Radakovich says he's looking for a "return to normalcy" this football season

Everyone is hopeful we see this again this fall.

by David Hood - Senior Writer - Wed May 05 08:01:03 GMT-04:00 2021

There are 130 days until Clemson opens the home portion of the 2021 football schedule with a game against in-state foe South Carolina State. The opponent might not engender a ton of excitement, but the fact that Death Valley might be full is cause enough to get out of the house and enjoy a day of football.

Clemson operated at 19% capacity last season. That meant cheerleaders weren’t on the field, the band stood six feet apart on The Hill, and recruits weren’t allowed on campus for official visits. Fans sat in pods, and while it was good that we had football, it just wasn’t the same watching Dabo Swinney run down the hill with a limited number of band members standing on the hill and not on the field, the cheerleaders near the walls, and the rest of the sidelines clear.

It was great. It was strange. It worked for last season, but Clemson athletic director Dan Radakovich told TigerNet this week that while he doesn’t yet know if Death Valley will operate at 100 percent capacity or if the ACC will allow normal sideline operations, he is extremely optimistic that we will see a normal football season.

“A lot of those questions are answered through our institution and they are the ones that help guide us through that,” Radakovich said. “One of the things that I've been asked numerous times is, 'Why don't we have more people at the baseball stadium?' I don't flippantly say this, but it's the same reason that graduation isn't in Littlejohn Coliseum. It's at the Bon Secours Wellness Center and it's in 12 different sessions. The institution is still being a little bit conservative, as they should be, given how we are moving out of the pandemic and how the state's regulations are.”

Students returned to campus last fall but with the majority of the classes online. This spring, the number of in-person classes has grown with an eye toward a fully in-person fall. If the university follows through with that plan, athletics will be in lockstep with that decision.

“I think we fully anticipate, given the fact that the institution is looking at full classrooms and in-person teaching in the fall, that we are going to have the same type of circumstance as it relates to our athletic program and certainly Memorial Stadium in a return to normalcy,” Radakovich said.

Many people have asked Radakovich if masks will be required or if people will be required to show proof that they’ve been vaccinated. He said that while he doesn’t see vaccination being an issue, his best guess is that there will still be fans wearing face coverings.

“I will tell you that I think there are going to be people over the next five years who wear masks in large gatherings, of their own volition,” he said. “Some stadiums are having vaccination sections. I don't think that is something we are looking at, given how we apportion the stadium. But more of that information will be available as get closer to September 12th against South Carolina State.”