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Gridiron Giant [15855]
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State of the Program
Jul 2, 2010, 10:24 AM
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So, as we wind-up the 2009-2010 season at Clemson, how are we looking overall?
Big Three:
Football – In our coach’s first season, he won the ACC Atlantic, took us to the ACCCG and won his bowl game. Recruiting appears to be going well. Dabo represents our school well.
Basketball – As has been stated, we are arguably in our best four-year stretch of basketball in our program’s history. Four NCAA appearances, four top-half finishes in the ACC. Recent humiliations of UNC and Duke (last year) continue to be used in lieu of natural gas to keep my home warm in the winter. A shocking departure from Coach Purnell resulted in what most of the national media have dubbed one of the best hires of the off-season. Have not seen much in terms of recruiting out of Coach Brownell, and he also has yet to win an NCAA game. Hopefully he can build on the platform that Purnell built here.
Baseball – The ONLY reason this season ended with some frustration is that it was the Gamecocks that ended it. Getting to the baseball equivalent of the final four is outstanding. Again, we won the ACC Atlantic. The team is apparently pretty young, too.
So, overall I think we’re doing great in the big three, and I think we will get even better. I see no reason for the AD to touch any of these programs or coaching staffs.
Other programs (starting with ones I consider to be on good footing and then going from there):
Golf – Another great season in which we went to the NCAA finals and had match play in our sites before a late round collapse. Still, a solid season (top 20). The AD just needs to stay out of Penley’s way.
Women’s Track (Indoor & Outdoor) – ACC Champs in both seasons. One NCAA Champion in the Triple Jump. Outstanding job, ladies. Amazing what they’ve put together with the consolidated coaching staff.
Women’s Tennis – 4th year in a row of making the “Sweet 16”. If California would fall into the ocean like they promised us all they would, we could advance a little further. But still, excellent job.
Rowing – 2nd in the ACC after last year’s shocking upset of Virginia. Not bad at all for a program that is still relatively new. Crazy that the head coach left, but hopefully we’ll find a strong replacement.
Volleyball – 4th in the ACC, 23-10 overall. Really a solid season, but we’ve done better in recent years and that has made me a little greedy. I’d like to see us reach a little higher here.
Men’s Track – 5th in the ACC is somewhat underwhelming for this once-dominate program. We seem to have absolutely nothing in the distance events. Some good young sprinters (hurdlers in particular), but overall this program needs a shot in the arm.
Men’s Tennis – Here is where things start to really go downhill. 10th place in the conference. I don’t know what the issue is here but we’ve been successful in the past and we can do a lot better than 10th.
Cross Country – Yes, it took me a few minutes to track down results. 9th in women’s cross country and 11th in men’s (in the ACC). Terrible. I know no one cares, though. NCSU continues their domination of the sport, which is a clear indication that the rest of the conference doesn’t care.
Women’s Basketball – The previous coach did not work out at all. Hopefully the new coach will do better. She’ll certainly bring enthusiasm and a love of Clemson with her, but not a lot of experience or local recruiting connections.
Men’s Soccer – Unfathomably bad for a program that has had the most national success of any at Clemson. The coaching hire looks to be a solid one, and the renovations to Riggs should help a bit. Clemson should be an annual visitor to the Sweet Sixteen in soccer and a frequent Final Four team (ambitious, I know…but I stand by it…we should be a power every year). I look to see a drastic improvement here starting immediately with proper coaching next year.
Women’s Soccer – Absolutely horrible season, and no coaching move. I guess the current coach is still early in her term. I hope she can turn it around, but this squad is a bottom dweller year after year.
Men's and Women's Swimming & Diving -- Not even worth discussing anymore. The dream is dead. As a guy who has recently taken up swimming for exercise, I really hate it since I appreciate the sport so much more, but hopefully we'll replace it with something good.
Again, pretty good overall, with a handful of programs that have been addressed and a handful more that might need to be after next season.
