Clemson football: IPTAY boosters, fans will determine future of program

The future of the Clemson football program is going to be in the hands of IPTAY boosters, fans and alumni as we enter this new age of College Football.

There’s no doubt that Clemson football fans have been pampered with success under the leadership of Dabo Swinney over the course of the last decade. Swinney has taken Clemson to four National Championship games, six CFB Playoff appearances, seven ACC Championships and two National Titles.

The Tigers are among the most prominent programs in the country and the Clemson brand has never been stronger.

That being said, we’re entering a new world of College Football with NIL and that means there are going to have to be changes if Clemson football wants to continue to compete at the highest level.

Clemson is going to do everything in its power to remain competitive. The Athletic Department already had measures in place for education and creative contention well before NIL took hold and Clemson announced earlier this week that it would be adding a Student-Athlete Branding Institute that is set to cost about $4.5 million in what will be one of several facility upgrades.

Still, Clemson football is going to need boosters unlike anything before to remain at the top

Dabo Swinney can’t control NIL. But you better believe that NIL will dictate recruiting in the future.

We’re already seeing boosters get involved in a big way in programs across the country. One Miami gym owner has promised to pay every single scholarship player $6,000 per year in an endorsement deal for simply being on the team.

South Carolina basketball coach Frank Martin revealed a situation that gives perfect clarity into what we’re going to see moving forward. Martin said that there is a high school athlete right now who is being offered a seven-figure deal if he signs with a certain school.

It’s very likely that those kinds of conversations are going to become old-hat in the new world of recruiting and College Football, in general.

For good or for bad, prospects are going to be chasing after the money.

That gives certain programs- places like Alabama, Ohio State, USC, Texas and Michigan- with large and passionate alumni bases a ‘leg up’ on the competition.

Do you want a ‘close-to-home’ example? 5-star DE Jeremiah Alexander is set to choose Alabama over Clemson this week. While nothing can be confirmed, there are many recruiting analysts who believe Alexander is staying in-state and heading to Tuscaloosa because he believes he’ll be set up with more opportunities to benefit from NIL if he stays close to home and uses that large booster base to his advantage.

Even if that’s not the sole reason for Alexander specifically, you’ve got to believe that it’s going to become the central point for nearly every single high-profile recruit moving forward.

Coaches are going to have to pitch to recruits how their university can help build their brand- indirectly of course- and these prospects are going to see which programs are producing the most NIL money.

We can argue whether it should be legal or not, but it doesn’t change the fact that it’s here and this is what is happening.

So, how does that effect the future of the Clemson football program?

As we said earlier, Clemson is going to do everything in its power to compete but you’ve got to believe that the Tigers are going to have a hard time in the future winning recruiting battles against the likes of programs who have donor bases willing to pay billions in NIL revenue if the Tiger booster base isn’t willing to do the same.

More so than ever before, Clemson football boosters, alumni and fans are going to dictate the future of the program.

If the Tiger faithful are able to compete by raising the funds comparable to the Alabamas and Ohio States, or even the Miamis or Florida States, of the world, they’ll continue to see one of the nation’s top program year-in and year-out.

If they fall staunchly behind, we can expect that Clemson will begin to lose some recruiting battles and that there will be a natural tilt forward to those other programs who are investing more money. It’s not to say that it can’t be overcome, but it’s certainly going to create a gap between the ‘haves’ and the ‘have nots.’

The only question right now: Will we see Clemson remain in the group with the ‘haves,’ as it has over longer than the last half-decade, or not?