Wednesday July 01, 2009

We're Number 53!

We’re Number 53!
Last night I wrote a piece about the road schedule for the 2009 football season that I planned to put on the blog today but I ran across information that seemed to be more pressing.

I know I have been very critical in recent months about the lack of championships and lack of passion in the leadership in Clemson athletics. I hate negative news and wish there were more positives to report. Some feel this is fair criticism while other think it is only opinion and not above board. Unfortunately more evidence came out this week to support the argument about the lack of success.

The Director’s Cup final results came out this week. This competition used to be called the Sears Cup but now is called the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics Cup. The competition includes the following sports: men’s and women’s cross country, women’s field hockey, football, men’s and women’s soccer, men’s and women’s volleyball, men’s and women’s water polo, men’s and women’s basketball, women’s bowling, fencing, men’s and women’s gymnastics, men’s and women’s ice hockey, rifle, skiing, men’s and women’s swimming, men’s and women’s indoor and outdoor track and field, men’s wrestling, baseball, men’s and women’s golf, men’s and women’s lacrosse, women’s rowing, softball, and men’s and women’s tennis.

To be fair, Clemson only fields teams in 19 of the 36 sports in the competition. By comparison, North Carolina fields 28 teams and South Carolina fields 21 teams.

Here is a list of the number of sports each ACC field:
North Carolina 28
Boston College 27
Maryland 26
Virginia 25
Duke 23
NC State 23
Clemson 19
Virginia Tech 19
FSU 19
Wake Forest 18
Georgia Tech 17
Miami 17

I know some of you only care about football but for those of us that do care about the entire athletic department, we get disappointing but not surprising news this week. Clemson finished 53rd in the country in the final Directors Cup competition. The Tigers finished 10th in the ACC and 19th of the 24 ACC and SEC schools.

Here is how each ACC and SEC school finished:
North Carolina 2
Florida 3
Virginia 8
LSU 9
Florida State 15
Duke 17
Georgia 18
Tennessee 23
Arkansas 25
Auburn 26
Maryland 28
Alabama 30
Kentucky 34
Wake Forest 37
South Carolina 39
Miami 43
Virginia Tech 46
Georgia Tech 48
Clemson 53
Ole Miss 60
Vanderbilt 67
NC State 74
Boston College 75
Mississippi State 100

These rankings started in 1993 and this year is the worst Clemson has ever finished in the standings. Here is a list of how Clemson has finished each year:
1993-94 Clemson 16
1994-95 Clemson 51
1995-96 Clemson 27
1996-97 Clemson 51
1997-98 Clemson 25
1998-99 Clemson 28
1999-2000 Clemson 38
2000-01 Clemson 34
2001-02 Clemson 26
2002-03 Clemson 48
2003-04 Clemson 42
2004-05 Clemson 52
2005-06 Clemson 39
2006-07 Clemson 36
2007-08 Clemson 43
2008-09 Clemson 53

Again, to be fair, Clemson does not field as many sports as some of the league schools but the numbers indicate that we are not as successful as we once were. Five of the first nine years Clemson finished in the top 30. It has now been seven straight years of finishing outside of the top 30.

Some will blame this on the athletic department’s leadership. Others will say tuition hikes hurt some of the sports due to the rise in partial scholarship costs passed on to the students. Some will say tuition hikes have hurt IPTAY funds and this has had an effect. Some will point out the money spent chasing US News and World Report’s top 20 has had an adverse effect on the athletic department.

Evidence does point out that you don’t have to choose between academic success and athletic success. Highly thought of academic institutions do well in these standings. Stanford has won 15 straight titles in this competition. This year North Carolina finished second, Florida third, Michigan is fifth, Texas is sixth, Cal is seventh, Virginia finished eighth, Ohio State is tenth, Washington finished 11th, UCLA is 16th, Georgia is 18th, Penn State is 19th and Illinois is 20th. In all 12 schools finished in the top 20 of the Director’s Cup and in the top 20 of the US News and World Report’s list of public schools. This does not include private schools that finished in the top 20 of the Director’s Cup like Stanford (first) and Duke (17th).

We can point fingers and argue about who is to blame for Clemson’s lack of athletic success compared to earlier decades. I am not exactly sure what reasons are valid and which are unfair in assessing blame. However, I do know the athletic department has slipped. This is a fact. The numbers are clear.

A few weeks ago I detailed how the number of ACC championships have fallen to record lows in recent years. Now we get this data that the athletic department has its lowest ranking ever in the Director’s Cup.

Four ACC championships in six years is unacceptable. Tenth in the ACC in the Director Cup standings is unacceptable. We should be better. We must do something to get better. We must improve and it needs to happen sooner rather than later.

The Brad Hughes All-State Insurance Agency

Prayer List
We have started a prayer list on the blog. Here are the guidelines:
*If you are offended by prayer or prayer lists then I apologize in advance. The blog is free and the prayer list will be on the bottom of the page so you don’t have to read it.
*If you would like to add someone to the list please e-mail me at mickeyplyler@hotmail.com
*If you want the reason for the prayer to be added to the name please specify in your e-mails.
*Please let me know when it is appropriate to take the person off of the prayer list

Those who need our prayers include:
Finn Brookover, Mrs. Kathleen Bowers, Larry in Naples, FL, RTG-Pawsitive Tiger, Mary-Louise Pawlowski (John's daughter), Jo Ann Bachman, Frank Taylor, Kenneth Bryant, Pruitt Martin, Got igers and his family, David Rowland, Leonard Gillespie and his family, Jim S, Christine Hepfer, Daniel Rosborough, Amy Murphey, Jack Huffman, Nancy Winkler, Dr. Nancy Strom Morgan, John Reeve, Eileen Woodrum, Ethel Southard, Vinnie Brock, Jean-Pierre Bailey, Kaitlyn L, William Perry, Delores Weaver, Eric Boessneck, John Bowers, Jimmy Ness, Susan Miller, Joyce Harley, Steve Proveaux, John Petrey.