Mike Noonan

The Clemson Dubcast

Mike Noonan, fresh off Clemson's second men's soccer national title in three years, joins The Dubcast to reflect on the journey.

In August of 2022, Noonan lost his father. And then this past November his mother passed away as Noonan and the Tigers were pursuing Clemson's fourth men's soccer national title in its history.

Noonan opens up about his upbringing, including his father's remarkable life that included:

Graduating from MIT and the Harvard Business School;

Working on the Apollo Space Project;

Modernizing Taiwan's rail system;

Playing a role in the merger of the AFL and NFL.

In addition, Mike's younger brother Mark is the commissioner of the Canadian Premier League.

Noonan reminisces about first hearing from Clemson when he was the head coach at Brown. He and his wife Deb fell in love with the campus and surrounding community on their first visit.

Noonan, who has believed in Dabo Swinney from the beginning, had a rough patch with the football coach when the building of the Tigers' opulent operations facility meant the displacement of Noonan's practice fields.

Swinney assured Noonan he and the soccer program would be much better off in the end, and when it came time to raise money for the new soccer facility Swinney lived up to his word.

"He was right," Noonan said.

Noonan also delves into his love of music, and spending time in the mid- to late-1980s watching Phish once a month in a club called Nectar's in Burlington, VT.

Noonan's wife spent college in the same dorm as Phish's members, one floor below.

Clemson will hold a parade Saturday at 11:30 AM to celebrate the soccer team's national title.