Thursday December 11, 2008

New Staff=Toughness

New Staff=Toughness
Dabo did a lot to get the full-time gig at Clemson. He unified a spilt team. He had players, fans, coaches and administrators unite and buy into the unity. He made it all about the players. Dabo enlisted the student body to support their classmates. He called upon past Clemson traditions and reached out to former players and coaches. He coached hard and got his players to play hard. But one major thing stood out to me.

But he did one thing that I think will have the biggest effect on the program for a long time. Clemson had become a soft program but Dabo changed that. He re-introduced toughness to the program. With the exception of the Florida State contest, Clemson was the tougher team in every game after Dabo took over.

Dabo said many times that the more physical team wins most of the time and that proved to be the case in his six game audition.

Now Dabo has taken another step to make the program tougher and this time he is trying to do it on a long term basis. He has done this with his first few hires.

Danny Pearman, Charlie Harbison and Woody McCorvey are three coaches that are considered “Old School.”

Pearman and Dabo worked together at Alabama when both were hired as full-time assistants for the first time. Pearman coaches like he played. He was a walk-on tight end at Clemson that earned a starting position by out working his competition. Today he still calls upon that same work ethic.

Pearman can be described as a hard-nosed coach who is demanding on his players. He developed that attitude as a player under Danny Ford and continued to form his style as a coach at Alabama. Pearman worked for one of the most demanding and toughest coaches in the country in Alabama’s Gene Stallings. After eight years in Tuscaloosa, Pearman fit right with his new boss, Frank Beamer, at Virginia Tech.

In my opinion, Pearman and his tight ends and tackles helped mold the Hokie program that became known for its toughness.

The past three years Pearman has moved around from North Carolina to Duke to Maryland but I think he has found his long-term home again here in Clemson coaching with his good friend Dabo Swinney.

I have known Pearman for over 20 years now and can promise Clemson fans that his players will play hard and will represent his alma mater with pride and class.

Charlie Harbison coached at the high school and college level for about ten years when he got his first big break in 1995 when Tommy West hired him to coach defensive backs at Clemson. Since that time Harbison has had long, successful runs at Alabama, LSU, Alabama (again) and most recently at Mississippi State.

He is thought of as an excellent teacher of techniques. Harbison is noted for being a stickler for details and a coach that stresses fundamentals. However, I also consider him to be another tough coach that demands toughness from his players.

No one knows yet if Woody McCorvey will coach on the field or will be an administrator with Dabo’s new staff. Like Pearman and Harbison, McCorvey is known for his toughness.

I remember his receivers when he was at Clemson from 1983-89. They were a tough bunch that excelled as outstanding blockers first. That reputation started with Ford’s influence on him and he took that to Alabama, South Carolina, Tennessee and Mississippi State.

I used to tell people all the time that McCorvey was tough but fair. He was a very good recruiter that could walk into homes of both white and black player and have similar success.

I have known Woody for a long time and one of the greatest days of my life was spent with Coach McCorvey. It was a beautiful May day in 1995 when Alabama Jeweler Frank Bromberg, Woody and I were invited to play Augusta National with our good friend Tommy Crenshaw. It was a day I will never forget and think Woody feels the same.

But I really remember Woody as being a demanding position coach. Dabo can lean on McCorvey for guidance. Few coaches across the South have seen more big-time football games than McCorvey has over the last 25 years.

The rumored defensive coordinator candidates are also known for their toughness. I have never been to a Tennessee practice but I hear John Chavis is a hard-nosed coach that demands the same from his players.

Dabo has to balance youth with experience with his new staff. He needs to blend in some of the old staff with some new guys in order to balance stability and new energy. But he does not have to worry about balance when it comes to toughness.

When I talk to other coaches off of the record about their perceptions about Clemson’s program one thing came up time and time again. Several guys questioned the toughness. It was pretty obvious to me on game day but observers that watched practice every day brought up the same concerns.

Dabo has added toughness and the new staff will continue to bring that emphasis to the table when spring practice begins in March as football teams are made in the off season. It has already shown up in the first six games of Dabo’s coaching career but I would look for even more improvement in that area in the future.

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