bit as I was exploring, Okay,
8:58
Speaker 2: what do I do with my career or engineering degree?
9:01
Speaker 2: Great at that point didn't knew I didn't want to
9:04
Speaker 2: be an engineer, So I was looking.
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Speaker 3: At okay, at business school or otherwise.
9:07
Speaker 2: I worked for a couple of years outside of college
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Speaker 2: athletics at Deloitte into consulting for a couple of years
9:15
Speaker 2: and then just stay in touch. But really my time
9:16
Speaker 2: at Deloitte, probably while I loved it and it was
9:20
Speaker 2: fortune whatever, like awesome company and experience at that kind
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Speaker 2: of entry level role of my career, it's really what
9:27
Speaker 2: convinced me to go back to college athletics a little
9:30
Speaker 2: bit what I talked about earlier, just love sports, love
9:33
Speaker 2: higher educate.
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Speaker 3: My mom was a teacher K twelve teacher.
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Speaker 2: Really I'm an elementary school teacher, and so just the
9:38
Speaker 2: educational aspect was really fundamental in our household. And so
9:42
Speaker 2: just the higher ed notion sports all the sports, as
9:45
Speaker 2: I said, like you just kind of line that ven
9:47
Speaker 2: diagram up and it's college athletics. And so use the
9:51
Speaker 2: opportunity to go back to Georgia Tech to get a
9:53
Speaker 2: grad degree working in the athletic department and kind of
9:57
Speaker 2: went from there, and so had an opportunity. After three
10:00
Speaker 2: years at Georgia Tech, went to Middle Tennessee State, which
10:02
Speaker 2: is Conference USA now Sundelt School, group of six school
10:07
Speaker 2: outside of Nashville, which was awesome. Now I've been here
10:09
Speaker 2: at Clemson thirteen years in different roles to your point, Eve,
10:13
Speaker 2: and was able to succeed Dan, you know, who is
10:17
Speaker 2: still the ad at Miami and is in acc meetings,
10:20
Speaker 2: et cetera. Somebody again back to that I met when
10:23
Speaker 2: I was a senior in college. And so when I'm
10:25
Speaker 2: in front of different audiences, whether that's students, undergrad students,
10:29
Speaker 2: I like to go and speak to classes and things.
10:31
Speaker 2: It's a point of encouragement that I have that a
10:33
Speaker 2: big part of my professional story was certainly you know,
10:37
Speaker 2: mentorship and things like relationships.
10:38
Speaker 3: That's networking.
10:39
Speaker 2: That's a known you know task or known importance. But
10:45
Speaker 2: you know, my story is I met Dan when I
10:47
Speaker 2: was an undergrad in college like in your shoes, so
10:49
Speaker 2: to speak, and he has been so integral in my
10:51
Speaker 2: career and so you know, you just never know when
10:55
Speaker 2: are you're going to meet your Dan so to speak.
10:56
Speaker 2: Is kind of my line and just that encouragement, but
10:59
Speaker 2: like awareness by way of sharing my story and what
11:01
Speaker 2: that looks like from a career standpoint. Whatever your career
11:03
Speaker 2: vocation is, right college athletics or whatever, our student athletes
11:07
Speaker 2: are able to go to go do.
11:09
Speaker 3: So that's some bits and pieces there mea awesome.
11:12
Speaker 1: So you came to Clemson, you said you went through
11:14
Speaker 1: multiple different roles. Is there a role that you felt
11:16
Speaker 1: was most beneficial to you or one of your favorites?
11:20
Speaker 2: One of my favorite, My favorite was probably my I
11:23
Speaker 2: hope this doesn't sound the wrong way my prior role
11:26
Speaker 2: because you know, in a deputy a d type role,
11:30
Speaker 2: because I love the variety of the day to day
11:33
Speaker 2: It's probably also consistent with as I talk about the
11:35
Speaker 2: variety of college sports, and we have twenty one sports
11:38
Speaker 2: at Clemson and just love all the nuances and the
11:41
Speaker 2: competitiveness in a different way of all of them. So
11:44
Speaker 2: in my prior role as deputy athletic director, you know,
11:46
Speaker 2: there was the high level stuff, sure, and supported Dan
11:50
Speaker 2: and interface with our trustees and leadership within the department. Sure,
11:54
Speaker 2: there's the big picture stuff, but also it was a
11:57
Speaker 2: you know, it gets stuff.
11:58
Speaker 3: Done type of a role.
11:59
Speaker 2: Yeah, in the weeds and finance and big you know,
12:02
Speaker 2: budgets and coaches and you know, so like that that
12:05
Speaker 2: spectrum of like in the weeds, but also high level
12:09
Speaker 2: leadership or strategy.
12:11
Speaker 3: Loved that, you know.
12:13
Speaker 2: Now in this role after four and a half years,
12:15
Speaker 2: like you, it's it's been hard for me if if
12:18
Speaker 2: I look in the mirror, it's probably been I probably underestimated,
12:22
Speaker 2: maybe a better way to say it, the pulling myself
12:25
Speaker 2: out of the weeds or those details, because I like,
12:27
Speaker 2: you know, my degrees in engineering, like I like the
12:30
Speaker 2: degree finance background, so like I like the intricacies and
12:33
Speaker 2: in the weeds stuff. But the reality is of this
12:35
Speaker 2: role now, particularly you know this day and age, you know,
12:39
Speaker 2: month after month after or the indus as the industry
12:41
Speaker 2: continues to evolve, like gosh, I have to this has
12:44
Speaker 2: to be well run, this meaning the weeds and the
12:46
Speaker 2: operations of the department and execution and decision making, so
12:50
Speaker 2: that gets into staff and process. But I have to
12:53
Speaker 2: spend my time up here, so to speak, with national
12:57
Speaker 2: topics and issues and leadership from an instantitutional level. And
13:01
Speaker 2: just the reality is therefore I have to be less
13:03
Speaker 2: here and so like that balance and that time allocation.
13:07
Speaker 2: I underestimated the difficulty of that quite frankly for me
13:11
Speaker 2: just knowing myself let alone, I think just with this job,
13:13
Speaker 2: this role as athletic directors is becoming or has become,
13:17
Speaker 2: and so and so that just paying attention to that
13:19
Speaker 2: as I look in the mirror, and and try to
13:20
Speaker 2: lead myself well, which you know then that has a
13:24
Speaker 2: lot of relationship to how the department has led or
13:27
Speaker 2: those that you lead are and so so yeah, I
13:30
Speaker 2: think through that a lot, I guess, is my point.
13:31
Speaker 2: And I really love that of my prior role, and
13:34
Speaker 2: I love the day to day of this job. It's hard, though,
13:37
Speaker 2: like the stressors and like stuff's flying, and and again,
13:40
Speaker 2: just the rate of change in college athletics is that
13:43
Speaker 2: flywheel just.
13:44
Speaker 3: Continues to spend. And I love that.
13:46
Speaker 2: I love needing to be innovative for our department and
13:48
Speaker 2: our university, but just the uncertainty is really hard for
13:51
Speaker 2: our student athletes, for our coaches, for like decisions decisions ahead.
13:56
Speaker 3: I love that aspect of it.
13:57
Speaker 1: I was gonna ask, you have a favorite part of
13:59
Speaker 1: your day or your week in your role now you
14:02
Speaker 1: look forward.
