Dan Radakovich
| Sport(s) | Football |
|---|---|
| Current position | |
| Title | Athletic director |
| Team | Clemson |
| Conference | ACC |
| Biographical details | |
| Born | June 9, 1958 |
| Alma mater |
Indiana University Pa. (B.S.) University of Miami (M.B.A.) |
| Playing career | |
| 1977–1980 | IUP |
| Position(s) | Tight end, punter[1] |
| Administrative career (AD unless noted) | |
| 1983–1985 | Miami (FL) (athletic business manager) |
| 1989–1994 | Long Beach State (associate AD) |
| 1994–2000 | South Carolina (associate AD) |
| 2000–2001 | American |
| 2001–2006 | LSU (senior associate AD) |
| 2006–2012 | Georgia Tech |
| 2012–present | Clemson |
Dan Radakovich (born June 9, 1958) is the athletics director at Clemson University.[2] Previously, he was the Athletics Director at the Georgia Institute of Technology, a position he held from February 22, 2006 to October 29, 2012.[3] He was previously the Senior Associate Director of Athletics at Louisiana State University.
Radakovich has a long background in dealing with program finance, as well as large scale renovation and facility improvement. Over the course of his career, Radakovich has managed over a quarter of a billion dollars for various universities' athletic departments.
Early life and education
Radakovich, a Serbian American,[4] hails from Monaca, Pennsylvania where he attended Center High School, just outside Aliquippa, Pennsylvania. He was a distingusehd graduate from the Indiana University of Pennsylvania (1980) where he earned a bachelor's degree in finance. He graduated from the University of Miami School of Business Administration in 1982 with a master's degree in business administration.[5] Radakovich is married to Marlene Bryar.
Early career
At Long Beach State, he revamped radio broadcast agreements.
At South Carolina, he managed $33 million in facility improvements, including the Colonial Life Arena, now the home of USC's basketball teams as well as other sports.
At American University, he worked to get the school into the Patriot League.
Later career
At LSU, he developed a football ticket donation program, and was involved in $90,000,000 renovation of Tiger Stadium.
When hired at Georgia Tech on February 22, 2006, Radakovich beat out former Tech player and head coach Bill Curry and former Tech baseball and football player and baseball assistant coach Cam Bonifay for the job.[6][7][8][9] Radakovich improved the sales of season tickets for the 2006 football season, especially "chairback" or "club level" season tickets; hired football head coach Paul Johnson. He changed the way that athletic seating worked with the TECH Fund. The program also had several facilities changes, including a new indoor practice facility for football, Alexander Memorial Coliseum redesigned as Hank McCamish Pavilion, and rebuilt tennis facilities.
Radakovich oversaw the addition of additional student fees to graduate and undergraduate students at Georgia Tech. These fees were included above and beyond normal tuition to help pay for a poorly managed football team. These fees were not covered by the HOPE scholarship program for undergraduates or tuition waivers for graduate students. This effectively raised the cost of all Georgia Tech students to pay for a limited few athletes. This program was put in place before the great recession and has continued. The fees added under Radakovich's tenure were not poplar from the viewpoint of graduate students.
Also, during Radakovich's tenure at Georgia Tech the football program was investigated by the NCAA. The NCAA asked Radakovich to not tell others that the program was under investigation. Radakovich immediately informed Paul Johnson, the Georgia Tech football coach, that Georgia Tech was under investigation by the NCAA. The NCAA found out that Radakovich had informed Johnson of the investigation and levied a heavy penalty against Tech. As part of the penalty the NCAA took away Tech's 2009 ACC football championship.
On October 29, 2012, Radakovich accepted position of athletic director at Clemson University.[2][3] In 2014, Radakovich pushed for a controversial proposal to implement a $350 student athletic fee which would have raised approximately $6 million in revenues for the Clemson Athletic Department. Radakovich's proposal would have been mandatory for all undergraduate students and voluntary for graduate students who chose to attend athletic events.[10] Ultimately, the plan failed due to resistance from Clemson's Undergraduate Student Government, including a poll which indicated that 85% of students opposed the fee.[11] Only months after the proposed athletic fee failed, Radakovich went before the South Carolina legislature asking for approval to purchase a $4.5 million Cessna Citation CJ2 for the Clemson Athletic Department. Lawmakers approved purchasing the private jet.[12] As of April 2016, Radakovich is again embroiled in a fight with students over athletic funding. The Clemson Athletic Department announced a new student ticket policy which would require students to pay $225 for season tickets in the coveted lower deck seats of the student section. Students who choose not to pay for tickets may attend games in the upper deck,[13] effectively stratifying students who choose to attend football games into those who can afford to pay for a season ticket and those who cannot. Clemson students are again mobilizing against changes to ticketing policies with a petition written to Radakovich, Clemson President Jim Clements, and the Clemson Board of Trustees in circulation.[13] Additionally, Student Body President Joey Wilson has come out in opposition to the new ticketing policy.
Radakovich is a member of the College Football Playoff Selection Committee.[14]
References
- ↑ "Tech names Radakovich". Atlanta Journal-Constitution. 2006-02-23. Archived from the original on February 23, 2006. Retrieved 2007-11-12.
- 1 2 "Report: Dan Radakovich to Clemson". ESPN. 2012-10-29. Retrieved 2012-10-29.
- 1 2 "Radakovich headed for Clemson". Atlanta Journal-Constitution. 2012-10-28. Retrieved 2012-10-29.
- ↑ Grecic/Lopusina, "SVI SRBI SVETA" - Iseljenicke asocijacije
- ↑ "Dan Radakovich". clemsontigers.com. Retrieved May 10, 2016.
- ↑ "Dan Radakovich is Tech's New Athletics Director" (Press release). Georgia Institute of Technology. 2006-02-22. Archived from the original on April 19, 2007. Retrieved 2007-05-16.
- ↑ "Radakovich Named Georgia Tech Director of Athletics". RamblinWreck.com. Georgia Tech Athletic Association. 2006-02-22. Retrieved 2012-10-29.
- ↑ "Radakovich replaces Braine". The Technique. 2006-02-24. Archived from the original on 2007-09-29.
- ↑ "Tech taps Radakovich to lead Athletic Association". The Whistle. Georgia Institute of Technology. 2006-02-27. Retrieved 2012-10-29.
- ↑ "Clemson considers fee to help pay for sports". The Greenville News. Retrieved 2016-04-13.
- ↑ Cohen, Ben. "Why Clemson's Students Wouldn't Pay For Sports". Wall Street Journal. ISSN 0099-9660. Retrieved 2016-04-13.
- ↑ Hobson, Will; Rich, Steven (2015-11-30). "Why students foot the bill for college sports, and how some are fighting back". The Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved 2016-04-13.
- 1 2 Hood, David. "Students to be charged for lower deck football tickets - Clemson Football News - TigerNet". www.tigernet.com. Retrieved 2016-04-13.
- ↑ "Selection Committee". College Football Playoff. Retrieved 10 November 2015.