I put this on Twitter, but fuck Twitter: this ep went in the can right before Dabo said like three dumb fucking portal things in three days. So yeah, moron.
You know what, I would probably disagree with just about everything that Dabo says, but if he wants to run his program a certain way, and that includes not taking transfers, I'm fine with it as a non Clemson fan, and if I was him, I wouldn't care what anyone says about it other than his employer and his players.
Alex here: I think about this a decent bit. Dabo has in some ways been stridently anti-player over the years, but he's also been very pro-"his guys" and idk if I give him enough credit for being one of the few guys in his profession who at least walks the walk. Failing with your own people because you believe in them is not a vice.
It's simple: Swinney does not want chatter among players about how other programs or coaches do things, which invites comparisons and questions about the orthodoxy (especially when things aren't going great). Not questioning the culture is a critical part of the culture.
That's pretty much where I'm at. I've seen people at several outlets be very critical of the way he fills out his roster, but he seems to be very much in favor of supporting the players he brings in, which if you are a parent of a player, is kind of what you want. It's also notable to me that the most important team to me, Purdue basketball, gets 1 or 0 players from the portal every year, and Matt Painter is considered one of the best coaches in the sport.
You know, I work for one of the 20 largest construction companies in the country, basically everyone bids earthwork the way I want them to, and as someone in his mid 40's with a ton of experience, I still deal with imposter syndrome from time to time.
Steven please don’t worry about going to long. Some of the most interesting bits are in the tangents and even when I can’t do it in one listen it’s nice to have the other half to pick up later.
Remember we’re all paying for as much content as you can give
As a 24 year old who was diagnosed with ADHD when I was 8 and Aspergers a year later, I'd like to say to any listeners out there with kids like me who feel like you're in over your head and don't think you're doing enough to support them, don't be. My Parents did the best they could with something they didn't understand and that's all that really matter to me at the end of the day. Just try your best.
Re: the Saints and LSU, with regards to players, there's a frostiness that's relatively recent to the last 20 or so years. My understanding is it mostly comes from the top of management with some (in my opinion, misplaced) idea that drafting local players will lead to them being "distracted" in that absurd NFL sense.
And when you make a frequent practice of focusing draft efforts on small schools while the powerhouse up the road is churning guys out, the busts are *really* going to stick out.
Sean Payton also had a real thing for certain programs and coaches that he trusted.
Re Clemson’s O-line: I think you gave a good summary. It’s a host of factors that are all intertwined.
1. Caldwell, while a decent coach, didn’t seem to put the effort in to recruit at a high level, and was allowed to hang around too long because Clemson was still winning and running guys off is not really Dabo’s MO. Austin was out of his depth. Chips all the way in on Matt Luke.
2. Poor recruiting + they get knocked on the recruiting trail for doing poorly in the draft – no first rounders ever I’m pretty sure. So that will continue to be an issue until it isn’t.
3. Small recruiting classes – This is what the hardcore fans rant about the most (portal aside). Dabo’s refusal to process players is both to his credit and his Achilles’ Heel because it creates these “artificial” limits on the class size every cycle and O-line more than any other position is one you need to take a high volume at every year it seems. Clemson hits at a high rate at most positions, but I’d say the O-line hit rate in recent years has not been ideal. Maybe 50% of guys they sign end up contributing, and some of that is because of necessity not because they're good, so competitive depth becomes an issue even though Dabo trumpets they’re 10 deep every offseason.
Below are the number of O-line commits in recent classes. Georgia for comparison.
To piggyback off that the sneaky under the radar take that I’ve seen implied in an off the record fashion from inside the program is that a lot of Clemson’s shortcomings in recent years can be attributed to poor recruiting evaluation in the Covid era.
Obviously it affected everybody, but since getting guys on campus is a bedrock of Dabo’s recruiting philosophy (you don’t officially get an offer until you visit on your own dime) Covid really blew up how they recruit + Dabo wasn't going to skirt the rules – then layer on smaller classes, no processing, and no portal additions… End result is if they’re not hitting on recruits at a high rate you get the past few seasons. So we’ll see moving forward if future classes get back to what they were – last year like 6 freshman held prominent roles by the end of the season fwiw.
Also despite playing their inaugural season in Death Valley, the Panthers have never taken a Tiger.
If it offers a bit of relief: Tommy Tuberville is currently nowhere in line for the nuclear codes. The only Congresspeople in the Presidential line of succession are the Speaker of the House and the President Pro Tempore of the Senate. After them, it goes to the President's cabinet, and then there's no one, but if we get to that point, we're in real big trouble.
Didn’t get this in for the last mailbag/Single Wing but here goes….am I wrong that I want to turn into Don Draper and scream “that’s what the money is for!” every time I see a certain four-letter network reporter tweet something about how difficult the job of a FBS college football coach is when thier roster gets poached by the transfer portal? Does having that reaction make me an ignorant and irrational fan?
I put this on Twitter, but fuck Twitter: this ep went in the can right before Dabo said like three dumb fucking portal things in three days. So yeah, moron.
You know what, I would probably disagree with just about everything that Dabo says, but if he wants to run his program a certain way, and that includes not taking transfers, I'm fine with it as a non Clemson fan, and if I was him, I wouldn't care what anyone says about it other than his employer and his players.