14:02
Speaker 2: To And that's a great question, you know, I'll answer
14:06
Speaker 2: your question is more professionally based obviously, so I take
14:09
Speaker 2: you know, and again this is where Clemson.
14:11
Speaker 3: Is just special.
14:11
Speaker 2: I do take the three f boys to school most mornings,
14:14
Speaker 2: and so that you know, eight minutes in the car
14:16
Speaker 2: is usually that's usually pretty high level right there. One
14:19
Speaker 2: way or the other depending on kind of how you
14:21
Speaker 2: woke up in the bed in the morning or out
14:23
Speaker 2: of the bed in the morning. The professionally, I do love,
14:28
Speaker 2: I really enjoy, I really value being part, you know,
14:31
Speaker 2: being part of president's cabinet. We call it at el
14:36
Speaker 2: T here executive Leadership team, and obviously the interface with
14:38
Speaker 2: the board. My point is, you know, and we have
14:39
Speaker 2: an interim president Bob Jones now and previously for Jim Clemens,
14:43
Speaker 2: President Clements for twelve years, and so just that relationship
14:46
Speaker 2: and where I can color outside the lines of athletics.
14:50
Speaker 2: This gets into like higher ed institution and it's Clemson
14:54
Speaker 2: and it's you know, we're an academic institution here. Athletics
14:58
Speaker 2: is a huge part of that, with Mark getting with
15:00
Speaker 2: student experience, all those things. That's what my day job is,
15:03
Speaker 2: and my primary responsibilities are to run the athletics department.
15:07
Speaker 2: But I love coloring outside the lines and being part
15:10
Speaker 2: of or having awareness of institutional operations and being colleagues
15:14
Speaker 2: with our vice president for student affairs or our provost
15:17
Speaker 2: or our.
15:18
Speaker 3: Economic development staff.
15:19
Speaker 2: Where it's now I can make sure I'm connecting what
15:22
Speaker 2: we're doing in athletics to things just beyond the scoreboard,
15:26
Speaker 2: and so like, that's really intriguing to me, and I
15:29
Speaker 2: really value that role of being taking the whistle off
15:32
Speaker 2: of the next so to speak. It's you know, I know,
15:34
Speaker 2: I get viewed ahead. Well that's just the athletics guy
15:36
Speaker 2: over there, and like, yeah, that's my day job. But hey,
15:38
Speaker 2: how that bolts into the broader part of the institution
15:40
Speaker 2: to me is really it's really exciting.
15:43
Speaker 5: Gotcha, as you do help oversee so much, whether it's
15:46
Speaker 5: athletics or in the university, what would you say your leadership.
15:49
Speaker 3: Style is.
15:51
Speaker 2: Leadership style One of my favorite phrases some of my
15:56
Speaker 2: staff can probably attest they've heard this a time.
15:59
Speaker 3: Or three is.
16:02
Speaker 2: Micro I want to be micro informed, but certainly not
16:06
Speaker 2: micro managed. Micro managed has a bad you know, connotation
16:09
Speaker 2: or context to it.
16:10
Speaker 3: I get it.
16:12
Speaker 2: But again back to like love being in the weeds
16:15
Speaker 2: and knowing all the details, like I do, value and
16:20
Speaker 2: expects maybe a strong word, but to be really micro
16:22
Speaker 2: informed and having a really really good fundamental awareness of
16:27
Speaker 2: things that are going on in our department, some history,
16:30
Speaker 2: so to speak, to help frame future decisions or gosh,
16:33
Speaker 2: just when I interface publicly so much. My job is
16:36
Speaker 2: the public interface of sure student athletes, so to speak,
16:38
Speaker 2: that's not necessarily public, but it's.
16:40
Speaker 3: A broad set of audiences.
16:41
Speaker 2: IPTAY we have twenty two thousand plus IPTAY members and
16:45
Speaker 2: when I speak at different Clemson club events or alumni
16:49
Speaker 2: you know, or trustees or board of visitors that I
16:52
Speaker 2: often get or emails great sure like get you know,
16:55
Speaker 2: micro questions.
16:56
Speaker 3: On things, well, hey I didn't like this, or what
16:58
Speaker 3: had you thought? So what happened here?
17:00
Speaker 2: And so having not that I have to have an
17:02
Speaker 2: answer for everything, but I love having the really nuanced
17:06
Speaker 2: understanding of things or again being informed on things to
17:10
Speaker 2: not to be able to answer great questions publicly, but
17:12
Speaker 2: just to present the confidence of hey, yeah, we have
17:16
Speaker 2: big picture stuff going on here athletic in the athletics department.
17:19
Speaker 2: But at the end of the day, it is confidence
17:22
Speaker 2: of customer. Customer interfacing department. We have to sell tickets
17:26
Speaker 2: and obtain membership, so there's the consumer side of it,
17:29
Speaker 2: while we're a support organization to our you know, our
17:32
Speaker 2: coach and student athletes. So I don't know me if
17:35
Speaker 2: my macro management but micro informed, if that's like a
17:39
Speaker 2: leadership style, I don't know.
17:40
Speaker 3: It's just some of my behaviors.
17:42
Speaker 2: I think to have great staff and delegate and self starters,
17:46
Speaker 2: but also like, hey, I value and expect to be
17:49
Speaker 2: in the weeds on a lot of our operations, but
17:51
Speaker 2: they need to be done and have efficiency to them.
17:54
Speaker 1: It's like there's no detail too small.
17:56
Speaker 2: Yeah, and I know, and that's probably makes as hard,
17:59
Speaker 2: you know, because our stat like that's that's a lot
18:01
Speaker 2: of heavy expectations to those that I lead me of
18:04
Speaker 2: like no detail too small, and hey, Graham might need
18:06
Speaker 2: to know this or shoot them a node or so.
18:08
Speaker 3: Like so I.
18:09
Speaker 2: Realized if I'm looking in the mirror that like, ah
18:12
Speaker 2: that I mean that probably lean I lean on my
18:13
Speaker 2: staff like that. But again I think that's just I
18:18
Speaker 2: value that I have the capacity to that. I think
18:21
Speaker 2: to that end, and and again all twenty one sports
18:23
Speaker 2: Tories a sports supervisor for men's basketball, or was with
18:26
Speaker 2: women's basketball and now with women's basketball, and so like
18:28
Speaker 2: those type of intricacies Jim Natt, you know like it.
18:31
Speaker 2: I love that aspect of it, so I get energy
18:33
Speaker 2: from it. But also I think it helps be a lead,
18:36
Speaker 2: a you know, lead well our department and then also
18:39
Speaker 2: give I say, confidence and strategy ahead kind of from
18:42
Speaker 2: the external side of things.
18:44
Speaker 1: Was there ever a moment in the past, like thirteen
18:46
Speaker 1: years since you've been at Clemson or the past four
18:48
Speaker 1: years in your role as director where you felt like, Wow,
18:52
Speaker 1: this is what I meant to do.
