Clemson has hired Andre Powell, formerly of UNC, UVa, and Sakerlina as their new runningbacks coach. Powell handled special teams duties over the past two years as well, addressing one of the Tigers' needs. He also has good recruiting ties in North and South Carolina.
The Charleston P&C is reporting that Rob Spence is in talks with the Oakland Raiders for a coaching position with their organization. I can see it now, "bubble screen to Randy Moss, two yard gain."
Dabo Sweeney has turned down an offer from Nick Saban at Alabama, who might want to try and steal coaches from a more successful program if he wants 'Bama to succeed, though Dabo is an incredible recruiter.
Saban's attempted pillaging shows that the problem isn't with the coaching staff, it's with the "hands-off CEO" Bowden. It appears the Tigers have the coaches and the talent but something is lacking....
ReplyDeleteI wonder what it may be...
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hmm.
I agree with you. The fact that Sweeney and West and maybe Spence :\ are sticking around shows that they have confidence in the players if not their head coach. I'm sure they'd jump ship like rats if they were sure we were going to suck next year.
ReplyDeleteI'm with Jasonl. I knew Bowden was public enemy #1 to Clemson's ACC title hopes, but I never could figure out how much of a role the assistants played in the team's failures. Bowden's utter lack of coaching blurred the picture. But with major college programs and now an NFL team wanting Spence et al, well that's all too telling.
ReplyDeleteI don't think Clemson will suck next season. But they will be 'mediocre'.
Again.
I'm tellin' ya man, Cowher will want nothing to do with Clemson. Two reasons: 1) Our Atl Dept. won't get rid of Bowden... don't know why. 2) If he went anywhere, he'd go Wolfpack.
ReplyDeleteI admit it . . . I have a problem -I am a Bowden apologist.
ReplyDeleteI honestly think that Bowden can get it done, but sometimes he allows the stupidest decisions to creep into his head leading to major clusterfucks!
Examples of this can be seen as recently as last year vs. GT when Charlie Whitehurst was hurting, Bowden knew it, and yet, who was there in the 4th quarter taking snaps? An aching Charlie Whitehurst, when the prudent play would have been to put in Proctor & at least get him some game experience.
Flash forward to this past year's VT game when Proctor couldn't throw it in the fucking ocean standing on the beach! What would have been the harm in putting in Harper? Would it have cost us the game? I think not.
Then, this year's USC game and pulling Merriweather was utterly freaking baffling.
It's stupid, crazy, brainfart-type decisions like these that make it increasingly difficult to defend Bowden.
All that being said . . . talk to me in November and see whether I am still defending Bowden.
As much as I'd want our next coach to come from the NFL, I don't see a solid one so much as even giving Clemson a sniff. So I don't see Cowher coming to Clemson either. If it was an NFL coach, it would be one that's been failing for the past few seasons. Dennis Green, Mike Nolan, Gary Kubiak, that sort of thing.
ReplyDeleteBut the bigger problem outside of money is that historically Clemson's athletic administration has been way too conservative, slow to change, and not very forward thinking. So even if they could scrounge up $3 million I'm not sure they'd go that route to begin with.
Why our staff isn't leaving for greener pastures is beyond me. Oakland would've been a no-brainer for me. An average college team that's going nowhere versus NFL experience under a young energetic coach? Bowden is a proven failure and he's dragging his assistants down.
I don't think an NFL coach would be right for Clemson. I'd rather hire up than down. A Schiano or Grobe would be good I think.
ReplyDeleteAlso, latest news is that Spence turned down the QB coach job for the Raiders and they're currently looking at Sakerlina's Coach Reaves.
spence probably turned down oakland because there aren't any good churches out there in CA.
ReplyDeleteChili, hiring a former NFL coach is hiring down?? How's that?
ReplyDeleteI mean hiring down in terms of taking a coach from a higher post and bringing him down to the college level. You run into problems doing this because the coach is used to more money, not having to deal with boosters, recruiting, etc, and with the exception of Pete Caroll, NFL head coaches who drop to the college level rarely stay long before jumping back to the pros. Another notable exception to this is Al Groh, but who wants him to stay around forever?
ReplyDeleteI'd rather Clemson take and up-and-comer and lock him in to the university for the long term. Sure, this didn't exactly work with Tommy but maybe next time we'll look past who the coach's daddy is.
And anyway, Cowher has never expressed that he wants to coach college. Ever. NC State fans made up the rumor that he would return to his alma mater, now that OBrien is there, this is not likely, and it's even less likely that he'd go to another school than his own.
ReplyDelete