A national championship helps all of us win

Watching the Clemson Tigers win the school’s second football national championship was a moment we will never forget. Whether in Tampa, Clemson or in living rooms across the country, the euphoria felt as the final second ticked off the clock turned into immense pride for all of us as Clemson fans and members of the Clemson Family.
The spotlight has been shining brightly on the Clemson brand and, after two consecutive trips to the final game of the College Football Playoffs, the Tiger Paw is more recognizable than ever, and its value has never been higher!
[pullquote]The national championship was a success for Clemson on many levels beyond the game itself, and I am grateful to everyone — from the team and coaches to our fans and alumni, and faculty, staff and students — who played a role in that success. [/pullquote]
Bringing home the 2016 College Football Playoff National Championship trophy, and all of the resulting exposure that comes along with it, certainly doesn’t hurt our student recruitment or interest-generating efforts. In fact, we are having another record-breaking year in admissions with applications for undergraduate admission up 12 percent from this time last year, which was also a record-breaking year.
We also saw a huge surge in web traffic and social media engagement around the time of the national championship game. Our main Clemson website had more than a quarter of a million visits from a national audience, and web traffic during the national championship game itself was five times normal levels for that day of the week.
During the week between the national championship game and our wonderful parade and celebration, Clemson’s Facebook page recorded more activity than the 10 largest university accounts — combined! This strong engagement is indicative of the power of the Clemson brand, and I am proud of the work our University and athletics communicators did to leverage the opportunity on behalf of Clemson.
When a university has a winning athletics program, donors are energized and willing to help reach new levels in academics, as well as athletics, with funding for facilities, endowed chairs or other programs to benefit all students, faculty and staff. This has certainly been the case for Clemson, as last year was a record year for gifts received.
There is ample anecdotal evidence to show the connection between opportunities for donor support with increased engagement activities around post-season and national championship events. The post-season games provided for Clemson a one-of-a-kind experience of engaging our donors and alumni that is not available during the regular season. The additional engagements and positive momentum resulted in at least seven or eight major gifts we may not have received otherwise thanks to our generous alumni and donors.
Clemson is a championship university in so many ways, including the way our fans support our Tigers with great sportsmanship and class and the positive ways in which our coaches and players represent the University on the national stage. Along with having the best college football team, we are one of the top public universities in the country, thanks to the hard work and dedication of our faculty and staff. And the nation has taken notice. Go Tigers!