18:55
Speaker 2: A moment, you know, I do think I'm trying to
19:01
Speaker 2: place like an actual experience or a moment you'd mentioned
19:05
Speaker 2: in some of the intro Clemson ventures. Okay, and we're
19:09
Speaker 2: here in one of the vehicles here for beyond the
19:12
Speaker 2: Pauls Clemson Plus and so I think that now more
19:16
Speaker 2: than ever, the balance of you know, athletics department, this
19:22
Speaker 2: job as an athletics director, you have to have the
19:25
Speaker 2: blocking and tackling done well. It still comes down to
19:27
Speaker 2: coaching and student athletes and recruitment and development and you know,
19:31
Speaker 2: like all those fundamental things that go into winning a
19:35
Speaker 2: ballgame or you know, the outcomes that we expect. So
19:39
Speaker 2: like the blocking and tackling or managing team dynamics, or
19:43
Speaker 2: coaching evaluations and changes and hirings, right, those are fundamentals
19:47
Speaker 2: of this job that you got to do well, and
19:50
Speaker 2: so have obviously developed and have had plenty of experience
19:53
Speaker 2: with that. Now while now more than ever with college athletics,
19:57
Speaker 2: you know, the big business and the innovation requirements and
20:02
Speaker 2: managing a two hundred and twenty million dollar department that
20:06
Speaker 2: when I came here thirteen years ago eve as our CFO,
20:09
Speaker 2: it was a sixty six million dollar budget. So even
20:11
Speaker 2: if you just do budget to budget, thirteen years is
20:13
Speaker 2: a long time. But like a three x increase more
20:15
Speaker 2: than that is a lot. And so you get the
20:17
Speaker 2: big bit, you know, nil revenue share above the cap.
20:21
Speaker 2: So like all of the game has changed. And so
20:24
Speaker 2: my point is, and it's going to continue to change,
20:26
Speaker 2: probably more in the next five years than even it
20:28
Speaker 2: has in the last five years during your careers. So
20:30
Speaker 2: my point is the I love and there's been there
20:34
Speaker 2: has been moments I guess even answered the question where
20:35
Speaker 2: I've I feel like the we're doing both well, that
20:39
Speaker 2: we have the blocking and tackling, and I can I
20:42
Speaker 2: can do the blocking and tackling and evaluate coaches and
20:45
Speaker 2: supporter student athletes, right, like I get those accomplishments that
20:49
Speaker 2: you know you feel good about or have have positivity
20:51
Speaker 2: with while and again Clemson Ventures is a is a
20:55
Speaker 2: perfect example of like got to be different and Wayne
20:58
Speaker 2: Gretzky where the Puck's going and so we have to
21:00
Speaker 2: innovate and be different and be first movers or early
21:03
Speaker 2: movers on things. But there's a balance of that because
21:06
Speaker 2: you can't be too you know. And I think it
21:07
Speaker 2: fits the values of Clemson that we're very traditional in
21:10
Speaker 2: nature as an institution, and we have strong values and
21:13
Speaker 2: core values and our history and our family Clemson family
21:18
Speaker 2: is really deep and strong and something that we're balanced with.
21:21
Speaker 3: Wow. Hey, we also got to fight above our weight class.
21:23
Speaker 2: And be innovative on things, and Clemson has a history
21:25
Speaker 2: of that in so many different ways. And so that balance,
21:29
Speaker 2: that tension, so to speak, is something that all that
21:32
Speaker 2: to be said, Like I think I strike well. I
21:35
Speaker 2: don't like talking about myself in that regard, but I
21:37
Speaker 2: feel like there's been moments where I'm like, man, I
21:39
Speaker 2: think we're doing okay on both of these and keeping
21:41
Speaker 2: a really good balance.
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22:15
Speaker 1: Talk to me about like the backstory of Clemson Ventures,
22:18
Speaker 1: how that was created, how that ideation process went about.
22:22
Speaker 2: Yes, it's there's a couple mile markers along the way.
22:26
Speaker 2: In a very simple sense, it is our revenue commercial,
22:30
Speaker 2: revenue generating engine of Clemson Athletics. And the best, maybe
22:34
Speaker 2: the easiest comparison is comparing it Tota. IPTA is a
22:39
Speaker 2: known brand here at Clemson. It has been around since
22:40
Speaker 2: nineteen thirty four. We're in the ninety second year of
22:43
Speaker 2: IPTA and so we know what IPTA is and membership
22:48
Speaker 2: driven and at the end of the day, revenue driving.
22:50
Speaker 2: But i TA is philanthropic in nature, right, It's donations
22:53
Speaker 2: and its foundation.
22:54
Speaker 3: So think of kind.
22:55
Speaker 2: Of what the structure of But it's also a little
22:57
Speaker 2: separate than the athletics department.
22:59
Speaker 3: It's kind of together.
23:00
Speaker 2: Everyone thinks of Clemson Athletics and IPTAY, but ip TAY
23:03
Speaker 2: has some distinction and a brand and a little you know,
23:06
Speaker 2: a separate board, so it operates somewhat independently but also
23:10
Speaker 2: very connected with the athletics department. So think of that
23:14
Speaker 2: Iptay notion with Clemson Ventures. Same notion, separate, little board,
23:18
Speaker 2: independent in nature, but connected and part of the athletics
23:21
Speaker 2: enterprise and revenue generating. But instead of philanthropy iptay, it's commercial,
23:27
Speaker 2: so sponsorships, businesses. All of our revenue streams from licensing
23:33
Speaker 2: and content creation. Right we're sitting here with Beyond the
23:37
Speaker 2: Paw and all of our other content series and docuseriies
23:41
Speaker 2: and Clemson Plus vehicle and now incredibly importantly, how that
23:44
Speaker 2: stitches with our NIL facilitation and acts effect essentially as
23:50
Speaker 2: an il agency for our student athletes, which really really matters,
23:54
Speaker 2: but in a very integrated way. So that's that's what
23:58
Speaker 2: Clempson Ventures is to give you some of the markers
24:00
Speaker 2: of how we've gotten here. One, the we we now
24:04
Speaker 2: do our multi media right, the commercial sponsorships in house.
24:08
Speaker 2: A lot of times in previously at Clemson those were
24:11
Speaker 2: i say, farmed out or had a third party that
24:13
Speaker 2: developed that delivered those nationally. And there's a big company
24:18
Speaker 2: names Learfield and JMI which are wonderful companies and we've
24:21
Speaker 2: partnered with them in the past. We decided to take
24:23
Speaker 2: and do that in house, which is very much a
24:25
Speaker 2: professional sports model.
24:27
Speaker 3: A lot of the NFL franchises.
24:29
Speaker 2: I was just here talking with a buddy that's at
24:32
Speaker 2: the president of business for the Washington Commanders. Commanders NFL,
24:36
Speaker 2: they all they do all that in house.
24:37
Speaker 3: You know.
24:38
Speaker 2: The Dallas Cowboys don't you know have a check that
24:40
Speaker 2: they get from a third party.
24:41
Speaker 3: They do. So it's you.
24:43
Speaker 2: You own the equity, you manage the overhead, right, so
24:46
Speaker 2: we employed the staff, et cetera. But you kind of
24:48
Speaker 2: bet on yourselves too that you can grow, grow the
24:50
Speaker 2: revenues and be more an integrated, better partner to your
24:54
Speaker 2: sponsors that.
24:55
Speaker 3: You're working, your businesses that you're working with.
24:56
Speaker 2: So that was the original impetus to do our multi
24:59
Speaker 2: media rights are do that third party notion done in house,
25:04
Speaker 2: Do it in house. That was what what kickstarted Clemson Ventures.
25:07
Speaker 2: And now we've added these other elements as I said,
25:09
Speaker 2: of content production, house, an il agency, A lot of
25:14
Speaker 2: our other revenue stream I keep pointing here of like
25:16
Speaker 2: licensing and merchandise and things like that. So that's all
25:18
Speaker 2: under the athletic of the Clemson Ventures umbrella. So there's
25:21
Speaker 2: some mile markers along the way as we see here today.