Thoughts?
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Orange Blooded [2430]
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Nice assessment. Thanks.***
Jul 2, 2010, 10:36 AM
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Gridiron Giant [15736]
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Wonder if our administration will now provide Leggett with
Jul 2, 2010, 10:50 AM
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the appropriate number of baseballs he asks for and also a car for his assistants.
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Orange Immortal [60696]
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You're sugar-coating all of the truly horrible stuff. We are
Jul 2, 2010, 11:10 AM
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actually hanging by a thread if you ask me.
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Gridiron Giant [15855]
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Any interest in substantiating that opinion? ******
Jul 2, 2010, 11:16 AM
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CU Medallion [19831]
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Team Captain [487]
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Only football, basketball, and baseball really matter
Jul 2, 2010, 11:24 AM
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The rest is just window dressing, and title IX sports. The major sports are the only ones that anyone really cares about. Football is OK......but still not sold on Dabo. He says all the right things that make everyone feel good, but lets be honest. Woth the talent they had, even Tommy Bowden would have won that division last year. It probably would have been more challenging to win the So Con. Basketball is a question mark. OP got them better, but then they never did anything in the NCAA. We will see if Brownell can improve. I think he will be a decent coach, but I doubt if he can challenege UNC or Duke on a consistent basis. No one else has. Baseball is a different story. Not much to improve on. Jack is very consistent and that program is always a player for the CWS.
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Gridiron Giant [15855]
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It will be interesting to see if Dabo's success last year
Jul 2, 2010, 11:38 AM
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was a result of CJ Spiller. I really am optimistic that that will not be the case. In fact, I'm expecting an even better running attack this year with Harper and Ellington. I'm sure we'll suffer some with the starting field position, but I'm not worried about our ground attack at all. But we shall see.
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Member [26]
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Re: It will be interesting to see if Dabo's success last year
Jul 2, 2010, 5:04 PM
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> was a result of CJ Spiller. I really am optimistic > that that will not be the case. In fact, I'm > expecting an even better running attack this year > with Harper and Ellington. I'm sure we'll suffer > some with the starting field position, but I'm not > worried about our ground attack at all. But we shall > see.
Why?
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Gridiron Giant [15855]
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Why what?
Jul 3, 2010, 2:05 PM
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Ground attack: I'll get accused of being a bit naive here, but so be it...it's my honest opinion. Even though CJ Spiller is arguably the best Clemson football player of all time, his game was not "perfect". He had a hesitation when hitting the hole that Ellington simply does not seem to have. Ellington is quicker to the hole and very elusive. I expect great production from him...not as many home runs, but not as many "less than zero" runs either. Harper looked to be really hitting his stride toward the end of last year. After a shaky start to his career, he's protecting the ball better and running like we all knew he could. Add a more experienced offensive line and I really expect to see great production out of the running game. Of course, that all goes out the window if we can't throw the ball.
I'm assuming that was your question, and not "Why do you expect that we'll lose field position?". If it WAS about field position, I think that's pretty obvious: Spiller was the Boogie Man of Kick-Off returns. Everyone was afraid of him, with good reason. He gave us great field position all season, even when he didn't catch the ball (usually because they kicked it out of bounds).
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CU Medallion [19831]
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Team Captain [487]
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Re: So, Capitol City, they didn't give GT a battle royal at the
Jul 2, 2010, 12:28 PM
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They did......but when you consider that both teams were beaten by their mid pack SEC rivals the week before, that says quite a bit about the competition level. Now 11 could go lean for Clemson if things dont go just right, but they should be lined up for a surge in '12. At that point you should get a good read on whether TDP made the right choice by going cheap and hiring Dabo because he said all the right things, or looking elsewhere for a proven winner.
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Recruit [97]
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What does UCONN say about USuC? How about UK vs Clemson?
Jul 2, 2010, 1:05 PM
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How about the fact you were 7-6 (3-5), again? For the life of me I can't understand why you coots feel like you've arrived. Don't let the fluke win cloud your judgment... errr wait, you lack that regardless.
