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YOUR BALANCE
Coach Allen gets it
Tiger Boards - Clemson Football
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Replies: 52
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Coach Allen gets it

24

Mar 6, 2025, 8:48 AM
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These comments finally gets to the root of the issues. He directly calls out the practice effort from last season. The blind leading the blind (Goodwin and staff is my take). I think he mentions he’s working on post practice accountability with the staff. I’m thankful he was so honest about the prior year observations. He basically validated the theory the team was playing soft because the staff was training them poorly. He also validates how important outsider leadership can break through the morass of prior coaching. Dabo needs to be thanking him for being so honest publicly. That’s basically the opposite of Dabo walling off the program from an ugly message getting out.

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Re: Coach Allen gets it

11

Mar 6, 2025, 9:05 AM
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The way he's going about making the effort to not only uderstand the problem, but also how it came to be will give him a great deal of credibility with the players and will get their complete buy-in.

He's correctly identified the root of the problem and knows how to fix it. I think we'll see a much improved defense this year!

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Re: Coach Allen gets it

10

Mar 6, 2025, 9:47 AM
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He certainly seems to know what's been going on. I'm looking forward to seeing a much improved defense as well this season. Go Tigers!!!

2025 white level member flag link military_tech thumb_downthumb_up

"If a pig had a better personality, he would cease to be a filthy animal."


Re: Coach Allen gets it

16

Mar 6, 2025, 9:13 AM
Reply

And the team will "get it" very quickly.

The tone he's setting is contagious. Young athletes focused on success mirror the traits and habits of leadership, good or bad.

A great football mind does not always make a great football coach. Knowing it and teaching it are two different things.

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Re: Coach Allen gets it

8

Mar 6, 2025, 9:20 AM
Reply

^^^^^^^^^^ Nailed it!

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Re: Coach Allen gets it

7

Mar 6, 2025, 9:48 AM [ in reply to Re: Coach Allen gets it ]
Reply

Well put.

2025 white level member flag link military_tech thumb_downthumb_up

"If a pig had a better personality, he would cease to be a filthy animal."


This reminds me of when Chad Morris was hired.

7
1

Mar 6, 2025, 10:29 AM [ in reply to Re: Coach Allen gets it ]
Reply

He immediately noted that our team was soft, and needed to be tougher and more aggressive. That attitude shift not only improved out offense, but the approach of our entire team.

Not surprisingly, that year we made a huge jump as a program which laid the foundation for our elite run which followed.

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"All those 'Fire Brownell' guys can kiss it." -Joseph Girard III

"Everybody needs to know that Coach Brownell is arguably the best coach to come through Clemson." -PJ Hall


Re: This reminds me of when Chad Morris was hired.

6

Mar 6, 2025, 4:36 PM
Reply

A little shake up can sometimes be a good thing.

2025 white level member flag link military_tech thumb_downthumb_up

"If a pig had a better personality, he would cease to be a filthy animal."


Re: This reminds me of when Chad Morris was hired.

2

Mar 7, 2025, 7:58 AM
Reply

Definitely seems to have found the point of contention and possibly can fix alot of these issues in this off season. I look forward to the possibility of a drastically improved defense to go along with a elite offense.. Go Tigers!

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Re: Coach Allen gets it

7

Mar 6, 2025, 9:20 AM
Reply

I love it.

So excited to see what 2025 brings!

Go Tigers!

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Re: Coach Allen gets it

12

Mar 6, 2025, 9:22 AM
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I think we'd heard hints of this from former players that transferred. I still believe this was part of the mass decommits we had last cycle. We've never seen that problem on defense. It was rare to have a defensive recruit decommit.

It's nothing against Wes, he knew the "what " so to speak, just didn't know the how. Just how Luke is transformed the oline, Allen will do the same for the defense. Good stuff.

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Absolutely!!

9

Mar 6, 2025, 9:32 AM
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So glad our defense has new leadership!!!