25:25
Speaker 2: It's it's it's an entrepreneurial pursuit. And that's what I
25:28
Speaker 2: love about Clemson Ventures in this regard of the innovation
25:31
Speaker 2: of it, because you know, it's just on us to
25:33
Speaker 2: grow it and think differently about different verticals or revenue
25:36
Speaker 2: verticals that we can create without how that delivers for
25:39
Speaker 2: our student athletes from an nil standpoint, And we get
25:42
Speaker 2: calls like, if not weekly, if not daily weekly from
25:47
Speaker 2: other schools that are like asking, hey, well, how'd you
25:49
Speaker 2: do ventures? You know, and it's it's not easy because
25:51
Speaker 2: we're you know, state public agency and higher ed and
25:55
Speaker 2: in the bureaucracy, so to speak, in nature, not in
25:57
Speaker 2: a negative way, and so it's it's easier said than done.
26:01
Speaker 2: And so the a lot of schools I know are
26:03
Speaker 2: exploring it. There's some others. One of my good friends
26:05
Speaker 2: is the athletic director at Michigan State. This past winter
26:08
Speaker 2: they started Spartan Ventures, and you know, Jay Oh's.
26:12
Speaker 3: Royalties to us, I think because he just took it.
26:14
Speaker 3: You know. My point is, and that's not why it's
26:16
Speaker 3: not meant to be bragged osious. Hey, everybody else has
26:18
Speaker 3: wanted to like, you know, I don't mean it that way.
26:20
Speaker 1: Now, a lot of colleges be inspired by Clemson.
26:22
Speaker 3: That's a great word every thing.
26:24
Speaker 2: Yeah, So it's an innovative, it's a first mover, and
26:27
Speaker 2: again that's where we have to pick our spots here
26:28
Speaker 2: at Clemson and really lean into that. And I think
26:31
Speaker 2: has been a differentiator for us. Heretofore let alone. I
26:34
Speaker 2: get excited as we mature it. It's just two years
26:36
Speaker 2: old really, so it's it's still a startup and a
26:38
Speaker 2: lot of our Clempson ventures is so I get excited
26:40
Speaker 2: for what's ahead for it.
26:41
Speaker 4: It's a lot going on all the time and a
26:43
Speaker 4: lot of things that we talk about beyond the paw.
26:45
Speaker 4: Is the human behind the student athlete or the human
26:48
Speaker 4: behind the athletic director? What makes you you in this job?
26:53
Speaker 4: But also how do you handle the hard whether that's
26:55
Speaker 4: a lot going on, life is lifing, Things just are
26:59
Speaker 4: piling up. What do you come back to, what's a
27:01
Speaker 4: lesson you've learned? What's the human side of Graham neft? So?
27:06
Speaker 2: I well, I like to I love to run. I
27:11
Speaker 2: wish I'm you know, I want to get more miles
27:14
Speaker 2: in than I do. I'm big on the stadium stairs.
27:17
Speaker 2: And I would tell you all or any listeners whatever
27:19
Speaker 2: we want to call often.
27:21
Speaker 3: That I've found myself to an answer your question.
27:23
Speaker 2: Now when I'm I'm running or out on campus running
27:25
Speaker 2: and I'll have my my ear pods in and inevitably
27:29
Speaker 2: I'm not listening to anything like you would think, you know,
27:32
Speaker 2: I present it's like, oh, he's listening to a pod
27:34
Speaker 2: or a you know, Spotify. Like it's just like the
27:37
Speaker 2: noise cancelation and like it's like think time for me,
27:41
Speaker 2: and it's a little you know, and then you're getting
27:42
Speaker 2: some energy out, so it's a little distress and so
27:45
Speaker 2: so there's a little bit of that's like an outlet
27:47
Speaker 2: for me. And so also next time you see me
27:50
Speaker 2: running and like you could probably like just holler and
27:52
Speaker 2: interrupt me because I'm probably just thinking even though it's
27:55
Speaker 2: done kind of tough on you. So that's you know,
28:01
Speaker 2: that's a that's a I guess a guilty pleasure or
28:04
Speaker 2: like a release.
28:06
Speaker 3: You know.
28:08
Speaker 2: I'd also say that, you know, you get back into
28:11
Speaker 2: the family side of it, that.
28:12
Speaker 3: The stress side, it's it's.
28:15
Speaker 2: Hard I think, you know, you have to think long game,
28:18
Speaker 2: and I have, our fans have, certainly our student.
28:22
Speaker 3: Athletes and coaches. There's the there's the stress and the
28:25
Speaker 3: urgency of the moment.
28:26
Speaker 2: Gosh, we lost to BYU and we scored well, but
28:30
Speaker 2: they did too. And like just like agony, you know,
28:33
Speaker 2: like and Mia, you guys have had like you go
28:36
Speaker 2: on the road and you beat you know, you hang
28:38
Speaker 2: tight with Georgia Tech down there, Holy cow, five sets
28:41
Speaker 2: should have you know, but like ah, and baseball right
28:45
Speaker 2: now we've lost some series and so like you just
28:47
Speaker 2: get the moment of in particularly sports, and so it's
28:49
Speaker 2: like scoreboard and what's right in front of us and
28:51
Speaker 2: what's wrong with coach and what's why we stink at this?
28:54
Speaker 2: Or we you know, so you get that, like and
28:56
Speaker 2: I have that, Like I'm a fan too, and so
28:59
Speaker 2: like you balance the stressors of that or I feel
29:03
Speaker 2: that to your question, I guess story, I feel the
29:05
Speaker 2: stress of that the competitive aspect or shoot, we got
29:08
Speaker 2: like big decision to make coaching stuff or hey, how
29:11
Speaker 2: are we gonna versus the long game? You know, and gosh,
29:15
Speaker 2: it is this is you know, there is a lot
29:18
Speaker 2: to be done to build programs or to invest in facilities,
29:23
Speaker 2: and that builds recruitment and and so that balance because
29:27
Speaker 2: like the long game could come across or the connotation
29:30
Speaker 2: of that is a little bit passive or not doesn't
29:33
Speaker 2: have the stress of the urgency. And so I get that,
29:36
Speaker 2: but like you have to have the long game notion
29:39
Speaker 2: of whether it's competitively or growing the business. Hey, we
29:43
Speaker 2: started clemsed Adventures two years ago and it's been hard
29:47
Speaker 2: and there's been a lot of stress with that and
29:48
Speaker 2: hard decisions. The long game, man, I'm really convicted on.
29:52
Speaker 2: And so you get that balance of the stress, the
29:56
Speaker 2: stressors of the moment and the pressure so to speak
29:58
Speaker 2: of the moment moments and versus like you've got to
30:02
Speaker 2: be grounded and got to think long game and go
30:05
Speaker 2: for runs to try to like you know, reset the
30:07
Speaker 2: mind or what you know, whatever in between. So that's
30:09
Speaker 2: where I feel the I think through the how do
30:12
Speaker 2: you de stress or depressurize moments that that we have
30:16
Speaker 2: urgency with that I have personally with Hey, these roll
30:19
Speaker 2: Clemson has been around for since the eighteenth centuries. This
30:22
Speaker 2: is a this is the forever business at Clemson, and
30:26
Speaker 2: that's the mindset that I that in this role, I
30:28
Speaker 2: try to have you have to have to to make
30:30
Speaker 2: you know, broad decisions and an aggregate.
