Before his time is done at Clemson, athletic director Dan Radakovich will accomplish a lot of things. In a way, he already has with all the upgrades to Memorial Stadium, Littlejohn Coliseum, Riggs Field and the new football operations center.
However, the one decision his legacy will always be tied to at Clemson—for good or bad—was his decision last summer to part ways with Hall of Fame Baseball Coach Jack Leggett, when Leggett was only hoping for a couple of more years to coach.
“I think the changes and the attitudes Monte (Lee) has brought to the players has been a real positive change for those guys,” said Radakovich, who sat down for a conversation with The Clemson Insider earlier this week to discuss several topics such as the proposed student donation for football tickets and the state of the basketball program. “Jack was awesome. For a lot of years he was incredibly good and I have the upmost respect for him, but I think we needed to make a change and change a little bit of the philosophy because student athletes today are different than student athletes were five, ten or fifteen years ago.
“Hopefully, Monte can continue to build on the positive momentum that he has created thus far.”
As they head into this weekend’s home series against No. 5 Florida State, the Tigers find themselves with a decent 26-14 record overall, but a disappointing 9-12 mark in the ACC. Lee, who was hired last June, is hoping the week off for final exams will help rejuvenate his team and get them back to where they were when they started the year 21-7 and won five of their first six ACC games.
When Clemson resumes play on Saturday against the Seminoles at Doug Kingsmore Stadium, it will be the first of 16 games it will have to play in 22 days to conclude the regular season.
“Monte and I talked about this in thirds of the season. The first third was really good. They played really well,” Radakovich said. “Competition, obviously, ramped up for the middle and the final third. There were some things with the baseball program where there are a few holes. We have been able to mask those pretty well because we have been hitting the ball real well.
“Overall, I think Monte has done what we needed him to do. They are recruiting very well right now. They’re playing with a lot of excitement right now. They go out and give great effort each and every night and I think as the season goes on we have an opportunity. All and all, it has been a very successful beginning for him. I know that Monte wants to be able the keep progressing and moving it up to the next level and that’s what we are going to do.”
Lee is hoping his Tigers can do enough to get into the NCAA Tournament, something Clemson has done every year, but once, since 1987. To do that, however, the Tigers will likely have to win at least six of their remaining nine ACC games to put themselves in position. If not, they will have to make a run in the ACC Tournament next month, and there is no guarantee they will make the ACC tournament.
Last year, Clemson was the last team into the NCAA Tournament. A lot of people thought the North Carolina Tar Heels might get the bid over the Tigers considering their RPI (No. 24) was significantly higher, they won more games overall and they just beat the Tigers in the ACC Tournament.
But Clemson got in. The only reason it did – the Tigers were 16-13 and finished sixth in ACC play, while UNC was 13-16 and finished eighth. With three conference series left—FSU, NC State and at Notre Dame—Clemson currently sits in a tie for 10th in the conference with North Carolina and Duke, but when factoring in the tiebreakers, its No. 12, which means if the Tigers don’t turn things around they will not be in the ACC Tournament and not in the NCAA Tournament, either.
“It’s never acceptable (to miss the NCAA Tournament), but it could be a reality,” Radakovich. “Would we like it? No. We play as well as we can and we go out and do the things that we can do, and at the end of the year, we will be judged by a group of folks up in Indianapolis whether we are in the tournament or not.”
In the short term this might not be the last year the Tigers miss the tournament. Though Lee and his staff are doing all they can, right now their starting pitching is not getting it done.
Clemson is coming off a series against Georgia Tech in which the starters—Charlie Barnes, Alex Eubanks and Ryley Gilliam—pitched just six innings all weekend and gave up 13 runs on 15 hits – a 19.50 earn run average. Eubanks and Gilliam did not make it out of the first inning and recorded just one out each.
In Saturday’s game, the Tigers were beaten 15-1, the program’s worst ACC loss in the history of Doug Kingsmore Stadium and the worst home loss to a conference foe since 1960.
Though Clemson has depth in the bullpen, the question becomes is there enough there to develop some into a weekend starter or two by next season. Clemson’s 2016 class, which will enroll late in the summer, is ranked just 28th in the country and there is no guarantee anyone in that class can come right in and help out.
Seven ACC schools currently rank higher than Clemson on Perfect Game.com’s recruiting rankings, including Duke, who is ranked No. 26. Radakovich’s decision to replace Leggett cost the Tigers two of the nation’s top 2015 prospects that had already signed with Clemson, but asked to be released after the firing.
Cal Raleigh is playing third base for Florida State and has started 38 of their 39 games this season. He is hitting .322 with nine home runs and a .594 slugging percentage. Jackson Kowar has started six games and appeared in 12 for the top-ranked Florida Gators. He is 3-0 with a 3.37 ERA. Both players obviously could have made significant contributions to the Tigers this season.
Due to the fact baseball is only a partial scholarship sport for most players, schools that have large endowments have a big advantage over Clemson. Vanderbilt (No. 2), Virginia (No. 15), Stanford (No. 25) and Duke are some of the schools that have large endowments at their disposal to help provide other monies for student athletes that qualify.
“Athletically, we cannot create an endowment. That is against the rules. We just cannot put a big amount of money somewhere and say this is going to be an endowment,” Radakovich said. “When you utilize endowment dollars, it is for specific purposes that are available to all students at the university. If you have a university like a Vanderbilt, like a Duke, like a Stanford—large private schools—they can utilize those funds for student athletes, especially those in the fractionalized equivalency sports.”
For the first time, Clemson is using the Common Market to help combat some recruiting deficiencies it has. The Common Market allows out of state prospects to pay in-state tuition at Clemson. Currently the Tigers have four players on its roster using the Common Market.
Lee, recruiting coordinator Bradley LeCroy and pitching coach Andrew See are also using the new baseball operations center at Doug Kingsmore Stadium to sell the program to potential recruits, but it could be a few more years before they see the fruits of the new facility.
The biggest recruiting ploy Clemson has, and always has had, is its rich baseball tradition. Twelve College World Series appearances, 40 NCAA Tournament appearances, 18 NCAA Regional titles, 21 ACC regular season titles and nine ACC Tournament titles. Unlike the basketball program, where the standard is different when it comes to making the NCAA Tournament, this is why the baseball program can’t afford to slip for very long and not make the NCAAs. It needs its rich history to recruit.
“We understand the history and tradition that is associated with Clemson baseball, the league that we play in and the facility that we have, sometimes we have to be able to utilize that a little bit as well to be able to get student athletes to come here,” Radakovich said. “It’s different now. You have to recruit different. You have to present yourself different. You have to do a lot of other things different rather than roll out a bag of baseballs and say come to Clemson.
“There is a lot more competition related to baseball … I know Monte, Andrew and Bradley are on the trail recruiting for Clemson University and that is a really good thing to sell. I think that given how we have invested in the program that is important for players as well.
“We are okay right now. We could be better,” Radakovich continued. “You put your faith into the coach and allow them to go out and do their job. Give them the resources to be able to do that and then you evaluate at the proper time.”
Photo Credit: Craig Mahaffey, Clemson Athletic Communications