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Re: Coach Allen gets it

13

Mar 6, 2025, 9:47 AM
Reply

A comment that wasn’t in this clip also stood out. Allen is watching the guys in the weight room. He said he watches while getting in time on the elliptical. He then said he goes down and corrected things he didn’t like. From watching last year’s film he knows talented players showed up in August with bad weight. I think he rightly was suspicious of what is going on with Batson and staff. Saying a championship season is built between January and August is coachspeak. Making sure it actually happens is coaching leadership. So excited to see how he impacts the team beyond the defensive staff.

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Re: Coach Allen gets it

5

Mar 6, 2025, 9:55 AM
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I hope his eye for conditioning carries over to the OL as well. Our OLs have put on a few pounds in the belly over the past few years. A few years back when we were running HUNH they looked like athletes - now not as much.

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Re: Coach Allen gets it

8

Mar 6, 2025, 9:49 AM
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Wow! Thanks for the share - great stuff!! I’m excited to see how the defense responds, and performs next year.

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Whatever choice(s) you make makes you. Choose wisely.


i get it.. we all want that blood and guts hard nose coaching

2
1

Mar 6, 2025, 9:51 AM
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but this isn't 2015.

If these kids get their feelings hurt they will bolt. Some 1 will take them if they are talented.

Kirby Smart proved you can be a horrible coach and still win a NC if you just stock pile talent. He uses the CHinese/Russian method of attack. Throw enough bodies at bullets and eventually you will win.

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Geville Tiger on Clemson football , "Dabo's only problem is he has to deal with turd fans questioning every move he makes.”


You are calling Kirby Smart a horrible coach? Seriously?***

1
2

Mar 6, 2025, 10:31 AM
Reply



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"All those 'Fire Brownell' guys can kiss it." -Joseph Girard III

"Everybody needs to know that Coach Brownell is arguably the best coach to come through Clemson." -PJ Hall


look.. i'm not Archimedes. i didn't figure out the fact that 2+2 = 4

1

Mar 6, 2025, 11:05 AM
Reply

but i do repeat it.

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Geville Tiger on Clemson football , "Dabo's only problem is he has to deal with turd fans questioning every move he makes.”


Re: You are calling Kirby Smart a horrible coach? Seriously?***

2

Mar 6, 2025, 11:13 AM [ in reply to You are calling Kirby Smart a horrible coach? Seriously?*** ]
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I am old school and believe a coach’s job is more than wins and losses so by that standard he would be a horrible coach

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Re: You are calling Kirby Smart a horrible coach? Seriously?***

1

Mar 7, 2025, 8:39 AM [ in reply to You are calling Kirby Smart a horrible coach? Seriously?*** ]
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His character is suspect. He’s pretty horrible in that respect
Dabo genuinely cares for his guys, both while they are here playing football, and afterward when they go out into the world prepared to be good men.
Look at graduation rates for both programs. That is a better measure of real success.

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Re: i get it.. we all want that blood and guts hard nose coaching

2

Mar 6, 2025, 3:37 PM [ in reply to i get it.. we all want that blood and guts hard nose coaching ]
Reply


but this isn't 2015.

If these kids get their feelings hurt they will bolt. Some 1 will take them if they are talented.

Kirby Smart proved you can be a horrible coach and still win a NC if you just stock pile talent. He uses the CHinese/Russian method of attack. Throw enough bodies at bullets and eventually you will win.


If he gets them to buy in then they won’t bolt. If they don’t buy in to hearing the truth and tough coaching then they need to leave. They can play for an FSU full of 5 star no stars. From hearing the Wade Woodaz interview, guys are buying in. They want to succeed just like Allen, but lacked the leadership from the coaching side.

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You could not be more wrong.

6

Mar 6, 2025, 4:29 PM [ in reply to i get it.. we all want that blood and guts hard nose coaching ]
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Your implication is that "blood and guts hard-nosed coaching" is the equivalent of putting slaves on a Roman sea vessel, telling them to row, and whipping them if they don't meet your expectations.

No one is asking for that.

