Clemson AD Neff says school will fully fund NCAA settlement and add 150 scholarships in two years

CLEMSON, S.C. — Clemson coach Dabo Swinney called the current state of college football ''Wackyland.''

The Tigers' long-time coach believes what his university announced Tuesday will help bring normalcy back to the game.

Clemson athletic director Graham Neff told athletic backers the school will fully participate in revenue sharing under the NCAA's upcoming House settlement and will add 150 scholarships across all sports for the 2025-26 academic year.

Swinney has long thought the landscape of the game has been unmanageable with schools with bigger donor bases and better-funded collectives having an advantage over schools like Clemson, which is not quite as well funded.

Clemson is fully funding a revenue-sharing program for its athletes, as put forward in the House settlement, to even out those disparities seen by Swinney.

Neff also said the school will partner Clemson's collective, the ''110 Society," to its long-time scholarship fundraising arm, ''IPTAY,'' helping donors earn points for perks for things like better seating or better parking.

''The NIL part's been a challenge,'' Swinney said. ''But now with being able to get points and all that, that's really going to help us between now and July'' when revenue sharing is expected to start.

''We need everybody's support on that, to be sure,'' he said. ''It's what we've got to be able to compete until we get there'' to revenue sharing.

Neff sent out a letter to Clemson supporters on Tuesday, saying the department was ''taking decisive action to best position ourselves for long-term success.''

The NCAA's $2.8 billion settlement is a proposed resolution to three antitrust lawsuits that alleged the NCAA illegally restricted college athletes from earning money. A final approval hearing is set for April 2025.

Neff said the school would share the maximum allowable amount of $20.5 million in 2025-26 with its athletes under the House agreement. It would also increase its scholarships to athletes for a current total of 275 to 425 across all of its 21 sports in that year.

He also said that those who donate to the 110 Society between last July 1 and June 30 are eligible for IPTAY Priority Points. ''This is a significant step,'' Neff wrote.

''Nobody is going to have more money than Clemson" once revenue-sharing is paired with NIL, Swinney said. ''Nobody, for the first time ever. That'll be good.''

Neff told supporters that revenue-sharing payments would supplement scholarships. Clemson's athletic department will create ''a centralized ‘Front Office' to oversee contract details, compliance and allocation strategy," he wrote.

Clemson has not yet itemized where the extra scholarships will go. The department is expected to fund the maximum allowable limit in most sports, like 20 additional for football and two or three more for men's and women's basketball.

Swinney added that he'll have financial planners coming in twice a week to help his players manage their money.

''There's going to be a lot of opportunity to really teach these guys,'' he said.

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