Cover photo: 2015 file photo from Bob Pollock Invitational
Stephanie Finley is a proud
alumni of Clemson University.
She showed her support as a student in the mid to late 1990s by camping out waiting to buy basketball tickets outside of Littlejohn Coliseum. Following her days as a student, she has become a football season ticket holder and IPTAY member.
But a recent decision by the university's athletic department has turned the diehard fan from clapping along with the Tiger Rag to Tiger ragged.
On Nov. 5, Clemson discontinued its men's track and field and cross country programs. The move was costly as Finley's son, freshman long distance runner Cal Finley (Liberty High School) saw his sport dropped.
In a move to voice their displeasure, Stephanie, along with many others, have taken to social media with #SAVECLEMSONXCTF on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. There is also the website saveclemsontf.com.
Stephanie, who is the only parent representative on the 10-person committee of moderators, feels that social media is a helpful tactic to get feelings about dropping the programs heard.
"Clemson track and field is historically good. The fact that they cut the winningest program on the Clemson campus that has had Olympic gold medalists and Olympians makes no sense. It's not really a financial issue and was discussed before COVID. Social media is not what's going to save the program, but it's making (Clemson's decision) look bad. We keep it out there to disrupt and annoy and keep dialogue going." In a story published by clemsontigers.com, Clemson athletic director Dan Radakovich said the decision to cut the programs was difficult.
"This difficult decision is a result of an exhaustive examination of our athletics department over the past several months. After careful analysis, we concluded that discontinuing our men's track and field program is in the best long-term interest of Clemson Athletics. This decision impacts incredible student-athletes, and we know how hard they work and the effort and pride they take in representing Clemson University." Clemson will not eliminate any of its track and field or cross country scholarships. Coaches will also have their contracts honored throughout their terms.
Clemson's men's track and field program, in existence since 1953, has totaled 23 combined ACC team titles, 16 NCAA individual champions, 22 Olympians and four Olympic gold medalists.
Clemson senior Gabrielle Garringer, a Marketing and Spanish International Business major, has a younger brother that is an athlete in the track and field program. She said that the social media links are being used to get as much truthful information about why the decision is wrong as possible.
"The first couple of days social media was a platform for venting. You were dealing with the shock factor. It quickly went from venting to getting information out there. We're posting a lot of statistics and addressing the diversity issue and getting the message out there to show why this was a poor decision."
Clemson did not cut its women's programs, which Stephanie says is due to Title IX. With the cut of the men's programs, the athletic department sits at 16 sports and compliant within Title IX guidelines. She said that, despite the women's programs remaining in place, the athletes are still suffering as a result of the men's teams being halted.
"Cutting the men's program hurts the women's program. These are people they practice with, and they make them push harder. It's taking their brothers away. Their performance suffers, and their training suffers. The girls have been very vocal about this, and I'm very proud of them for that."
The group has also been vocal about the fact that rival South Carolina has made a commitment to not cut any of its sports.
"Some parents are very vocal on Twitter pointing that out," Stephanie said. "South Carolina has been really great to us. Their women's cross country team provided us a video of support that we've used on social media."
South Carolina had previously cut its men's cross country team prior to the pandemic. Garringer said that not having men's programs at Clemson or USC is bad for cross country in the state.
"We've emphasized that Clemson and the University of South Carolina are state schools, and there is a lot of interest in the sport in the state. Kids having to go out of state to run cross country instead of one of our state schools is a problem."
Stephanie said that several of the men's teams have entered the transfer portal after the decision to cut the programs. She added that she has had one-on-one conversations with Radakovich and has had e-mails returned from Clemson board of trustee members explaining the decision. The university's president James Clements has not responded to any of the group's attempts to reach him, she added.
"Radakovich told me that there will be no reinstatement and the decision is final. He did say, though, that he would like to see it come back in the future."
While the forecast is dreary for men's cross country and track and field in the near future at Clemson, Stephanie said the group will continue to fight. On Thursday, #SaveClemsonXCTF announced on Twitter that a Federal Civil Rights Complaint has been filed against Clemson for cutting its men's track and field and cross country programs. The group added that it had no involvement in the complaint and that it was filed by Russell Dinkins.
"It gets very discouraging most of the time." she said. "We're annoying them quite a lot. What will it accomplish? I'm not so sure. But we're not giving up."
