Dan's Take on Whatever

https://mytakeonwhatever.com/?fbclid=IwAR06aXsVa4W5U4nerwdK302hFXG109P-uT4k9l-KynQJWgy96PK78IjOYms

Hope he's wrong, but it's hard to argue against his points. I do think it's possible though, that quality of life, being close to family and a bad experience at a big football school might come into play for Clawson.

The 7:30 start with cold rain predicted right now for Saturday night, sure won't help fan support for Senior night.

I agree with Dan’s points in that you only have to look at Clawson’s resume to know he will move again for the right job. As Dan says he wants to be at a program that can compete for a National Championship, which inherently will likely bring better fan support.

However, it will have to be just the right job—not sure what will be available this year.

As I posted on Dan's thread if Clawson really has aspirations of coaching at that level then he's going to have to tweak his RPO offense considerably and introduce much more variation into his play-calling. When it doesn't work there doesn't seem to be any Plan B and we look like a glorified High School offense.

I have been saying the same thing regarding fan support. A lot of that is on Wellman and now Currie. It is short sighted to insist on $45 tickets when you are trying to fill a stadium and create atmosphere. Currie is way better than Wellman but Wellman simply never gave a shit about local non alumni and indirectly their economic realities. As a result, we don't have the local attendance to games we should.

We don't deserve Clawson. The Louisville shit show should be exhibit A.

We've given tickets away for decades and still have a half empty stadium. It's not the price.

I wish we had better fan support, but I don't know how really to change it. 2006 was good, especially against BC, so maybe consistently competing for ACC titles is what it takes. That season there was just a feeling that we could win the ACC and we did, I think a big difference now is, even after getting off to the start we did and technically being in the hunt for the ACC title well into the season, we all knew that we really weren't in it. Personally I haven't missed a home game since 2001, not saying that to claim to be a better fan or anything like that, but just we need more like me. Non-alum, fan since a child, who just loves Wake Football (and basketball too, but taking a leave from that until the school commits to it again).

I also thought about Clawson in the final moments of the home game against Florida State – a game the Deacons actually won – when there were fewer Wake students in the stands than we get on a regular night at Open Mic. He’s smart enough to choose his words carefully, but if you don’t think fan support – or lack thereof – is used against Wake in the cut-throat recruiting battles then you don’t know anything about college athletics.

As they say, truth [about the level of student and local fan support] hurts.
Our new AD and the WF leadership need a reality check on the many sources of this problem. True. Big boy football is played elsewhere but WF needs to at least have the look of small boy football.

We have a small aging fanbase with younger alumni that are mostly out of state. There has never been a culture built that wake football is a can't miss event. It is what it is.

ChrisL68 said:

As I posted on Dan's thread if Clawson really has aspirations of coaching at that level then he's going to have to tweak his RPO offense considerably and introduce much more variation into his play-calling. When it doesn't work there doesn't seem to be any Plan B and we look like a glorified High School offense.

Click to expand...

This is so spot on. There are serious problems with this offense, and no attempt has really been made to make adjustments to it, other than slowing it down. As mentioned here before, going at a break neck space is fine vs Elon and Rice, but has no chance vs a high powered defenses, or goal line situations. There is no way fans in Tallahassee, East Lansing, or anywhere will have patience with that.

cheeseheads12 said:

We don't deserve Clawson. The Louisville shit show should be exhibit A.

Click to expand...

Yes.

The point of the column is that Clawson won´t be here next year, not that Clawson will eventually take another job. I think the realists here can agree that the later is true, while the former is up for debate.

Which of the job openings this year would Clawson take? There are currently 3 openings. We can cross Rutgers off. Arkansas seems unlikely because while Clawson is a turn around specialist, he needs a school to be patient, ie lose a couple seasons first. Finally there is Florida State, which doesn´t seem like a culture fit, and apparently there are money issues, so we can say that is unlikely also.

So what are other projected Power 5 openings? USC, Michigan State and Vandy. Of those 3 USC would seem to make sense. I have also previously stated that I think Stanford or Northwestern would make sense, but I do not see either of those schools firing their coach.

At this point, I would argue that we are safe for another year at least. And who knows, a couple 7-5 seasons may stop some of the interest.

10% of this fall's incoming freshmen class of just under 1400 students are international students, and I'm going to guess that international students don't come to WFU to attend football games

Clawson is one of the most underrated coaches in the country based on popular opinion. Whether or not that moniker extends to ADs and decision makers at larger schools remains to be seen.

I’m hopeful Clawson wants to stay here long term but realistically if he gets paid substantially more at a school where he would have a shot at the playoffs and a title why would (should?) he stay here?

Just a couple of thoughts...

