Clemson athletic director Dan Radakovich has been very deliberate on how he and the athletic department have handled releasing any kind of information since the COVID-19 pandemic began back in March.
That is why Radakovich’s surprise tweet on Saturday afternoon caught everyone by surprise.
https://twitter.com/ClemsonDRad/status/1297281916241162242
The tweet was the Clemson athletic director’s first public comment of any kind in more than a month, as he has tried not speculating or commenting on if the Tigers were going to have a football season this fall. That is why Radakovich’s tweet sent positive vibes all throughout the Clemson fan base on Saturday.
Radakovich’s tweet comes a day after Clemson Athletics announced it had just five positive test results this past week and none of them were on the football team or any of the fall sports.
Clemson has had one positive result among football student-athletes since July 10. Clemson’s fall sport programs have begun weekly screening protocols, as outlined by the ACC and NCAA recommendations.
Earlier this week, IPTAY sent an email to it donors asking if they would consider “redshirting” their season tickets for 2020. Later in the week, IPTAY sent out a second email announcing an opportunity for donors to receive bonus points if they don’t request a refund for their season tickets or 2020 donation.
As The Clemson Insider reported, Clemson is almost set to announce its plan to have fans in the stands at Memorial Stadium this fall, as well as if they will be able to tailgate.
Despite a few setbacks at North Carolina, NC State and Notre Dame this week, the ACC is still pushing forward to a 2020 football season. ACC Commissioner John Swofford said as much Friday when he made a special guest appearance on the ACC Network’s Packer & Durham Show.
This week has been a bumpy ride for the ACC as UNC, Notre Dame and NC State saw a rise in COVID-19 positive test results when classes opened up. North Carolina announced it will move back to online classes and has asked students living on campus to move out. UNC suspended all athletic practices for 24 hours.
At NC State, athletic practices continued, but the school announced Thursday it has moved to online classes as well. Notre Dame moved to online classes and closed access to all public spaces on campus for at least two weeks after it had an outbreak this week.
Notre Dame also shutdown practices and announced its sports teams will not return to practice until its medical staff says it is safe to do so. The Irish had five players test positive for the coronavirus on Thursday and six more are in quarantine protocol.
But the ACC continues to hold strong as it is now less than three weeks away from starting the ACC season, which begins on Sept 10 when Miami host UAB in its season opener.
“So far, our board [of governors] in the ACC, which is our presidents, has continued to believe that is the case and that is why we have consistently stayed with the process we have had for the last five months and consistently stayed, so far, with the idea that we can mitigate it and play safely and that is the best thing for our student-athletes,” Swofford said. “So, every week is different and, as I said, the students coming back to our campuses changes that environment and hopefully, it can be managed in an appropriate way that continues for us to have the answers that we have had the last few weeks in terms of going ahead with playing.
“But every day is a new day and every week is a new week and so far, we have stayed on that path as has the SEC and the Big 12.”
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