COLUMBIA, S.C. - Clemson athletic director Terry Don Phillips says Death Valley is on the way to having hydraulic collapsible goal posts in time for its opener with Wake Forest on Sept. 4.
Phillips said by phone Monday that, with less than seven weeks left before the season starts, preparations had started at Memorial Stadium for the system.
``I thought I saw them digging troughs'' for the goal posts, Phillips said.
The construction is a step at reducing injuries in after-game celebrations, like those that occurred following the Tigers 27-20 victory over South Carolina in November 2002.
``Anything we can do to make sure goal posts don't come down on anyone, we'll do,'' Phillips said.
Tiger officials traveled to West Virginia to view the collapsible goal posts there, Clemson athletic spokesman Tim Bourret said.
Phillips said the goal post system, which is being overseen by Clemson administrator Katie Hill, will collapse in toward the football field with as little effort as pulling a pin and pushing a button.
Phillips said the ``premise of these things is to take away the incentive'' to tear down goal posts, long a dangerous college football tradition.
He was unsure how much the system cost, although Hill had estimated last winter the goal posts would cost about $6,000 each. ``Suffice to say, we wouldn't want to be putting one of those things in every week,'' Phillips said.
The goal post system is the latest safety measure since several injuries came out of the Clemson's victory celebration over the Gamecocks two years ago. Anderson County reserve deputy Homer Booth broke a collarbone and several ribs in the chaos. Documents from an athletic department task force before the 2003 season detailed injuries such as broken arms, knee injuries and repaired teeth as officers tried to keep people from tearing down the goal posts.
Phillips and school administrators came up with a new post-game plan, ``Gathering at the Paw,'' this past year designed to stop frenzied situations. The procedure funnels those who want to come onto the field to the end zone farthest from the locker rooms. People are then guided to the center.
Phillips thought things went fairly well, even during its biggest test last fall a 26-10 Bowden Bowl victory over Florida State on Nov. 8. Fans leaped over the fences surrounding the field and ran to the goal posts. Both came down within minutes and were paraded out of Death Valley. There were only minor injuries reported, the school said last fall.
Phillips said the Seminoles easily made it to their locker room without getting intercepted by pumped up fans.
``We still have some work to do'' to get Clemson people accustomed to the new post-game guidelines, Phillips said.
He thinks, though, the new goal posts will help. ``By the time anyone comes around them, they'll be on the ground,'' Phillips said.
Friday
August 22nd, 2025
2:41PM