1. I doubt Clawson will stay here until he retires. I also don't think he'll just jump to any school just because it's "bigger". I think he'll be selective and go where the fit is right. I'm sure the UT experience soured him a bit, and he'll need to go somewhere with a patient fan base that allows him to work his plan. Most of the big football powers aren't going to give him years to build a program and want quick fixes (FSU).

2. I'm not sure what the answer is to generating more football fan support. The basketball program is obviously creating a drag on the whole athletic department. In the mid-2000s we were filling Groves but Prosser had us rolling at the same time and there was a lot of excitement around Wake athletics. I know we can play powerhouses every week if we want to consistently secure bowl eligibility, but the current and upcoming non-conf schedules are far from exciting. The stadium atmosphere when we hosted Nebraska, Stanford, and ND's first visit were electric.

^ (To ChrisL68) This is true. I'm part of the ageing base that has had Wake season tickets for 50 years. Tho' the hi-way to Winston (I-40) is much better now, great seat location, but camped, the high traffic, and changing time for games, long games via TV timeouts, etc. make it more difficult. I won't be attending for much longer.
The current students have more outlets for sports, especially soccer that is doing well, and football seems to pay the price in their support. With fewer in-state students attending having some Wake history, we seem to be gravitating toward Duke level football support. They have basketball, until Coach K makes an exit.

Coach Clawson has done a GREAT job to get us where we are. However, when the RPO gets stalled in the Red Zone or short yardage situation, we don't have a valid plan B. That continuing failing situation takes a shine off the brilliant offense otherwise. Would seem to be very unlike Coach Clawson's preparation work. Finally, as a local sports blog here states. "The 65" inch TV, easy chair, and refrig nearby, is killing college football attendance.

BiffTannen said:

We've given tickets away for decades and still have a half empty stadium. It's not the price.

Click to expand...

Exactly. Students get in free, right? Even if they have to pay, their parents/grandparents are paying $72k/year, so I'm sure they can come up with ticket money. I think home attendance could be a factor in Clawson looking elsewhere. He is well-paid and in a relatively low pressure situation. But those East side second half crowds are pretty embarrassing at times. Impacts recruiting no doubt.

Yeah, the moving targets for start times has been a real pain in the ass, but that's the reality of college football today. The Wake-Duke game is going to get awful ratings this weekend, regardless of start time or network. If it werean afternoon game, there's a decent chance I'd be attending, despite a chance of rain. A 7:30 start in late November for a 4-hour football game when I have to drive home afterward is a pretty crappy proposition in a town with a shortage of decent hotel rooms.

ChrisL68 said:

As I posted on Dan's thread if Clawson really has aspirations of coaching at that level then he's going to have to tweak his RPO offense considerably and introduce much more variation into his play-calling. When it doesn't work there doesn't seem to be any Plan B and we look like a glorified High School offense.

Click to expand...

WF is 3rd in the conference in points per game and yards per game. The last 3 years have produced the best offense in school history. By far.

Just amazes me that anyone watching the Clemson game could think that the problem with WF's offense was the scheme or play-calling: "let's run wide against the fastest defense in college football". Statistically, Clemson has the #2 defense in the country in yards, yards per play and points per game. Other than the hiccup against UNC, Clemson hasn't given up more than 14 points to any other opponent, including A&M who was held to 3 points until they scored a garbage TD late. BC, the #2 team in the ACC in offense scored a total of 7 points against Clemson. WF was without its two best offensive weapons against Clemson in Surratt and Washington. WF was going to have trouble scoring against Clemson even if they added some really "fun" plays. The idea that WF's "play-calling" somehow prevented WF from scoring more points against Clemson is a clueless take.

If you want to point to the VT game, VT's defense is now healthy and they are similarly stout. WF scored 17 against VT, and probably would've gotten to 24 if Surratt (who VT had no answer for) had not gotten knocked out in the 2nd half. The game before playing WF, VT held Notre Dame (who averages 36 a game) to 21, and that included a TD in the final seconds after a questionable call kept the ND drive alive. The game after WF, VT shutout GT. VT's defense, and again, the injuries to Washington and Surratt are the reasons why WF's offense was not as productive. Understand the opponent.

When Clawson started at WF, WF's offensive talent was embarrassingly pathetic, and WF struggled to score at all. As Clawson built the talent level, the offense is among the best in the country and the BEST in school history. Even so, WF has only a couple of NFL level players. This isn't tOSU or Clemson. Understand that every football fan thinks that the team they root for is just some "really good play designs" away from scoring lots of points, but that is not reality. When this scheme has talent, they score points and gain yards above many programs with more talent. When this scheme (or any scheme) lacks the players that can make "explosive" plays, or is banged up to the point where the opponents can take away the players who can make explosive plays, WF is going to score less and gain less yards. Calling jet sweeps and double reverse passes is not going to change that.

There's little to nothing more Clawson can do at Wake. It's reasonable that he could be getting bored and looking for another channel.

Urban Meyer is the elephant in the room at USC.