Don't tell me Brent Venables wasn't a hard nosed coach. Don't tell me that Matt Luke is not a hard nosed coach. Don't tell me that Dabo Swinney isn't a hard nosed coach.

There is a coaching saying that has been around for decades. "You get what you demand."

Kids are different now than they were when I was in college. Back then, you could demand a player do something and we would do it with no questions asked. Today, you have to take the time to explain to him why it is in his best interest to do it. Not every kid will respond. But, in your evaluation process, you weed out the kids that won't respond. "You coach athletes, you demand discipline. But, you recruit character." If your evaluation of the athletic ability, and the character of the individual is correct, then hard-nosed coaching will be what the kid expects and wants."

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Re: Coach Allen gets it

4

Mar 6, 2025, 10:12 AM
Reply

https://www.tigernet.com/clemson-forum/message/tom-allen-36527058#36527058

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Talked to a PSU dude.. he says Allen is an absolute maniac!

4

Mar 6, 2025, 10:25 AM
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And I say good!

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Wow, that is alarming.

5
8

Mar 6, 2025, 10:27 AM
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We pay our staff incredibly well, but as many of us have been saying, they have fallen well short of expectations as a unit.

This is what happens when you hire friends who are unqualified coaches, rather than trying to get the best coaches you can.

Allen seems like a winner, and I am glad that we hired him.

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"All those 'Fire Brownell' guys can kiss it." -Joseph Girard III

"Everybody needs to know that Coach Brownell is arguably the best coach to come through Clemson." -PJ Hall


Maybe Porkchop just needed...

6

Mar 6, 2025, 10:41 AM
Reply

another 10-12 years to get his players in and establish his winning style of defense. After all, we only gave him two years. I can think of coaches who were mediocre after 6-7 years, but Clemson kept giving them another chance.

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Well, our football program has done the opposite.

6

Mar 6, 2025, 10:43 AM
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It went from elite to far from it over the course of one season, and maintained that lower standard for four years now.

Maybe we should give Dabo more time to figure it out.

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"All those 'Fire Brownell' guys can kiss it." -Joseph Girard III

"Everybody needs to know that Coach Brownell is arguably the best coach to come through Clemson." -PJ Hall


Put him on the 16 year plan.***

5

Mar 6, 2025, 10:48 AM
Reply



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Within seven years...

6

Mar 6, 2025, 10:49 AM [ in reply to Well, our football program has done the opposite. ]
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of being hired Dabo Swinney was coaching a team that would appear in a national championship game. By year ten he had won two national championships, and since then has appeared in another. Your apples are quite different from those oranges.

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No one is debating that.

2

Mar 6, 2025, 11:10 AM
Reply

The point is that all of our coaches, even our best one, are being given time to fix things despite being in very different situations.

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"All those 'Fire Brownell' guys can kiss it." -Joseph Girard III

"Everybody needs to know that Coach Brownell is arguably the best coach to come through Clemson." -PJ Hall


Re: Maybe Porkchop just needed...


Mar 6, 2025, 11:17 AM [ in reply to Maybe Porkchop just needed... ]
Reply


another 10-12 years to get his players in and establish his winning style of defense. After all, we only gave him two years. I can think of coaches who were mediocre after 6-7 years, but Clemson kept giving them another chance.




Just to confirm, you think our football and basketball programs are on equal footing so standards and expectations should be the same?

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I'm saying competent coaches get results

1

Mar 6, 2025, 11:39 AM
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Some take 5-7 years to reach the national championship; some take 15-16 years just to build a program that is at least competitive at the highest level.

Incompetent coaches are usually revealed pretty quickly. Some may even become the blind squirrel who finds a nut, given enough chances.

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Re: I'm saying competent coaches get results


Mar 6, 2025, 4:34 PM
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LF POTD!

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BB

1

Mar 8, 2025, 7:34 AM [ in reply to I'm saying competent coaches get results ]
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& bringing in players he couldn’t recruit has been a game changer, better thank Dabo for the $ and fans that were there to help fund too!

