Bubble gum show: Monte Lee and the Tigers having fun

Lee talks to FoxSports with bubble gum atop his cap

by David Hood - Senior Writer - Wed May 23 21:45:41 GMT-04:00 2018

DURHAM, NC – FoxSports does interviews with Atlantic Coast Conference head baseball coaches in between innings at the ACC Tournament, and Clemson head coach Monte Lee got his turn in front of the camera during the fourth inning of Wednesday’s 21-4 shellacking of Notre Dame.

Unbeknownst to Lee, he had a wad of bubble gum (complete with a bubble) stuck to the top of his hat and he had to dodge a barrage of sunflower seeds.

This team tight? Don’t bet on it, and Lee laughed about the hijinks during his postgame press conference.

“I think the guys know that -- you know, for me personally, I don't like having gum on my hat, no,” Lee said with a laugh. “I would say that that might be a little bit too much. If I knew that was happening, somebody may have gotten an elbow. But no, our guys have fun in the dugout, and they know that I have a lot of fun with them. I want them to be comfortable being them. That's a big part, again, of our program. I'm not trying to produce robots. I want to make sure that our guys enjoy every single day that they get to wear the purple and orange. I want them to enjoy being together, and I want them to feel like their head coach is somebody that they can enjoy this experience and this journey with.”

As Lee talked, Seth Beer, Logan Davidson and Chris Williams couldn’t hide their laughter, but the laughter stopped when Lee’s conversation took a serious tone.

“But I think they also know when I need to be the head coach, I can be the head coach, and when I need to discipline these guys, I can,” Lee said. “But gum on the hat, maybe a little bit too much. Upside down man, I liked that one. That one was pretty good. They did some pretty good ones. Spencer and Weatherly like to do like there's bees in the dugout. I've seen all kind of antics now. I think some of that is good, but at some point it can be a little bit much. But it just is what it is. I would rather them be loose and enjoy the experience on game day than be tight and be serious. That's just me personally as a head coach.”