Last night I had the good fortune of sitting in for an IPTAY rep friend of mine at the National IPTAY meeting held yearly in Columbia.

It was not only a great opportunity to see some family friends that I haven’t talked to in a while but it also served me with a chance to take a brief pulse of the athletic department and IPTAY. A good, free meal was an opportunity I wasn’t willing to pass up either, even if I did have to drive to Columbia.

Below you will find a brief run down of last night’s events and speakers… as well as my unwarranted and some what unnecessary reactions.

I realize that you know who some of these people are, but I’m a creature of habit and went the extra yard to make it look structured for you.

Welcome & Introductions – Bert Henderson, Executive Director of IPTAY

Invocation – Charles Dalton, IPTAY President Elect

Speeches – Dr. Terry Don Phillips, Director of Athletics

• Mainly hammered on the importance of donations.
• Discussed how Clemson was a special community.
• Actually showed up for the meeting. This is kind of a big one so I supposed he had to make an appearance.
• Actually stayed the entire meeting.

President James F. Barker, President of Clemson University

• I tend to disagree with some points that Barker submits but he did a great job with his speech.
• He made a point that he wanted to have Clemson focus more on the will of Thomas Green Clemson in that the school should benefit South Carolinians first and foremost.
• Discussed that this year saw the highest enrollment for in state students in the undergraduate programs in the history of Clemson.
• Discussed the massive benefits that the ICAR/Protera deal and Wind Turbine initiatives are already having on the state and our economy.
• Although I take some sharp, contrasting views to some things Barker does I’m confident that he is a great spokesperson and leader for our university in the long run.

Charles Dalton, IPTAY President Elect

• Filled in for Mary Anne Bigger (Current IPTAY President) who’s husband and mother were recently hospitalized.
• Didn’t pay attention much to him. Just a thank you speech. Very qualified in my opinion.

Bill D’Andrea, Senior Associate Athletic Director for External Affairs

• Kept it short and sweet.
• You can’t help but like Billy D.

IPTAY Rep Recognition – Jason Wilson, Assistant Director of IPTAY

• Told a few stories that drew some chuckles.
• Kind of felt a little like a TigerNet “Let’s circle the wagons and get fired up” speech… yuck.

Athletes – Alex Padgett (Track) and Lauren Klas (Track)

• Essentially thank you speeches.

Coaches – Richard Ruggieri, Head Women’s Rowing Coach

• Nice guy, but pronounces it “Clemzin”… That’s all that needs to be said.

Oliver Purnell, Head Men’s Basketball Coach

• Could not attend due to weather and team traveling up to Virginia Tech.

Dabo Swinney, Head Football Coach

• Great speech as expected.
• Touched on most everything you’d expect him to at this point in the season.
• He had some very interesting stats that he focused on. Mainly that we scored more points last season than we ever have in seasons past. Oh, that and we were seventh in the nation in total defense last year in the entire country.
• He made what he did last year seem quite impressive. If you remember, last year was a “year of first’s” for Dabo and much of his staff. He had to pretty much rebuild a great staff and program from the ground up. He had to completely change the mentality of every player, coach, etc in the Clemson football program.
• He really emphasized that they were a lot tougher as a team and would continue to adopt the physical approach from here on out.

Overview
I really enjoyed the meeting. However, there were a few things that I didn’t like. Please don’t read too much into what I’m saying and don’t try to take what I’m about to say out of context. I pay my money to IPTAY like many Clemson fans. I like the pomp and circumstance act only so much. From what I understand, we’re putting roughly 8$ million a year into scholarships across the board. That pays for full rides in basketball, football, some baseball, and a few others. We’re throwing $20 million in the bank every year that is divided up and I’m assuming most of that goes to pay off the West Zone and day to day of certain things within the CUAD. Of course some of it goes to savings as well. I don’t like the fact that they don’t have a plan for giving big portions to the infrastructure and recruiting facilities outside of basketball and football. Well, they do but it wasn’t covered at all.

They talked to an extent about how well we’ve done (which in the broad picture means that we were doing what we should be doing to continue to be slightly better than average in every sport) and left out what we need to work on, what we’re missing, and what’s gone wrong in the past year and how they’re working to correct it.

I’m all for supporting Clemson and giving money. I just want a better plan. I want a better distribution. If it were a shareholders meeting, people would have been throwing their plates at the stage instead of singing the alma mater at the end. There was zero in depth breakdown of expenses and zero overview of how the money that we’re willingly giving away without asking any questions is being used. At least a power point packet or hand out would be nice.

College athletics in America and recruiting for the sports is an arms race. We don’t have a humongous, millionaire fan base like everyone else does. In our case, it’s extremely important that every dollar we give isn’t wasted money. This is why I’m taking the view point that I am. There is literally no amount of room for error. I also feel that there is a larger emphasis on selling more tickets (WEZ, baseball bleachers, revamping Littlejohn) than there is in improving the actual product on the field/court/etc through means of improving the foundations and amenities of the smaller sports to get better recruits. Yes I realize that there have been some improvements but many of those items are paid for specifically by one person in most cases.

As per the IPTAY website:

In accordance with the IPTAY Constitution, the four priorities are as follows:

1. The payment of the annual cost of athletic scholarships.
2. The payment or reimbursement of the operating expenses of IPTAY.
3. The establishment and maintenance of an adequate reserve fund deemed appropriate by the IPTAY Board of Directors.
4. Any expenditure other than those established under the previous three priorities, shall be limited to either direct or indirect aids to the athletic program of Clemson University and must be approved by the IPTAY Board of Directors.

I guess I’m just disappointed that IPTAY reps at the meeting were not given updated information on how to sell Clemson Athletics. It seemed like one big thank you fest. Again, I write this with the best intentions in my heart for the athletics of my alma mater, I just feel that there is a lot of room for improvement in getting the message out there. Rather than watching highlight videos of CJ Spiller, let’s work on how we can work to get the next CJ Spiller to come to our school.

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