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We keep getting better & better everyday, in every way!
“The only disability is a bad Attitude” Dabo Swinney!!
Let’s Go Tigers!


Re: Wow, that is alarming.

3

Mar 6, 2025, 11:00 AM [ in reply to Wow, that is alarming. ]
Reply

Dabo made to many questionable hires in a short period. He's correcting it now.
When people get to comfortable they get content and lazy. That's what made Saban great for so long. He kept everyone uncomfortable and striving to get better.
Dabo has this program heading back to the top.

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Hiring Allen is a result of firing the guy that failed to do the job.


Mar 6, 2025, 4:11 PM [ in reply to Wow, that is alarming. ]
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If its so easy to get/stay on top by hiring qualified coaches, then why did ATM not win a championship after hiring Jimbo who won one with FSU? They followed your fool proof plan, how'd that work out for them?

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Coach Allen gets it & we are back

2

Mar 6, 2025, 10:51 AM
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Coots everywhere know it’s coming and all they can do is lay eggs!

Go Tigers 🐅


Message was edited by: HumbleServant®


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We keep getting better & better everyday, in every way!
“The only disability is a bad Attitude” Dabo Swinney!!
Let’s Go Tigers!


Re: Coach Allen gets it

5

Mar 6, 2025, 10:59 AM
Reply

Man , this guy is intense. If our players take on the traits of our coaches as widely believed we are going to be just fine on defense. We are well on our way of getting our " swag " back.

He loves Ben. Our defense could be a
" Boulware in the China shop " and just wreck the place when they're on the field

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He's alluding to something that I heard last year about our defense...

4

Mar 6, 2025, 11:23 AM
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...which is that the installs and assignments were too complicated for our guys. They were having a tough time zeroing in on their assignments for any given play because they had to go through too many checks in their heads pre-play instead of just being like "my job here is to put a hat on that guy there."

Apparently it's something that Boulware noticed right away but only a few days before the UGA game when he came in as an assistant and was observing. I heard he mentioned it to Dabo, but by then, they were too far committed to the UGA plan to try and shake things up drastically.

...

Fast forward to today, where Boulware is now the LBs coach, and the DC has been replaced, and the new DC's comments in that video -- and it all starts to line up.

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Re: He's alluding to something that I heard last year about our defense...

3

Mar 6, 2025, 2:35 PM
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Yea, it seemed the opposite of the old saying "They're playing checkers and we're playing chess".

We were TRYING to play chess, but people were beating us playing checkers.

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Re: Coach Allen gets it

3

Mar 6, 2025, 5:21 PM
Reply

Boom!

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Re: Coach Allen gets it

1

Mar 6, 2025, 5:26 PM
Reply



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Re: Coach Allen gets it

3

Mar 7, 2025, 4:51 AM
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I’m a big fan of this hire. Sure, it’s JUST mostly words at this point, but he IS a proven and successful DC.

If the product on the field can match his shared vision, then lookout!

Go Tigers

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Re: Coach Allen gets it

2

Mar 7, 2025, 7:14 AM
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Improving run fits and better tackling alone will create more 4th and long situations without upgrading the talent. Incredible to think how poorly the defensive staff worked under Goodwin. Maybe down the road we will hear more background about how messed up it was.

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Yep! Pretty disappointed in Dabo for letting our defense


Mar 7, 2025, 8:07 AM
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Turn into a cheesecake unit

