Report: Clemson expected to approve new athletic director

Clemson has been looking for a new athletic director since Dan Radakovich left earlier this month. The Tigers reportedly have their guy — and he’s already in-house.

Interim athletic director Graham Neff is expected to stay on as the full-time AD once the Clemson Board of Trustees approves his contract, according to Yahoo Sports’ Pete Thamel. The board’s compensation committee meets Thursday, which is when it’s expected to approve Neff’s contract.

Sources: Clemson’s Board of Trustee compensation committee meets on Thursday and is expected to approve the contract of Graham Neff to become the school’s new Atheltic Director. He’s been at Clemson since 2013 and has been acting AD since Dan Radakovich left for Miami.

— Pete Thamel (@PeteThamel) December 23, 2021

Before serving as Clemson’s acting AD, Neff worked as the university’s deputy athletic director. He joined Clemson in 2013 as the Tigers’ associate athletic director of finance and facilities and was promoted a year later.

Prior to his time at Clemson, Neff worked at Middle Tennessee State from 2011-12. The Georgia Tech graduate was a student basketball manager for the Yellow Jackets from 2002-06, including their Final Four run in 2004.

Radakovich served as Clemson’s athletic director since 2012 and oversaw plenty of growth across Clemson athletics, notably in the football program. He took over at Miami for Blake James, who was fired in November.

Miami hires Clemson AD Dan Radakovich as next athletic director

Following reports on Friday, the Miami Hurricanes are officially hiring Dan Radakovich as their next athletic director, according to Yahoo Sports’ Pete Thamel. The move comes after the Hurricanes parted ways with former athletic director Blake James on Nov. 15.

Per Thamel, the Clemson Tigers will promote deputy athletic director Graham Neff to athletic director following Radakovich’s departure.

Radakovich has been the athletic director at Clemson since 2012 after six years at Georgia Tech in the same role. Prior to his tenure with the Yellow Jackets, he was a senior associate athletic director at LSU from 2001-06 and was instrumental in the renovation of Tiger Stadium.

He oversaw a period of growth for Clemson, including facility improvements and an impressive run of College Football Playoff appearances from the Tigers’ football team, including two CFP titles.

The move to fire James came in the midst of yet another disappointing football season for the Hurricanes. They finished 7-5 to achieve bowl eligibility, but failed to live up to their preseason ranking of No. 14.

Manny Diaz was the next to go at Miami. The Hurricanes fired him and hired former Miami offensive lineman Mario Cristobal as their next head coach earlier this month. In three seasons under Diaz, Miami never failed to make a bowl game and had a 21-15 record with the Hurricanes.