Clemson football: Rewarding athletes for academic achievement fits Clemson’s culture like a glove

Clemson football is one of only twenty-two NCAA FBS schools that is taking advantage of a new program that allows them to pay rewards to their student athletes for achievement in the classroom.

The NCAA changed allowed the new program in August 2020 in response to a mandate from a federal judge, which was upheld by the Supreme Court in June 2021. This ruling paved the way for NIL as well as this new program. The program permits universities to compensate athletes up to $5,980 per year.

At present, only twenty-two FBS programs have announced their intentions to reward athletes for academic performance. Twenty-one of them are in Power Five conferences, with Connecticut as the lone Group of Five program.

Clemson, North Carolina and Miami are the only ACC schools participating in the program. The SEC leads with nine of fourteen schools participating. They are followed by the Big 12 (5), PAC-12 (3) and ACC. The Big Ten only has one participating school in Wisconsin.

Twenty programs have plans to join the program in the future, but will not pay rewards for academics in this school year. Nearly a quarter of FBS schools have indicated that they have not made a final decision whether they will join the program, so it is possible that the number of participating schools could easily double within the next few years. Only fifteen schools surveyed responded that they have no plans to pay academic bonuses to student athletes.

Coach Dabo Swinney has repeatedly stated that he is against the professionalization of college athletics. His opinion is that it would negatively impact the student’s academic experience. The new NCAA program is not pay for play, but instead pay for academic achievement, which creates incentives for student athletes to achieve in the classroom. While the program applies to all student athletes, and not just football players, Coach Swinney is a significant driver of Clemson’s culture. Since the new program fits with his message prioritizing academics, it is a no-brainer that Clemson would participate if at all possible.

A focus on academics has been a part of Clemson’s culture long before Coach Swinney took charge of the football program in 2009. Clemson’s overall graduation rate was 91% for 2004-07 which was third nationally among public institutions. Their Graduation Success Rate for 2011-14 was calculated at 95%, which tied them for first in the ACC and third nationally.

Hopefully we will see a significant increase in the number of participating universities nationally, but particularly in the ACC. The ACC and the Big Ten traditionally tout academics as a strong component of their identities, but they currently have among the lowest rates of participation.

Many fans perceive that athletic programs are swimming with disposable cash and assume all programs should be able to afford participation. The reality that only one Group of Five program has decided to participate suggests otherwise. Group of Five athletic departments don’t often have the budgets comparable to schools with big-time football programs. As we see from this tweet regarding Oklahoma State’s participation, the money has to come from somewhere.

It might be that several more schools intend to institute the program, but have to figure out the exact way it will be funded.

The maximum amount of money allowed to be awarded for academic achievement might increase with time as well. The original amount of $5,980 was calculated based on the comparable value of athletic awards a player could accumulate in one year, such as individual player awards or all-conference team placement. We can presume the relative values of such athletic achievements will increase year over year, so the maximum reward for academic should as well.