30:34
Speaker 5: Is there anything that has surprised.
30:35
Speaker 2: You plenty me? Uh yeah, sure, you know, I really
30:44
Speaker 2: think that you know, the like resiliency of you know,
30:53
Speaker 2: I get you know, it's human nature of some regard,
30:55
Speaker 2: but just like the human condition of resiliency, and I've
30:57
Speaker 2: just found that to be a an attribute that is
31:02
Speaker 2: like so undervalued. And I think through coaches who gosh
31:06
Speaker 2: are in losing straights are bad season, but like gosh,
31:09
Speaker 2: like you know, nef boys are you know, like six
31:12
Speaker 2: and six and nine year old kids, like they're resilient.
31:14
Speaker 2: Like Grady had a tough game last night, struck out twice,
31:17
Speaker 2: and like, boy he's down in the dumps, but like
31:19
Speaker 2: you know what, like he woke up this morning and
31:22
Speaker 2: again he's ten, so he's not like living and dying
31:24
Speaker 2: by his TENU baseball team.
31:25
Speaker 3: They tied last night. I t it was better than
31:27
Speaker 3: going extra extra innings on a Tuesday night.
31:31
Speaker 2: So there's resilience resiliency of the student athletes, right, and
31:35
Speaker 2: you guys have tough losses or like injuries, and so
31:38
Speaker 2: I don't know that it's not like a surprise, Mia.
31:41
Speaker 2: I guess I've come to really see that more and
31:44
Speaker 2: more and appreciate it and like it helps, I guess
31:48
Speaker 2: to tether back towards your prior question, like with the
31:50
Speaker 2: long game mentality, a little bit of like hey, like we'll.
31:52
Speaker 3: Bounce back from this, what have you?
31:55
Speaker 2: I'll take that one maybe more layer deeper, more specifically,
31:59
Speaker 2: twenty one sport, we have seventeen head coaches.
32:02
Speaker 3: We have it was sixteen, we have seventeens. We have
32:04
Speaker 3: coach gymnastics head coaches.
32:07
Speaker 2: And the connectivity and the camaraderie in some regard, the synergy,
32:13
Speaker 2: whatever I can keep going on buzzwords of that group,
32:15
Speaker 2: I think is incredibly important.
32:19
Speaker 3: Just how I see it.
32:21
Speaker 2: And I think I've certainly tried to lean in there
32:24
Speaker 2: on little things, on big, big things when that group
32:27
Speaker 2: meets and talks. How I communicate with that group collectively.
32:30
Speaker 2: Men's golf yesterday had a big win. They won the
32:32
Speaker 2: Mountaineer Invitational or you know, big golf tournament, and so
32:35
Speaker 2: everybody's on there pinging around, Hey, way to go, coach Bird,
32:38
Speaker 2: way to go.
32:38
Speaker 3: JB.
32:40
Speaker 2: Sweeney's jumping in hey, big time. You know, like it's great,
32:43
Speaker 2: like it's I think it's a differentiator for Clemson athletics
32:46
Speaker 2: and ultimately like the energy that that gives to all
32:50
Speaker 2: of our coaches.
32:50
Speaker 3: So I've probably it's surprised me.
32:53
Speaker 2: I think how much like that has really connected or
32:57
Speaker 2: what I think our coaches really value that I recruit
33:00
Speaker 2: to it when we're hiring coaches, et cetera. Of like, hey,
33:03
Speaker 2: this group of head coaches. You know, I'm biased, but
33:06
Speaker 2: I think as good as any of the country. It's high,
33:08
Speaker 2: high level, and therefore it's a high floor of my
33:11
Speaker 2: assessment of who fits into that group.
33:14
Speaker 3: But then also I think that you're.
33:15
Speaker 2: Going to be additive and I have high expectations of
33:19
Speaker 2: how you work within that group. And again that's just
33:21
Speaker 2: your head coaches, let alone, they're ultimately being hired to
33:23
Speaker 2: run the gymnastics program what have you. And so so
33:26
Speaker 2: I think a little surprise of gosh, that's been really
33:29
Speaker 2: I think a force of energy or a really important
33:33
Speaker 2: subtle thing that maybe you wouldn't see publicly or you
33:35
Speaker 2: wouldn't think of, but like, man, that group and again,
33:39
Speaker 2: what I try to play a role in connecting that
33:41
Speaker 2: group is really really important.
33:43
Speaker 1: It's so fun I see like the coaches sitting together
33:46
Speaker 1: at want eating together, and they recruit us who like
33:50
Speaker 1: they want us to be good character and good people,
33:52
Speaker 1: so we can mesh well with our family too. So
33:54
Speaker 1: I feel like Clemson just has the culture of creating
33:57
Speaker 1: a family inside and out.
33:59
Speaker 2: It's one of our department values. Literally, it's like a
34:01
Speaker 2: proper noun Clemson family. And you're right, and it's one
34:04
Speaker 2: of those eve that it's kind of like you know
34:06
Speaker 2: it when you see it, you know when you don't, right,
34:09
Speaker 2: which is like, you know, it's all we all define
34:11
Speaker 2: that a little a little differently, but you know, I
34:14
Speaker 2: know our coaches view that when they're like assessing who
34:16
Speaker 2: to recruit and what they like it has. There's a
34:18
Speaker 2: reciprocity to that, and so I think it extends. You know,
34:20
Speaker 2: it's vertical kind of within coaches and building your program
34:23
Speaker 2: and your culture and your locker rooms. But again it's
34:25
Speaker 2: it's horizontal nature, guess what I'm talking about of just
34:28
Speaker 2: like the how coaches connect across But it's also too
34:31
Speaker 2: and I know we're really being like rosy and flowery here,
34:33
Speaker 2: but like I think to the institution of the community
34:35
Speaker 2: and the student body, like it just like it just
34:37
Speaker 2: really it just really sinks something again that that Chris
34:41
Speaker 2: and I and we start our family here and just
34:43
Speaker 2: feel like the fit, you know, just inevitably like that
34:45
Speaker 2: subjective term of like, oh, it's got to fit, and
34:48
Speaker 2: Clemson family is kind of like the def how we
34:50
Speaker 2: define that here?
34:50
Speaker 4: You I think we all love sports. That's why we're here, right,
34:54
Speaker 4: and you know, talk about the agony of sport. We're
34:56
Speaker 4: all doing it for that one glorious moment too. I've
35:00
Speaker 4: been able to spend some time on campus and sometimes
35:02
Speaker 4: I'm in awe of our researchers and professors and what
35:06
Speaker 4: they're doing to support twenty five thousand students. I always
35:10
Speaker 4: think I was in the President's Leadership Institute and someone
35:12
Speaker 4: was just won an award for their studying of black
35:15
Speaker 4: holes in space.
35:16
Speaker 1: Wow.
35:16
Speaker 4: And sometimes I'm like sports right, like how cool? But
35:20
Speaker 4: also like what am I doing? But I love my job.
35:23
Speaker 4: I love the impact that we have, And so just
35:25
Speaker 4: thinking about the transformational experience of sports, specifically at Clemson
35:31
Speaker 4: and knowing sports is important. It brings people together from
35:34
Speaker 4: all over the world on celebrating a victory or support
35:38
Speaker 4: and defeat. What's something that you would want and I
35:41
Speaker 4: want you two to answer this as well other people
35:44
Speaker 4: to know about Clemson sports, Clemson athletics.
