Disclaimer: I wrote this text as an instantaneous response to information of Clemson’s latest rent. After publishing the article I since realized that there are allegations relating to this coach. I eliminated the article from the TMC homepage, however will maintain the article up as a result of the hyperlink was already despatched to E mail subscribers and shared on social media platforms.
With the announcement of Amy Smith as the pinnacle coach of Clemson’s upstart girls’s gymnastics program, I wish to make an article highlighting all the explanations her place is sort of advantageous. Clemson isn’t any extraordinary faculty, and the institution of a brand new NCAA program at this location presents a novel alternative the place an upstart program has a straightforward path to changing into a successful program
Clemson College is likely one of the wealthiest athletic packages within the NCAA. Its athletic funds previous to the Covid-19 Pandemic was $132 Million. That is an establishment that may supply potential recruits essentially the most luxurious lodging together with dorms, eating halls, coaching halls and leisure facilities which might be unique to its student-athletes. Clemson cannot solely supply lodging which might be far superior to the typical school pupil, however lodging that significantly exceed all however a small variety of gymnastics packages.
Gymnasts who select the Clemson Tigers not solely get the advantage of a rich program, however one with a large fanbase. Regardless of being two years out from its season debut, the Twitter account Clemson created for its gymnastics group gained a bigger following than future ACC rival North Carolina State throughout the first week of this system being formally introduced. Since then, the dormant Twitter has managed to carry itself to inside 1,000 followers of Pitt, the second largest of its three future ACC rivals.
There’s a chance that by the point Clemson makes its competitors debut it would have already got the biggest social media following inside its personal convention. Supported by a fanbase that’s large in numbers, and has one thing else. Even by the requirements of school sports activities, Clemson followers are an exceptionally passionate bunch. I’m speaking from private expertise right here, however of all of the opposing fanbases I’ve seen on the within of a faculty soccer stadium, Clemson followers have been amongst the fieriest supporters I’ve ever seen.
Most notably, on highway video games Clemson followers stamp “Tiger Paws” on $2 greenback payments and spend that cash throughout the group their group is visiting. It’s Clemson’s manner of respectfully saying their presence, and ensuring a chunk of the Clemson spirit stays behind when the fanbase returns residence. With solely minimal effort, Clemson meets can simply obtain one of many nice stadium atmospheres of school gymnastics. And I’m positive Clemson followers will go effectively past minimal effort.
Clemson is an iconic model propped up by an equally important convention model. The ACC is the final of the key conferences that has not but adopted girls’s gymnastics. If Clemson is likely one of the most resourceful athletic packages throughout the NCAA, the ACC is one in all its most resourceful conferences. The comparatively new ACC community which was established in 2019 and spent its early historical past stymied by a worldwide pandemic is already obtainable in 90 million American households and is carried by each main supplier. It is likely one of the few specialised sports activities channels that carries such weight throughout the tv and streaming world.
All of that’s absolutely behind the inaugural season of ACC gymnastics permitting all 4 ACC packages to acquire a surge in promotional protection they’ve by no means skilled earlier than. As essentially the most iconic ACC soccer model that additionally sponsors girls’s gymnastics, Clemson will profit from this greater than anybody.
Which brings us to yet one more level, the ACC itself. As a result of North Carolina, North Carolina State, and Pitt haven’t had the advantage of ACC branding in prior years, their social media accounts, fanbase dimension, and even aggressive success lags behind their counterparts within the close by SEC and the not so close by Pac-12. Clemson is within the distinctive place the place it doesn’t face the identical drawback most upstart packages face of getting to compete towards older and extra established packages.
Clemson has the sources of a $132 million greenback funds to simply overcome any hole, whereas competing in a convention the place there isn’t a big hole to beat. Inside the ACC there isn’t a program performing as a roadblock like UCLA and Utah within the Pac-12 the place each have gained quite a few nationwide titles. Neither is their overwhelming depth just like the SEC the place Oklahoma, Florida, LSU, and Auburn are a formidable lineup on their very own. To not point out rising packages like Missouri and Arkansas or historic title contenders like Alabama and Georgia.
This isn’t to belittle the present ACC packages which is able to collectively will Clemson type the inspiration of a groundbreaking new gymnastics convention, solely that they are going to mutually profit from it, however Clemson has the sources to learn essentially the most. And in contrast to the SEC, Pac-12, Massive Ten or Massive 12, there’s a viable path for Clemson to win a convention title in its first couple of seasons.
North Carolina is the most effective positioned program to rival Clemson, and it simply so occurs that Amy Smith spent six years at North Carolina as an assistant coach from 2012-2017. Smith is aware of the native territory, has familiarity with the regional golf equipment that will likely be invaluable recruiting instruments, she is aware of how her closest rivals function and much more so, has seen them function firsthand.
Clemson is a $132 million greenback athletic program that has doubled in dimension from the place it was a decade in the past. The kingmakers working Clemson athletics weren’t given the keys to such a worthwhile program until they know what they’re doing. And if you’re efficiently producing as a lot staggering progress as Clemson athletics has throughout the previous decade, then you definitely most undoubtedly know what you might be doing. Clemson clearly knew what it’s doing with the Amy Smith rent. Clemson gives a straightforward setting for a coach to excel in, however with the burden of getting to so many sources at your disposal, one should juggle to handle all of them appropriately.
The individual chosen to juggle all of it should be chosen rigorously.
Amy Smith has already hung out teaching at a Pac-12 faculty, a Massive 12 faculty, an SEC faculty, and an ACC faculty. She has spent important time contained in the coaching corridor of UCLA, probably the most advanced packages to handle and has the non-public expertise to know what it’s prefer to be on the teaching workers of a high-resource program. There’s additionally the beforehand talked about North Carolina which supplies her a bonus in understanding the speedy area and Clemson’s closest rival. Lastly, there was her time at Utah State have been Smith gained the expertise of managing a program on her personal.
Clemson didn’t choose Amy’s title out of a hat. They chose her as a result of they noticed a training resume that checks each single field you need checked off when handing the keys of a program like Clemson to its first coach. The predicament Smith finds herself in is equally as unprecedented as it’s absurd. It’s unfair to the remainder of school gymnastics that one program has each conceivable benefit possible. There could also be unexpected obstacles, however Smith has been dealt an excellent hand of playing cards. If she performs it appropriately, Clemson may simply turn out to be a powerful contender.
The subsequent step is for Amy Smith to deploy the final “ace up your sleeve” benefit she has. That being, an upstart program can simply sway over potential recruits as a result of incoming freshman don’t should share taking part in time with current upperclassmen. This large recruiting benefit is often offset by all of the disadvantages of being an upstart program. However when you have got a viable path to a convention title, a tv channel with 90 million households, and a $132 million greenback program supporting you, these disadvantages don’t actually exist.
If there may be an ace to be discovered, it’s already in Clemson’s possession. Amy has all of the aces.
