Graham Neff’s first days as Clemson’s interim athletic director are going quite well
In Graham Neff’s first week as Clemson’s acting athletic director, he already has a national championship to celebrate.
Neff was on location in Cary, North Carolina on Sunday to see the Tigers men’s soccer team win the program’s third national title after beating Washington, 2-0. The Tigers’ other two titles came in 1984 and 1987.
“Job’s Finished.” @ClemsonMSoccer Heckuva week,” he tweeted, adding a wink, crying laughing and fist bump emojis at the end.
Neff became the interim AD on Thursday after Dan Radakovich left to take the same position at Miami. The two-time Georgia Tech grad had previously been the deputy AD under Radakovich and has been working at Clemson for eight years.
“Clemson averaging a national championship for every three days Graham Neff has served as Acting Athletic Director,” tweeted former longtime Clemson SID Tim Bourret.
The Tigers had a stellar tournament leading up to the final contest, ending the year on a five-game winning streak while scoring nine penalty kicks in the last two games. They took down second-seeded Washington in the final game, top-seeded Oregon State in the quarterfinals and avenged a 4-0 regular-season loss to fourth-seeded Notre Dame in the semifinals.
George Marks, the defensive MVP, made two saves, while Isaiah Reid, who hadn’t scored in over a month, had both of Clemson’s goals and was named the offensive MVP.
The Tigers squad also got a shoutout from members of the other kind of football team. Running backs coach C.J. Spiller, freshman offensive lineman Marcus Tate and sixth-year running back Darien Rencher all sent out congratulatory messages, while others like sixth-year safety Nolan Turner retweeted Clemson men’s soccer’s tweet about the national championship.
Neff will be full steam ahead this week with the football team beginning practice for the Cheez-It Bowl, signing day on Wednesday and a slate of basketball games, which includes the men’s basketball team taking on rival South Carolina on Saturday.