35:50
Speaker 1: I feel like they develop you way more than than
35:53
Speaker 1: athlete like me going through jobs. Right now, I can
35:56
Speaker 1: look back at my resume and look at some of
35:58
Speaker 1: the experiences that I never would have had if not
36:01
Speaker 1: for Clemson. And so I think that development in like
36:04
Speaker 1: building you as a person is top tier. And I've
36:07
Speaker 1: transferred from other universities and I've seen what they have
36:10
Speaker 1: offer have to offer, and Clemson is top tier and
36:13
Speaker 1: doesn't compare to anyone in that aspect.
36:15
Speaker 5: So I would say and not that Clemson just like
36:20
Speaker 5: throws you through like adversity, but like there is hard
36:23
Speaker 5: stuff in college and athletics in general, and I feel
36:26
Speaker 5: like Clemson really helps you through that and like pushes
36:30
Speaker 5: your personality through that too, Like it's you're not just
36:33
Speaker 5: an athlete a volleyball player playing volleyball, you know, like
36:36
Speaker 5: you're you're a person like going through other things as well.
36:38
Speaker 3: So I think the.
36:40
Speaker 5: Part that I really love is that, like like you said,
36:42
Speaker 5: like you're you're a person too, and you're you're going
36:45
Speaker 5: through those hard things.
36:46
Speaker 1: Like some of some sports that you can go pro
36:49
Speaker 1: and stuff, but like for my sports specifically, it stops
36:52
Speaker 1: at college. So you kind of have to figure out
36:54
Speaker 1: like who I am who I who am I more
36:56
Speaker 1: than my sport, you know. And so I think Clemson
36:59
Speaker 1: has done a great job of that with all the
37:01
Speaker 1: resources with you Tory, with Ashley, with student athlete development,
37:04
Speaker 1: Like they literally put us in positions that make us uncomfortable,
37:08
Speaker 1: you know, like they send us on mock interviews, they
37:11
Speaker 1: set us, set us up with things like with Beyond
37:13
Speaker 1: the Pall, like I was scared to do this, you know,
37:15
Speaker 1: with things that make you uncomfortable, which just shows how
37:18
Speaker 1: much you grow as a person when you get through it.
37:21
Speaker 1: So absolutely I have Clemson to think for everything.
37:24
Speaker 2: So well, I'll spend it on the you know, what
37:28
Speaker 2: does athletics bring to the institution? You know, it's it's
37:32
Speaker 2: it surprises me mia like all like it has surprised
37:34
Speaker 2: me the amount of I say, the intro, this gets
37:38
Speaker 2: into Clemson's brand and you know what athletics does for that.
37:41
Speaker 2: But you know, students from all over the country. I'm
37:45
Speaker 2: getting peppered from some colleagues or some like relationships that
37:50
Speaker 2: are in Connecticut in like New Jersey and their daughter
37:53
Speaker 2: has got like Clemson's number one, but she was waitlisted.
37:56
Speaker 2: What the heck, you know, and can you help? And
37:58
Speaker 2: like and so like just Eve came from Los Angeles,
38:02
Speaker 2: you know, we had a stop in between, and like
38:04
Speaker 2: you know that me Illinois Midway and so you know,
38:07
Speaker 2: and that's the athletic side, which is that has a
38:09
Speaker 2: more national appeal. But like there was a friend of
38:12
Speaker 2: mine who actually works for the Los Angeles Rams whose
38:15
Speaker 2: daughter is you know, coming from LA And so it's
38:18
Speaker 2: just like Clemson and that's not it's easy to think football,
38:20
Speaker 2: you know, but like that's where what athletics does. And
38:23
Speaker 2: I talk about this with all of our freshman immersion
38:26
Speaker 2: kind of welcome to Clemson and or transfer groups. I
38:31
Speaker 2: talk about in our staff meetings are our head coaches
38:34
Speaker 2: meetings about you know, what athletics does as it relates
38:37
Speaker 2: to the institution, the university's strategic plan. I don't want
38:40
Speaker 2: to get so academic here, but the university's strategic plan
38:43
Speaker 2: is called Clemson Elevate. That's President, that's our board of trustees.
38:46
Speaker 2: President Clements enacted at President Jones is enacting it. And
38:51
Speaker 2: the number one pillar or the number one priority that
38:53
Speaker 2: whatever you wanna call it, of the of the university
38:56
Speaker 2: strategic plan is to have the number one student experience
38:58
Speaker 2: number student and that's student body, you know. And so
39:01
Speaker 2: you think about what a huge part of the student
39:04
Speaker 2: experiences at Clemson. It's athletics, right and again seven saturdays, absolutely,
39:10
Speaker 2: but six meets in Little John and twelve matches in Germany.
39:16
Speaker 3: Like, so it all matters.
39:17
Speaker 2: And because of that, not only does that perpetuate the
39:21
Speaker 2: number one student experience aspiration, but then how that filters
39:24
Speaker 2: back through again recruitment, student recruitment and academic recruitment faculty members. Right, Like,
39:30
Speaker 2: I'm actually leaving here and I have a meeting with
39:32
Speaker 2: dean of our College of Science, Cynthia Young, who she
39:35
Speaker 2: actually a former softball player in college back back in
39:38
Speaker 2: the day. But she is like, she is all in
39:41
Speaker 2: on what athletics can do to help her College of
39:44
Speaker 2: Science to recruit to retain, you know, And she's just
39:47
Speaker 2: one of many deans that think that way. And so
39:49
Speaker 2: that I think, I don't know if it's surprising to me, Mia,
39:53
Speaker 2: but I think it would be surprising to those that
39:56
Speaker 2: you know so much of I say, what my job
39:59
Speaker 2: or where I like to spend time or give time
40:01
Speaker 2: to the things outside of just the winning a game
40:05
Speaker 2: and running the business, but just the expectation of the
40:08
Speaker 2: connectivity of what we do in athletics to develop student
40:12
Speaker 2: athletes and your examples, but just students, and then the
40:15
Speaker 2: gravity that that brings from again recruitment, retention, experience side
40:19
Speaker 2: of things.
40:19
Speaker 3: It's all interconnected.
40:20
Speaker 4: Sports are cool. I was an elevator at cal Berkeley
40:23
Speaker 4: recently and wearing the paw of course, right, and I
40:26
Speaker 4: know we're all in the same conference now, but some
40:29
Speaker 4: random woman hopped on the elevator and she's like, oh,
40:31
Speaker 4: Clemson number one place happiest students.
40:35
Speaker 3: Oh wow, is that right? Yeah?
40:37
Speaker 4: I think we have been nashally ranked for that for
40:38
Speaker 4: Prinston's yet. But it was just so cool, and I'm like,
40:40
Speaker 4: you know what, we are pretty happy.
40:42
Speaker 5: We're happy. Yeah, but it was just.
40:44
Speaker 4: A really cool moment to know what you're speaking to
40:46
Speaker 4: that number one student experience and she just saw the
40:49
Speaker 4: paw in the orange and known for happy students.
40:52
Speaker 5: Amazing.
40:52
Speaker 4: Yeah, we are, thank you.
