Graham Neff on Dabo Swinney's roster building: 'Couldn't be more convicted and supportive'

There has been a lot of talk about Dabo Swinney and his use of the transfer portal –or lack thereof — in recent years. Clemson Athletics Director Graham Neff recently held a media availability and was asked for his opinion on the matter.

Neff acknowledged that he has spoken with Swinney about the transfer portal and roster management but added that he doesn’t have an issue with the fact that Swinney doesn’t use the portal much.

CLICK HERE to go to PrizePicks and use code ON3 to receive a guaranteed $50 once you play $5 in lineups!

“Couldn’t be more convicted and supportive of Coach Swinney, two-time national champion head coach, and how he has built his current program and where he’s at,” Graham Neff said. “And let alone where his strategies and nimbleness, quite frankly, is ahead.”

Clemson has added a handful of players out of the transfer portal in recent years but none that are of starting caliber.

Neff’s conversations with Swinney have been about making sure that he has all the support he needs to build his roster the way he would like to, not about his need to increase use of the transfer portal.

“So yea we talk about it, but in a supportive way and an understanding vision and strategy and how do we continue to be adaptable in a changing landscape,” Neff said. “Sure that means roster management, but that particularly means a lot of things that we’ve talked about.”

It’s not just Swinney who Neff talks to about the transfer portal, roster management, etc. It’s a topic he frequently talks about with each of his coaches in the athletics department.

“So absolutely that’s an active engagement with me and coach, but just in a very supportive, equipping him in particular, but the other 15 of our head coaches, and how they run their program and build their roster,” Graham Neff said.

Graham Neff opens up on speculation of Clemson leaving the ACC

In addition to Dabo Swinney and his roster management, Graham Neff covered numerous other topics during his media availability. One of those was Clemson’s future in the ACC.

Neff recently opened up on speculation that the school is looking to leave the ACC at some point in the near future.

This comes as Clemson is currently in a lawsuit against the ACC. That has led to plenty of speculation about the future of the school’s athletic programs. At the same time, for now, nothing is set in stone.

“There’s plenty written,” Graham Neff said. “All the speculation, right, I don’t know if I read all of it but it’s part of my job to be very engaged in, sure what’s written, great, but more of where a lot of the moving parts and conversations are nationally. So, we do that.”

Clemson, along with Florida State, is suing the ACC over the conference’s media deal. In particular, it’s Grant of Rights, which locks schools into the media deal and makes it difficult to leave the conference financially.

“I’ll kind of pass on the legal sequencing of that, only to say that we’re going to continue to have our legal team work the legal process with it, act incredibly professional, be great members of the conference we’re in, and be really well read and connected nationally with all of the moving parts. However, those continue to show themselves. It has never been more active just with the national landscape of all the moving parts within college athletics. A lot of what I’ve talked about, not just specifically conference membership,” Neff said.