Alex here: I think about this a decent bit. Dabo has in some ways been stridently anti-player over the years, but he's also been very pro-"his guys" and idk if I give him enough credit for being one of the few guys in his profession who at least walks the walk. Failing with your own people because you believe in them is not a vice.
It's simple: Swinney does not want chatter among players about how other programs or coaches do things, which invites comparisons and questions about the orthodoxy (especially when things aren't going great). Not questioning the culture is a critical part of the culture.
That's pretty much where I'm at. I've seen people at several outlets be very critical of the way he fills out his roster, but he seems to be very much in favor of supporting the players he brings in, which if you are a parent of a player, is kind of what you want. It's also notable to me that the most important team to me, Purdue basketball, gets 1 or 0 players from the portal every year, and Matt Painter is considered one of the best coaches in the sport.
Keep ‘em long. SZD is about 90% of the reason I’m able to do cardio.
You know, I work for one of the 20 largest construction companies in the country, basically everyone bids earthwork the way I want them to, and as someone in his mid 40's with a ton of experience, I still deal with imposter syndrome from time to time.
Steven please don’t worry about going to long. Some of the most interesting bits are in the tangents and even when I can’t do it in one listen it’s nice to have the other half to pick up later.
Remember we’re all paying for as much content as you can give
As a 24 year old who was diagnosed with ADHD when I was 8 and Aspergers a year later, I'd like to say to any listeners out there with kids like me who feel like you're in over your head and don't think you're doing enough to support them, don't be. My Parents did the best they could with something they didn't understand and that's all that really matter to me at the end of the day. Just try your best.
Still have the complete series of Sports Night on DVD. Love that show.
Re: the Saints and LSU, with regards to players, there's a frostiness that's relatively recent to the last 20 or so years. My understanding is it mostly comes from the top of management with some (in my opinion, misplaced) idea that drafting local players will lead to them being "distracted" in that absurd NFL sense.
And when you make a frequent practice of focusing draft efforts on small schools while the powerhouse up the road is churning guys out, the busts are *really* going to stick out.
Sean Payton also had a real thing for certain programs and coaches that he trusted.
I would note that when they do bring in LSU guys it's typically after they've proven things elsewhere.
There are some LSU fans it does genuinely bother, but I think the bigger issue us they've been really inconsistent drafting overall.
Re Clemson’s O-line: I think you gave a good summary. It’s a host of factors that are all intertwined.
1. Caldwell, while a decent coach, didn’t seem to put the effort in to recruit at a high level, and was allowed to hang around too long because Clemson was still winning and running guys off is not really Dabo’s MO. Austin was out of his depth. Chips all the way in on Matt Luke.
2. Poor recruiting + they get knocked on the recruiting trail for doing poorly in the draft – no first rounders ever I’m pretty sure. So that will continue to be an issue until it isn’t.
3. Small recruiting classes – This is what the hardcore fans rant about the most (portal aside). Dabo’s refusal to process players is both to his credit and his Achilles’ Heel because it creates these “artificial” limits on the class size every cycle and O-line more than any other position is one you need to take a high volume at every year it seems. Clemson hits at a high rate at most positions, but I’d say the O-line hit rate in recent years has not been ideal. Maybe 50% of guys they sign end up contributing, and some of that is because of necessity not because they're good, so competitive depth becomes an issue even though Dabo trumpets they’re 10 deep every offseason.
Below are the number of O-line commits in recent classes. Georgia for comparison.
1. ‘19 – 3 commits (3)
2. ‘20 – 6 commits (6)
3. ’21 – 4 commits (4)
4. ’22 – 2 commits (5)
5. ’23 – 3 commits (5)
6 ’24 – 4 commits (6)
To piggyback off that the sneaky under the radar take that I’ve seen implied in an off the record fashion from inside the program is that a lot of Clemson’s shortcomings in recent years can be attributed to poor recruiting evaluation in the Covid era.
Obviously it affected everybody, but since getting guys on campus is a bedrock of Dabo’s recruiting philosophy (you don’t officially get an offer until you visit on your own dime) Covid really blew up how they recruit + Dabo wasn't going to skirt the rules – then layer on smaller classes, no processing, and no portal additions… End result is if they’re not hitting on recruits at a high rate you get the past few seasons. So we’ll see moving forward if future classes get back to what they were – last year like 6 freshman held prominent roles by the end of the season fwiw.
Also despite playing their inaugural season in Death Valley, the Panthers have never taken a Tiger.
If it offers a bit of relief: Tommy Tuberville is currently nowhere in line for the nuclear codes. The only Congresspeople in the Presidential line of succession are the Speaker of the House and the President Pro Tempore of the Senate. After them, it goes to the President's cabinet, and then there's no one, but if we get to that point, we're in real big trouble.
Yeah I knew that, it was more of a riff.
Didn’t get this in for the last mailbag/Single Wing but here goes….am I wrong that I want to turn into Don Draper and scream “that’s what the money is for!” every time I see a certain four-letter network reporter tweet something about how difficult the job of a FBS college football coach is when thier roster gets poached by the transfer portal? Does having that reaction make me an ignorant and irrational fan?