40:54
Speaker 1: Speaking of happiness. You were on the sidelines for the
40:57
Speaker 1: twenty sixteen and twenty eighteen football and National Championship we
41:00
Speaker 1: have a video view going like this when you guys
41:04
Speaker 1: find out one you guys won, can you oh sorry?
41:09
Speaker 3: Are we playing the video or is it?
41:10
Speaker 2: No?
41:11
Speaker 1: No, no no. I just have it pictured in my mind
41:12
Speaker 1: like we're playing thank you, So I might have to
41:16
Speaker 1: if you talk to me about that experience for you
41:19
Speaker 1: said you're a fan at the end of the.
41:20
Speaker 2: Day, that's yeah, what's so funny. It's the height of
41:22
Speaker 2: irony here. Literally, this is last night after our TENU
41:25
Speaker 2: baseball game that thankfully didn't go into extra innings. Get
41:29
Speaker 2: home boys are having a late kind of dinner and
41:32
Speaker 2: we're sitting there, their showered and they're kind of eating
41:34
Speaker 2: something before taking up and Nolan, six year old kindergarten,
41:38
Speaker 2: he's scrolling ESPN to like put on a game or whatever,
41:41
Speaker 2: the softball and baseball games that just finished. So he
41:44
Speaker 2: was going to put those on theages and he clicks
41:46
Speaker 2: on and it has the twenty.
41:48
Speaker 3: Eighteen National Championship game football game. Last night.
41:51
Speaker 2: It was like sixteen hours and we're sitting there and
41:54
Speaker 2: he's and Nolan at this time, this is January of
41:56
Speaker 2: twenty nineteen, he's like in Christen, you know, like he
42:00
Speaker 2: Kristin is pregnant with them because they were born in
42:02
Speaker 2: August of nineteen and so my point is we're watching
42:06
Speaker 2: and then we're kind of fast forwarding through a couple
42:08
Speaker 2: of things just because it's like bedtime, and Christ's like, hey, Grady.
42:12
Speaker 3: Nolan, who were up looked for mom.
42:14
Speaker 2: We were like on the field at we kind of
42:16
Speaker 2: went fast forward to the triple Zeros and the celebration
42:19
Speaker 2: after and all the field and the and Dabbo's interview
42:21
Speaker 2: with Tom Nawd, you know, and there was a couple
42:23
Speaker 2: like where the hey, there's christ in the background. She's
42:25
Speaker 2: given Christian Wilkins like a little pound on the shoulder blade.
42:28
Speaker 2: So and Nolan's like, oh, like mom, you know. Like
42:31
Speaker 2: so anyway, all that to be said, like we just
42:32
Speaker 2: last night, we're watching some of that, some of those
42:36
Speaker 2: high moments. To your point, even basketball Elite eight men's
42:40
Speaker 2: basketball national championships, you'd reference soccers. I was I think
42:45
Speaker 2: I was still the interim ady, what have you, whatever
42:47
Speaker 2: you want to call it with men's soccer won national championship,
42:50
Speaker 2: and so like that, when you when you have the
42:53
Speaker 2: taste of it being part of that, you know, in
42:56
Speaker 2: support of administratively, what have you coaches doning athletes like
43:00
Speaker 2: that national elite performance, national championships, Oh Man, Like that
43:07
Speaker 2: is like such a such a fun I didn't have
43:10
Speaker 2: the appreciation for that, even coming from Middle Tennessee, where
43:12
Speaker 2: that's obviously not like the necessarily the caliber of expectations.
43:15
Speaker 2: And so I just I, like I say, a thirst
43:18
Speaker 2: for that. I don't want to be like over dramatic here,
43:20
Speaker 2: but like those are expectations. Expectations are really you know,
43:23
Speaker 2: that's a that's a delicate word, but like man, experiencing
43:27
Speaker 2: that and knowing that Clemson can deliver that, like we
43:29
Speaker 2: are a we are a department a university that can support,
43:33
Speaker 2: has the infrastructure for, and can build to expectations of
43:37
Speaker 2: national championship caliber performance in all the sports. Like I
43:42
Speaker 2: believe that, like and I have to be I don't
43:44
Speaker 2: have some have some blindness to to do that, like
43:47
Speaker 2: just the the dreaming of it, to quote our head
43:50
Speaker 2: football coach who dreamed that into a reality. And so
43:54
Speaker 2: so my point is like the fandom of it on
43:56
Speaker 2: the sidelines and in the stands like oh man, core memories,
44:01
Speaker 2: but also like the day to day inspiration of that,
44:04
Speaker 2: and all of our programs are different spots of like
44:07
Speaker 2: the pursuit of that, but like the having the pursuit
44:10
Speaker 2: of that is absolutely having the experience of it fuels
44:14
Speaker 2: the pursuit of it, for sure.
44:16
Speaker 5: We talk a lot about Clemson traditions on here, whether
44:19
Speaker 5: that's the Clemson Ring or you know, certain individual sports
44:23
Speaker 5: teams and their traditions and cultures. What would you say
44:26
Speaker 5: is your favorite.
44:28
Speaker 2: Favorite Clemson tradition? I am in football. I really really
44:34
Speaker 2: like all of our the pre I say, the pregame pageantry,
44:37
Speaker 2: but like the national anthem and the pledge of allegiance
44:41
Speaker 2: and the invocation and the Alma mod or like that
44:45
Speaker 2: is really I remember. So my first game here at
44:47
Speaker 2: Clemson was in twenty thirteen, first fall, and the first
44:51
Speaker 2: game that year was we played Georgia here in the
44:53
Speaker 2: Valley and we were both I think ranked in the
44:55
Speaker 2: teens or top ten.
44:57
Speaker 3: Epic game.
44:58
Speaker 2: Like all Clemson fans like the bus as we're driving
45:00
Speaker 2: around and mus Burger, you know. And so that was
45:03
Speaker 2: my first game, and I remember being here on staff.
45:05
Speaker 2: I've been here a couple of times before when I
45:08
Speaker 2: was working at Georgia Tech, and just like experiencing that
45:11
Speaker 2: that the pageantry of that and I was like what
45:13
Speaker 2: is it? Like it was like what do we did
45:15
Speaker 2: like all that like pledget leaves? Yeah, but like now,
45:19
Speaker 2: I mean, like is so uncommon and such a tradition
45:22
Speaker 2: that I think really roots back to Clemson family and
45:25
Speaker 2: like just the the values and the the tradition of
45:30
Speaker 2: that here. So that's that's one that I love. I
45:33
Speaker 2: do think to me that the I guess you could say,
45:37
Speaker 2: you know, tradition, but more of just like a mindset
45:41
Speaker 2: of like little old Clemson. And I don't know if
45:44
Speaker 2: that's like too quaint these days because it is big
45:47
Speaker 2: business and hey, we got to we aren't just a
45:48
Speaker 2: little Clemson in a small college town like we got
45:50
Speaker 2: We are national, internationally branded and expect to compete nationally.
45:55
Speaker 2: But I think the balance of that mindset of like yeah,
45:58
Speaker 2: it's a little old Clemson and like the tradition or
46:00
Speaker 2: the values of that that I think, you again, one
46:03
Speaker 2: of those you kind of know when you see it,
46:04
Speaker 2: know you you know, balanced with like, yeah, it is
46:07
Speaker 2: big business and our budgets are top to you know,
46:09
Speaker 2: two hundred plus million, you know, and we expect to
46:11
Speaker 2: compete in that. So like that again, I'm kind of
46:14
Speaker 2: driving off of one of my favorite traditions. But like,
46:17
Speaker 2: I love that mindset of little old Clemson while also
46:21
Speaker 2: having to compete at the highest highest levels.
