Clemson softball is the hottest ticket in college athletics and could teach a thing or two to Clemson football.
To say that a second-year program like Clemson softball is outperforming every metric that was created when the program started three years ago would be an understatement. In year two of playing on the field, head coach John Rittman has put together a team that loves playing for and with each other.
Their success is a direct result of that.
Not only are the Tigers 22-4 overall and ranked 18th in the country, but they are having a blast doing it. Do you want to go to a game? Good luck, every home game the rest of the season is sold out.
Is it a full stadium? Not at the moment, but that is not the point as I would bet if they made all seats available, tickets still would not be available.
Dabo Swinney and Clemson football can learn from Clemson softball.
The evolution of college football is here and Coach Swinney still seems to want to fight the way that the game is going instead of embracing it and becoming the best at the turn of events – of course, I am talking about the transfer portal.
Currently, Tigers softball has six players that started their college careers elsewhere.
Does that make them bad students? Has taking on transfers created a less than desirable culture? Are these six young women not part of the Clemson family because they came from the “outside”?
The answer to all of those questions is absolutely not, yet, when you mention football taking on guys from the transfer portal, these are all of the excuses that fans give in order to justify the stubbornness of Swinney and his reluctance to replace lost four and five-star recruits with other four and five star recruits.
If Clemson football is going to stop getting embarrassed in College Football Playoff games, that starts with replacing the high profile players that transfer with other transfers of their caliber, not with 5-foot-9 defensive tackles that will never play more than a snap in the final 30 seconds of a blowout.
Clemson softball has shown just how great the transfer portal can be when used effectively and it is time that football started doing the same.