Swarley

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State of the Program

Jul 2, 2010, 10:24 AM

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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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.

State of the Program

Nice assessment. Thanks.***

Wonder if our administration will now provide Leggett with

You're sugar-coating all of the truly horrible stuff. We are

Any interest in substantiating that opinion? ******

and the sky is falling! LOL!***

Only football, basketball, and baseball really matter

It will be interesting to see if Dabo's success last year

Re: It will be interesting to see if Dabo's success last year

Why what?

So, Capitol City, they didn't give GT a battle royal at the

Re: So, Capitol City, they didn't give GT a battle royal at the

What does UCONN say about USuC? How about UK vs Clemson?

Re: What does UCONN say about USuC? How about UK vs Clemson?

Don't buy the argument that USC was as good as us b/c

Re: What does UCONN say about USuC? How about UK vs Clemson?

Re: So, Capitol City, they didn't give GT a battle royal at the

Didn't Dabo inherit all that talent from Tommy Bowden?

Good job, Wookie......

I would love to see the new soccer coach...

Soccer in South Carolina has come a long way. I remember

Re: State of the baseball championship

I won't donate anymore to IPTAY until our diving team

I heard they weren't making much of a splash but

Bravo...I award you one point***

thanks

Re: Bravo...I award you one point***

You could have left it alone after football, basketball and

How? We compete in numerous other sports. ******

That few care about. I know volleyball had thousands in

Oh. I see you can't read. It's state of the program.

You're still here?

Sure am cootett.***

If not already metioned, when was the last time (if ever) we

Great post.***

Express13...well????? we know you are lurking...***

Re: State of the Program

In football, basketball and baseball, when it really matters

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