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Team Captain [487]
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Re: What does UCONN say about USuC? How about UK vs Clemson?
Jul 2, 2010, 3:24 PM
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Stanley.....as you should know....I went to Furman, neither a gamecock or a tiger. Why dont you show a little common sense? Do you actually think that Clemson could not have easily gone 7-5 with an SEC schedule? Of course they would. And was it any great feat that CU beat a bottom feeder SEC team like kentucky in the bowl. No. Even the middle of the pack gamecocks outlasted them. As I have said a thousand times. The programs are about equal. You put Clemson in the SEC and they would be 7-5, 6-6 every year. USC's record would also be better if they were in the ACC. I think they did prove that they could have handled Clemsons division champion fairly easily. So what is your point exactly? I suppose you are one of those that wanted so bad for CU to get in the SEC so they could show Alabama, Florida, etc., just how great CU was. But I can promise you there is one person who thanks the good lord up above every night before he goes to sleep that the SEC did not want them. That is one Dabo Sweeney.
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Orange Blooded [3121]
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Don't buy the argument that USC was as good as us b/c
Jul 2, 2010, 3:32 PM
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of one game. Neither did 99% of the pollsters.
That game involved two teams with very different circumstances. Clemson had a conference championship game the following week, while that game was the superbowl for USC, needing a win to solidify a bowl berth.
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Recruit [97]
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Re: What does UCONN say about USuC? How about UK vs Clemson?
Jul 2, 2010, 4:02 PM
[ in reply to Re: What does UCONN say about USuC? How about UK vs Clemson? ] |
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capchit, I didn't know you went to Furman and frankly I'm not sure I believe that considering the inordinate amount of time you spend here creating your own version of reality or presenting weak, baseless efforts to degrade Clemson.
With USuC's schedule, I think we would have done better than them because we were a better football team than them. Such is the case basically year in and year out. Your presumption otherwise is another in a long line of examples where you express jaded opinions on things, and then act like they're factual arguments. It's funny the way you do that. Just like a cockfan.
UK was not an upper tier SEC team, but they weren't bottom feeder either. They beat Georgia and Auburn. They came to Nashville with a 9:1 fan ratio, and came to absolutely win the ballgame in their coaches final game.
USuC's win over Clemson was a fluke. In the big picture, it means nothing other than bragging right for a year. That's why, even though you beat us by 17 points, you still finished 17 spots below us in the rankings.
Saying USuC and Clemson are equals is yet another figment of your weird imagination.
In the last 10 years, USuC has won only 3 times.
In the last 10 years, USuC has finished ahead of Clemson in the final polls only twice. This past season you beat us by 17 points, yet you STILL finished ranked 17 spots below us.
In the past 10 years, Clemson has finished ranked in the top-25 (5) times. That equals the total number of times you have been ranked IN YOUR ENTIRE HISTORY.
Dabo Swinney finished his first full season ranked #25. In his 5 full seasons, Steve Spurrier has YET to finish ranked in the final polls.
And the same can be said about your wild imagination presenting "the SEC did not want them" as a fact. It's truly hilarious how you present this stuff like you have any idea whatsoever what you're talking about.
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National Champion [7297]
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Solid Orange [1343]
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Hall of Famer [22966]
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Good job, Wookie......
Jul 2, 2010, 11:30 AM
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I agree with nearly everything you cited in your post. In the Big 3, basketball is really the only question mark and that largely is because we have a new coach who's not yet been able to start bringing in some super recruits.
The football and baseball programs seem very solid and the recruiting in both makes the future look very bright.
I agree 100% about men's soccer. I was around town and school during the long Ibrahim era when Clemson was one of the best 2 or 3 programs in the country almost every year.....and its sad to see what its become......especially considering the ACC is far, far and away the best soccer conference in the United States.
