Clemson Reportedly Has Made Decision Regarding Their ACC Future

Amid the ongoing legal battles, Clemson has seemingly made a decision about what they are going to do in the ACC going forward.

Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney talks during the Clemson football Media Outing & Open House at the Allen N. Reeves Football Complex in Clemson, S.C. / Ken Ruinard / Staff / USA TODAY NETWORK

A lot of things are happening for the Clemson Tigers right now as they head into football season.

Not only are they hoping to put together a bounce back year and get themselves into national championship contention, but they are also battling the ACC in court and are mulling a decision to leave the conference.

The first part is much simpler than the latter.

Dabo Swinney is going to have another elite defense this season, so it will be on the shoulders of former top high school quarterback, Cade Klubnik, to live up to the hype that was placed on him when the five-star committed to Clemson.

There seems to be some confidence he will take the next step, but until that happens on the field in the heat of battle, there will still be some skeptics out there who think the junior isn't the answer to get this program back into the promised land as national champions.

All of that will be proven on the field.

Either Clemson is good enough to play their way into the College Football Playoff, or they aren't.

When it comes to the ongoing legal battle between the university and ACC, that is much more complicated and nuanced.

Rumors have been circulating for a while that Clemson is trying to leave the conference, something that would need to be figured out in court because of contracts, media rights and a whole bunch of other issues that going to a different conference would present.

If that's the case, there is one high-profile commissioner who would be more than willing to take a national brand like Clemson.

But, for all the talk about the Tigers looking to exit, Pete Thamel of ESPN reports they aren't expected to notify the ACC about their intent to leave before the August 15 deadline that would allow them to depart before the 2025-26 season.

Have been told by multiple sources that there’s no expectation for Florida State or Clemson to notify the ACC they intend to leave by the Aug. 15 deadline to depart after the upcoming year. That’s the deadline to declare intentions to exit for the 2025-26 year.

— Pete Thamel (@PeteThamel) July 22, 2024

This is another interesting wrinkle in these ongoing matters.

Clemson already angered the conference and ESPN when they refused to move their game against South Carolina to Black Friday, citing reasons that it was best for them to keep this contest on the scheduled date instead of acquiesce to their request.

What this means for the future of the Tigers in the ACC is unclear.

It seems like they are still looking for the exit ramp with the possibility of jumping to a different conference, but when the SEC and Big Ten basically said they have no interest in adding Clemson, that might have slowed their decision down a bit.

So unless something drastically changes over the next two weeks, the Tigers will be part of the ACC until at least the spring of 2026.