Before the college football season began, "few people outside the Clemson locker room expected the Tigers to reach" the CFP, and school administrators "elected to decline" an insurance policy that would have covered performance bonuses coaches earned this season, according to Manie Robinson of the GREENVILLE NEWS. Georgia-based Risk Point Consulting Group last year "brokered an insurance policy" for Clemson that cost the athletic department "approximately $272,000." It "capped the department’s total payout for bonuses" at $2M. Clemson Deputy AD Graham Neff said that the policy "saved the department" $1.3M. Clemson before the '17 season "requested a quote on a similar policy." But Neff said the rates Clemson was quoted were "basically the same as last year." Neff: "It surprised us a little." However, Neff added that administrators did "not beat themselves up about their missed opportunity" -- as the coaches "did that for them." Neff: “We were in the locker room in Charlotte after they won the ACC Championship. All of a sudden, one coach pulls me aside. He goes, ‘Did you guys buy the insurance?’ I said, ‘No, Coach, we didn’t.’ He goes, 'You didn’t believe! You didn't believe in us!' We laughed. Then, we paused, and he says, 'I probably wouldn’t have bought it either.’” Neff added, “We have to make a value-based decision too. We don't just pull the trigger on it. We run the values and see if it makes sense. We’re still going to pay a lot of bonuses this year. Hopefully more” (GREENVILLE NEWS, 12/22).