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Solid Orange [1343]
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I would love to see the new soccer coach...
Jul 2, 2010, 1:59 PM
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go after some of the local talent. There is a fairly good club right there in Clemson, and the club in Greenville is one of the premiere clubs in the country. With soccer scholarships being so limited, looks like they would go after these kids since they can give partial scholarships and make up the difference with the Life or Palmetto scholarship.
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Tiger Titan [46071]
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Soccer in South Carolina has come a long way. I remember
Jul 2, 2010, 8:13 PM
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that it was not until the mid-90s that Clemson ever had a soccer player from South Carolina on scholarship (I believe it was John Wilson). Ibrahim, who was an outstanding program builder and coach, built the program on finding excellent talent overseas - especially in Africa. Adair had some good teams, but the program clearly started declining after Ibrahim was gone.
Soccer in SC has greatly improved. The Upstate especially has a great club team (Carolina Elite Soccer Academy) and has put a lot of guys into division 1 programs. They compete with the best from around the country. Their Olympic development team preparation is supposed to be excellent as well. I'm sure we will see more and more Clemson soccer players come from this club.
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TigerNet Elite [71657]
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Re: State of the baseball championship
Jul 2, 2010, 11:33 AM
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unfortunately residing at the wrong school.
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Ultimate Tiger [33429]
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I won't donate anymore to IPTAY until our diving team
Jul 2, 2010, 11:53 AM
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wins a national championship
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TigerNet Elite [71657]
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I heard they weren't making much of a splash but
Jul 2, 2010, 11:58 AM
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I guess that's their goal.
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Ultimate Tiger [33429]
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Bravo...I award you one point***
Jul 2, 2010, 12:04 PM
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TigerNet Elite [71657]
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thanks
Jul 2, 2010, 12:10 PM
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hope they don't throw out my high and low score
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1st Rounder [639]
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Re: Bravo...I award you one point***
Jul 2, 2010, 12:16 PM
[ in reply to Bravo...I award you one point*** ] |
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I think we had a good (if not great) year across the board, but we still have some work to do to start winning championships again. I also didn't like losing to South Carolina in football and in the college world series, but the percentages were in their favor this year.
(they definitely needed the football win more than we did this year)
I also think Dabo has the right attitude/personality for the head coaching job, but I'm not sure his current staff is capable of winning the ACC and eventually another National Championship. Hopefully they will continue to recruit well and start getting better results on the field...
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Junkie [556]
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You could have left it alone after football, basketball and
Jul 2, 2010, 1:17 PM
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Baseball.
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Gridiron Giant [15855]
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How? We compete in numerous other sports. ******
Jul 2, 2010, 1:19 PM
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Junkie [556]
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That few care about. I know volleyball had thousands in
Jul 2, 2010, 4:41 PM
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Attendance huh?
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Gridiron Giant [15855]
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Oh. I see you can't read. It's state of the program.
Jul 2, 2010, 9:30 PM
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That's more than the sports you care about.
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Heisman Winner [105575]
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Junkie [556]
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Sure am cootett.***
Jul 2, 2010, 4:42 PM
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CU Guru [1903]
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If not already metioned, when was the last time (if ever) we
Jul 2, 2010, 1:55 PM
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had a 1st round NFL,NBA,and MLB pick in the same season? We are getting some awesome athletes, and I don't see that changing. Those guys also have a habit of helping out in the future. I'd be shocked if Spiller's not down here making big plugs for our football program down the road.
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Orange Blooded [4741]
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Great post.***
Jul 2, 2010, 3:13 PM
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Head Coach [762]
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Express13...well????? we know you are lurking...***
Jul 2, 2010, 3:50 PM
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Junkie [590]
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Re: State of the Program
Jul 3, 2010, 9:01 PM
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How did we end up behind the coots in the sears cup!
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Clemson Sports Icon [52662]
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In football, basketball and baseball, when it really matters
Jul 3, 2010, 9:02 PM
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we lose.
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