Most Frustrating Thing

Sep 20, 2025, 3:03 PM

about this season:

with the changes in college football (namely NIL and transfer portal) Dabo realized Clemson did not have the resources to compete head to head with the big boys (Ohio State, Texas, etc.) in bidding wars for the best players. That's a fact and he was right to realize it. Dabo thought he was smart enough to think outside the box and come up with a different solution. While every other program would fully embrace the year-over-year turnover with their rosters, Dabo and Clemson adopted a different strategy. We would rely on high school recruiting and development, we would not embrace the transfer portal (and use it only rarely), and we would use NIL for player retention instead of recruiting. The idea was, the players would be bought in to a program where there was consistency in the locker room, we would have experienced players who had multiple years in the same schemes with the same coaching staffs to get better, and players would feel loyalty to a coaching staff and program that was equally committed to them. This was the blueprint, it wouldn't lead to an A+ roster every year (like OSU who spends tens of millions of dollars bringing in the best players every year), but every few years, the idea was we would put a team together that could compete at the highest levels.

Under that model, the 2025 year has long been circled as the year Dabo's develop-and-retain model was supposed to reach its pinnacle. Cade would be in his third year as a starter, our many "star" players on defense would be back, we would have multiple highly-regarded receivers, and our offensive line would be the most experienced it would be in several years. This was the year that Dabo's model was supposed to generate a team that could compete at the highest levels. Clemson was rated #4 in the country pre-season. Finebaum this summer was talking about how Dabo would get the last laugh as his model was finally paying off. ESPN ran a story about how Dabo's commitment to, and belief in, Cade (rather than bringing in someone else via the portal) was an example that other programs should take note of.

AND.. this is the big result. A 1-2 start that could very well be 1-3 by the end of the day. A resounding rejection of the retain-and-develop model. Maybe it's just a rejection of Dabo's execution of it: we whiffed on big time recruits that didn't pan out like they should; players have regressed instead of progressed under the development of our coaching staff; the schemes our coaches are running are either poorly matched for the players on our roster, or we aren't calling up the correct plays; our coaching staff is doing a poor job of motivating our players to believe in the culture/program, especially after facing some adversity. Or maybe this is an indication that the retain-and-develop model can never work at the highest levels in today's college football environment. But in any event, that model, and Dabo's execution of it clearly isn't working.

So how does Dabo respond? He blames the fans and says their expectations for what this team should achieve are too high. Despite preaching "best is the standard" for two decades, us fans are no longer allowed to expect the "best" out of this program. We gave Dabo a chance and a long leash over the past few years to try his different model. We gave him a chance to prove that what many other programs were doing successfully didn't have to be the only way to win at the highest levels. And he failed. Instead of accepting that failure, and saying we need to change and do what has proven successful for others, Dabo appears to be saying (at least based on his comments last week) that it's going to be business as usual moving forward. He's sticking his head in the sand.

The past success that Dabo loves to cite entitled him to the chance to try things his way. And he rightfully got that chance. But it's now been proven unsuccessful. Unless we adapt and significantly utilize the transfer portal to revamp the roster this offseason, we're going to have even less "talent" on paper next year. Barring an unlikely shift this offseason, this year's awful team is the pinnacle of what we will see on the field over the next few seasons.

Message was edited by: jc1194®

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Most Frustrating Thing

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