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Re: Coach Allen gets it

1

Mar 8, 2025, 1:44 AM [ in reply to Re: Coach Allen gets it ]
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It really amazes me how this message about the defensive staff performed so badly under Wes is being allowed to spread like wildfire. If Reed, Rumph and Eason performed so bad why didn't Dabo get rid of them? Dabo knows they all would have had new jobs from SEC, Big 10 and NFL programs before they pulled out of the parking lot. The root of the problem was Dabo made a bad decision by hiring 2 unqualified internal candidates (Wes and Conn) while overlooking 3 internal candidates (Reed, Eason and Rumph) who have a better record of recruiting and developing talent 100x more than Wes and Conn. This narrative of acting like over the last 3 years they forgot how to coach is plain disrespectful. The fact the Dabo is allowing this narrative to takes place is even more sickening and shows how much of a poor leader he is. It shows how irresponsible it is and gutless he is because he doesn't have the integrity to stand in front of reporters and say it was his fault for making the stupid decision to place these 2 clowns in a leadership position based on some foolish unheard of leadership principle of hiring hungry. All Reed, Eason and Rumph did was rule 1 of the 48 laws of power...don't outshine your boss. Did they sit back and watch Wes and Conn make mistakes? Probably so, but what do you expect? They figured well Dabo selected them as DC's so let them lead. The lack of accountability of Dabo to take ownership for his bad decision and allow Reed , Eason and Rumph to be blamed is appalling and cowardly. Having served over 35 years in defense of this country, and served under some great leaders, I know poor leadership when i see it. Dabo should squash this narrative of Reed, Rumph and Eason being blamed for his poor decision immediately. A good leader never let's his people get blamed for his decision. Be it Kennedy accepting blame for the Bay of Pigs to Reagan accepting blame for the Marine bombing Beirut. This type of action makes people think all that of loyalty from Dabo is horsesh!+. It appears as far as his defensive staff the only loyalty extends to Conn who was able to come away blameless, still employed, despite the fact he was Co-DC during last years poor defensive performance and hasn't developed much from his position group but collects a salary of $900k.

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You should probably stop drinking

1

Mar 8, 2025, 7:18 AM
Reply

And crawl back under the sink with the other roaches.

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Re: You should probably stop drinking


Mar 8, 2025, 9:13 AM
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And you can go back to your farm and live happily ever after with what you call a wife, but the rest of the world calls a sheep.

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Re: Coach Allen gets it

1

Mar 8, 2025, 7:48 AM [ in reply to Re: Coach Allen gets it ]
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Coach Allen talked a lot about players being uncertain/confused and I’ll add trust. Hence the simpler approach and limiting installs so everyone is is keeping pace with mastering execution. I think he was very diplomatic about criticism of the position coaches. They can work really hard at individual technique but not have it show up on Saturdays if players aren’t where they’re supposed to be when they’re supposed to be there. The sum of the parts was not adding up. The fact that Allen went back to practice tape and said he’s holding accountability meeting with the coaches post practice tells us he’s in the process of rewiring how the coaches work together and rebuild trust as a staff. As he said the film doesn’t lie.

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Re: Coach Allen gets it


Mar 8, 2025, 9:27 AM
Reply

Great points!

Relative to the comments on Rumph, Eason, Conn, etc - Even good coaches need coaching. As the CEO of our football program, Coach Swinney providing consistent and direct input to the position coaches is micromanaging. That's the job of the DC and OC.

I would imagine Coach Swinney offered a lot of coaching and suggestions to Goodwin along the way, based on his observations, but it didn't take. Thus a change was made.

Coaching people is hard. Coaching managers (such as OCs and DCs) on how to coach other managers is even harder.

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Re: Coach Allen gets it

1

Mar 8, 2025, 9:10 AM
Reply

It's a lot more than "effort". Poor tackling technique. Zero gap integrity. Bad scheme. Poor communication. I could go on but what's the point? Goodwin (thankfully) has moved on and Allen will clean it up. Expect a much better product on the field this year. Much better.

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"Dabo doesn't want to use the portal. We should just stop saying that he does". ~ Judge Keller


Re: Coach Allen gets it

1

Mar 8, 2025, 9:32 AM
Reply

Dabo hired Tom Allen.

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Football is an ever evolving sport when it comes to schemes, player types

1

Mar 8, 2025, 9:49 AM
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rules, etc...


One thing that does not change is that you need intensity on defense. To have intensity on defense, you have to have a coach that coaches it, Allen does!

The one thing that I saw immediately from our last DC is that he did not have intensity, and it made me question if he could coach it. I think we know that answer now.

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Replies: 52
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Tiger Boards - Clemson Football
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