Good to get an update on Ryan...very happy to hear he's doing so well. Keep up the good work on the blog.

I was wondering, with Linthicum transferring, do you have an idea on how many open scholarships we'll have this year?

"Again, I can accept one I-AA school and a patsy I-A program because you need home games to support the rest of the athletic department. But if you have to play two patsies then why not keep the interest with local schools. I have more interest in SC State, Wofford, The Citadel, Furman and Coastal Carolina than Louisiana-Monroe, McNeese State, Western Kentucky, Samford, etc."

The Division I-AA football programs in South Carolina thank you for describing them as "patsies."

South Carolina State, Wofford, The Citadel, Furman and Coastal Carolina can't wait to add Clemson to future schedules. The Clemson family gives them the respect they deserve.

Good work with the Blog. Also, it is good to hear Ryan is still making progress towards a full recovery. He remains in my prayers, and I won't stop until he gets to 100%.

You mentioned toughness in the Blog today, and I was just wondering if you could elaborate on that a little. Is it just the fan's perception that the team is not tough? If we are not a tough football team, then why not? Is it the players we bring in? Is the youth of the linebackers and offensive line? Is it the way we practice? Or is it just the culture surrounding our program? I just don't understand it, because we look very tough in some games (the primary example is the first half of the FSU game last year), but appear to be very lacking in that department in others. Also, I am a supporter of Coach Bowden, but if he decides that he needs advice on how to breed toughness in the program, he needs to drive over to Pendleton and talk to Coach Ford instead of calling Pete Carroll or Nick Saban. Say what you want about Danny, but his teams were always tough if nothing else.

Thanks.

Enjoyed your minor rant yesterday regarding Terry Don Phillip's annuity and the Administration's quixotic quest for Top Twenty status (talk about tilting at windmills!). For your question as to what has Terry Don Phillips done to deserve an annuity, the answer is: he's done just what President Barker wanted him to do - maintain an above average (barely) but not great football program. There is practically nothing that Barker won't do (you've already mentioned the fudging of numbers regarding the professor per student teaching ratio) to attain his obsessive Top Twenty public university legacy. Part of the process for moving up in the rankings involves the subjective opinion/perception approval of your university by the other member universities. The last thing Barker and his masters on the Board of Directors want to encounter on the academic cocktail party circuit they like to travel is the phrase *football school* applied to Clemson. They live in terror of Clemson ever be labeled a football school, and are more than willing to accept perpetual mediocrity than commit to excellence in the football program.

I don't know how much Truth you are willing to tell on the air, seeing as how you and President Barker are fellow members of that Society for the Preservation of Indecision commonly referred to as Tiger Brotherhood. But Tommy Bowden is not Terry Don Phillips' man, he's President Barker's man. You know as well as me and a host of others that Terry Don would have pulled the trigger twice before on Bowden - as well as have had the guts to put Danny Ford's name up on the ring of honor where it belongs - but Barker and the Board would not allow it. So now I believe the Athletic Director is just going through the motions until he collects his annuity, and then will be out of here as soon as another *big* position comes along. I think it would illustrate the true nature of who actually runs the Athletic Dept. if you were to recount for your audience the sorry particulars surrounding Bowden's dalliance with the Arkansas job after last season. Terry Don was in New York with a representative of actual past Clemson football excellence, Jeff Davis, as the latter was going to be inducted into the Collegiate Hall of Fame. Then this nonsense about Bowden going to Arkansas hit the news and President Barker reacted hysterically and SUMMONED Terry Don home to manage the *crisis* - slapping Jeff Davis in the face in the process - as if Tommy Bowden was ever ACTUALLY going to leave for Arkansas, and that it would be a CRISIS even if he did.

I'll close now, as reliving this disgrace is spiking my blood pressure. My main theme is that President Barker makes fools of us all by letting Bowden make a fool of him, and that he would rather settle for mediocrity than strive for greatness, if there was even the remotest possibility that striving for greatness could affect the perception of Clemson in the circles in which he travels.

Thank you.

I want to thank you or what you said about the state of the athletic programs at Clemson this morning. You blew the lid on the AARC cover up; what you said this morning was overdue. Please do not bow to any pressure from Clemson and tell us the whole story. Changes have to happen for us to get back where we used to be. There are a lot of people in your corner on this issue. I do have one request. Do you have the email addresses of the BOTS? Could you please post them? Keep up the good work.

For what it’s worth, we’ll be attending the Miami v. A&M game with our two Aggie sons this Saturday. Gig ‘em Aggies!