46:24
Speaker 5: Kind of gives like an underdog might say.
46:26
Speaker 3: Love that. Yeah.
46:27
Speaker 2: And for you all as players of student athletes, like
46:30
Speaker 2: I think you know there's the chip on the shoulder
46:31
Speaker 2: and little you know.
46:32
Speaker 3: That you got to that.
46:33
Speaker 2: Probably again if it for the right fit in person,
46:36
Speaker 2: like it fuels and and and helps some of the
46:40
Speaker 2: competitive expectations, I would I would assume.
46:43
Speaker 1: Last question, I want to ask you what's the best
46:45
Speaker 1: advice you've ever received in your career?
46:50
Speaker 3: M best advice? So I'm a I'm just a big
46:56
Speaker 3: believer in well, like.
46:59
Speaker 2: The confidence quotient, maybe define it a little bit so
47:05
Speaker 2: of just like the what what you can and this
47:08
Speaker 2: is professionally speaking, like what you what you bring to
47:10
Speaker 2: the table, and so much. And we have a staff
47:13
Speaker 2: of three hundred and seventy five plus minds, the athletic department, coaches,
47:16
Speaker 2: GAH support staff, and and we have incredible talent and
47:21
Speaker 2: we all have roles and you need to have competency.
47:24
Speaker 2: But like the coloring outside the lines and like the
47:26
Speaker 2: jumping in and and adding asking a question or you know,
47:30
Speaker 2: there's a chain of commands, so we all have supervisors
47:32
Speaker 2: and things, but like like jumping in and trying to
47:36
Speaker 2: help and like having confidence to like to offer that
47:39
Speaker 2: or to to ask a question or to email the
47:42
Speaker 2: ad to get like to get this scheduled what you know,
47:46
Speaker 2: Like that's a little quaint, but like I just think
47:48
Speaker 2: that the having the like the the confidence and whether
47:52
Speaker 2: you have to fabricate it on some of it, right,
47:54
Speaker 2: but like but also knowing your stuff of like, hey,
47:57
Speaker 2: having the confidence to go to do and so I
48:01
Speaker 2: think it's it's too easy sometimes to maybe human nature
48:04
Speaker 2: just to go to fall in line or oh that's
48:06
Speaker 2: not my job or like oh well my boss should
48:08
Speaker 2: or like I can't get that job or you know.
48:11
Speaker 2: So I think just like some of that again it's
48:15
Speaker 2: just the mindset. There's some you know, mental health, I'm
48:18
Speaker 2: sure components of this, but just to have that the
48:20
Speaker 2: confidence to to go do and go ask and seek
48:23
Speaker 2: and you just don't know. And again from a leadership standpoint,
48:26
Speaker 2: I really value that of you know, me having to
48:29
Speaker 2: you know, push back or say no, like better than
48:32
Speaker 2: like you know, you get the absence of well, hey, gosh,
48:35
Speaker 2: who's doing this or I need some folks to chip
48:36
Speaker 2: in here, so long winded, I don't know if that's exactly.
48:42
Speaker 3: INTI self starter.
48:44
Speaker 2: Yeah, uh, you know, maybe is more of the kind
48:47
Speaker 2: of the business defined term of that. Just huge believer
48:50
Speaker 2: in that, particularly in a in an industry like mine
48:53
Speaker 2: of college or minutors of college athletics, where it's just
48:56
Speaker 2: I don't you know, like the innovation and like do
48:58
Speaker 2: it thinking differently is like such a huge component to this.
49:02
Speaker 2: And so the self starter, can you know, piece of
49:05
Speaker 2: advice or just to like, you know, take the reins,
49:08
Speaker 2: but you know, but be ambitious those type of things
49:11
Speaker 2: is you never know what leads to what leads to what,
49:15
Speaker 2: and so I don't know, that's not like a really
49:18
Speaker 2: unique piece of advice, but something that I think I've
49:20
Speaker 2: found to have great success with of just just taking
49:24
Speaker 2: the taking the leap, taking the you know, the self starter,
49:26
Speaker 2: the the the ambitious nature of it, I think is
49:30
Speaker 2: value to the organization, let alone to the you know,
49:33
Speaker 2: the the self perpetuating nature of it.
49:36
Speaker 1: That's great advice for us as we're starting our corporate
49:40
Speaker 1: life and going into the workforce, and for anyone starting
49:43
Speaker 1: that life too.
49:43
Speaker 3: So well said.
49:45
Speaker 2: I think it's transferable whatever you whatever chair you sit in,
49:48
Speaker 2: or hat you have, or aspirations that you that you
49:50
Speaker 2: may have. This has been This has been great, Thanks
49:55
Speaker 2: so much making it happen.
49:58
Speaker 3: Eve.
49:59
Speaker 2: This is I look forward to watching it again. I
50:02
Speaker 2: watched a lot of the episodes. I'll end where maybe
50:05
Speaker 2: I began when I was talking about family and Kristin.
50:08
Speaker 2: You know, some of this content beyond the Paul was
50:10
Speaker 2: a lot of I don't say it was her idea,
50:12
Speaker 2: but like she and I talked about this a lot.
50:13
Speaker 2: We actually have it's now sitting at the desk in
50:16
Speaker 2: Grady's room, our nine year old. She bought a microphone
50:19
Speaker 2: like this during COVID right and everyone's potting and from
50:23
Speaker 2: home and she's like, we need.
50:25
Speaker 3: To tell these stories.
50:26
Speaker 2: So like so I'll give her a shout out for
50:28
Speaker 2: some of the just the the importance of stories and
50:33
Speaker 2: the human side beyond beyond the paw, beyond the court field, Matt,
50:37
Speaker 2: you know, desk, so to speak. So thanks for talking
50:41
Speaker 2: and let me tell some of my stories, and for
50:42
Speaker 2: poking and prod and for things that I hope were
50:45
Speaker 2: of interest a little.
50:45
Speaker 5: Bit for sure.
50:46
Speaker 1: Thank you for coming on and making.
50:48
Speaker 3: The time we end with go Tigers. All right, great coach.
50:50
Speaker 1: You usually asked the student athlete where we can find
50:52
Speaker 1: them on social media?
50:53
Speaker 3: Oh yeah, I do that sometimes sometimes.
50:57
Speaker 2: You know, I probably less and less look at my
50:59
Speaker 2: ats and tweets and stuff because of you know, there's
51:02
Speaker 2: just a lot of activity out there.
51:03
Speaker 3: But I but it is a form of find me
51:05
Speaker 3: on Twitter. I don't know, send me an email. That's
51:07
Speaker 3: easy for me.
51:07
Speaker 4: I do.
51:08
Speaker 2: I read all my emails, check them all usually, you know,
51:10
Speaker 2: distribute them out. So like anybody, student athlete or donor,
51:14
Speaker 2: I'll read your emails and it's important. Like I I'm
51:16
Speaker 2: not not in a dismissive way, So shoot me a
51:18
Speaker 2: note to I'm I'm I'm very accessible.
51:20
Speaker 1: I hope.
51:21
Speaker 3: Thank you, thank you, Thanks, Thanks Tory.