History Lesson (very long)

Oct 18, 2002, 12:00 AM

Just from the name you can figure I've been around a lot longer than most of you. I have been in most of your places at one time or another with regard to your feelings about the various areas of the football program, so if you will allow me to ramble somewhat maybe you can gain some knowledge a little faster than what it has taken me many years to acquire.

Quarterback controversies have been going on for 43 years that I remember. The earliest at Clemson I'm aware of was Lowndes Shingler should have been starting instead of Harvey White (to save some of you some time this was 1959 and they went to the Sugar Bowl the year before). Then it was Joe Anderson instead of Shingler the next year, and Jim Parker instead of Anderson the next....

I can remember how I kept saying Frank Howard needs to be replaced. He couldn't coach his way out of a paperbag. If you guys think Ford's was a running offense, you should have seen Howard's. The other team (generalization) always has a better coach and if we just had someone like that with our talent we'd win the conference every year(we won the ACC something like 3 years in a row under Howard in the 60's with a 6-4 record, all loses to SEC teams). OK maybe just a little sarcasim there, but I've been hearing that across the country from fans of many schools for many years. In Alabama they were actually yelling for Bryant's firing the last few years, he only regained his diety status after he died.

I can also remember that most of the athletes were in school to get an education. Major college football and basketball is currently a professional development level (minor league). The link yesterday to the Leake diary was as interesting for what he didn't say as what he did say. I didn't see one mention of getting an education at the school. It was which school will develop me the best for the NFL. As long as the money is there that is the way it will be. As one post today noted about Littlejohn was not going to bring in any new revenue streams. At this stage I have to ask what does that really matter? Then I put myself in Barker's place and realize the more successful the athletic program the more general giving to the university. Should it be that way? Probably not, but it is a fact and I am probably as guilty in my giving more during good athletic years as the next alumni.

Coaching versus execution: I was a track and cross country walkon at Clemson. We were having a meet against UNC which had much better distance runners than we did. The coach's plan was that we would try to make them run the first distance race (1 mile) hard with our second tier runners (me and another guy) so that we could maybe sneak in a 2nd or 3rd place in the half mile or 2 mile with our decent runner. We were told to just run with the Heels for the first two laps and then take the lead on the third lap and push it to make sure they ran a hard 3/4 of a mile. I was right with them at the end of two laps and tried to take the lead on the third lap. Two of the Heels let me pass them but the one in the lead "took me to school". He pushed the pace up to where we were almost sprinting and after about 180 yards I was shot. They easily cruised on for a sweep of the mile and only a mild workout. Coach's fault or poor execution by the athlete. I knew it wasn't the coach's fault and boy it sure felt good when the 100-150 people in the stands started cheering as I moved up. Happy ending we won the meet anyway.

Second example: Coaching a youth basketball team (9-10 year olds) late in the game the other team committed a technical foul. I had no one on the floor that I wanted shooting a free throw. Finally I figured I'd have my son shoot it (he wasn't a starter by the way) at least I knew he'd hit the rim and maybe we could get the rebound (for you non-basketball types there is no rebound after a technical). He went to the line and hit nothing but the bottom of the net to seal our only win. Coaching or execution?

Throw the long ball more we have tall receivers. Unless something happened I missed the only long balls caught were against FSU. Almost all the others were dropped. Coaching or execution

Boy, we can run the ball down UVA's throat. Over 200 yds rushing but we lost. Coaching or execution. (I hope TB doesn't read this board or he will be the most successful coach ever and we will lose him. Only slightly tongue-in-cheek.

Am I disappointed in 3-3, sure I am especially when we flat won the battle of the lines, but lost the war against UGA and FSU. Are there things I would like to see different? Of course, I liked the hurry up that we ran 3 years ago. Do we have the personnel to do that today? I don't think we do, because that relied on a smaller quicker line and having that unusual talent of Dantzler able to salvage something from disaster. Are we a better football team talent and executionwise? In general I'd say yes. Playing a better caliber of conference opponent? Again I think the answer is yes.

I remember a conversation I had with Gary Barnes a couple of years ago before the Duke game. Gary was saying that for a while the Clemson "family" was not there like when we were in school (I told you I was old). He then said "I think I see it coming back to being that way again. The people involved are caring more about the students and making them better people than when they came here."

Finally, how important is intercollegiate athletics in the overall scheme of life? You have to answer that one for yourself, but I can remember when it was a whole lot more important to me (the books and room for free sure helped) than it is now, and I know that the coaches were a large part of what made me a better person than when I came to Clemson. I'll take the coach who develops the person over the one who wins at all costs anytime.

Now for my lighter rant. I think the problems all started when they became PC and took the "#### it" out of our cheers.

flag link

military_tech

thumb_down

thumb_up

History Lesson (very long)

TigerBoard POTD