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The Official Fire Lyle Hemphill Into the Sun (Durham) Thread

As we understand it, Clawson and Dabo are professionally friendly to each other. I have a recommendation for our side of that friendship: Steal some of this crystalized messaging from your friend for WF's, players, fan base and media.
Dabo is really good at simplifying messages and it isn't all about growing up with a drawl.
 
Hate on Dabo all you want but stuff like this is why he's so successful.

I just don't see how Hemphill survives this. Clawson has put together an incredibly successful offense and should return almost everyone next year. An at least mediocre defense is the missing piece. Hemphill has shown no ability to get us there.


Dabo deserves a lot of credit. I still don't think he's a great X and O coach, but the way he's structured things he doesn't need to be. He just needs to be a manager, a cheerleader and a great recruiter. He seems to have been able to do that really well.

Totally agree on the defense. The one positive I got out of Saturday is that once our offense got over the shock and awe of the Clemson defense, we did pretty well on that side of the ball minus a few costly mistakes. In otherwords, our offense is in a position to compete against a program like Clemson, our defense however is not. Our defense needed to keep us in that game early until our offense got on track, but it could not do it.
 
Dabo deserves a lot of credit. I still don't think he's a great X and O coach, but the way he's structured things he doesn't need to be. He just needs to be a manager, a cheerleader and a great recruiter. He seems to have been able to do that really well.

Totally agree on the defense. The one positive I got out of Saturday is that once our offense got over the shock and awe of the Clemson defense, we did pretty well on that side of the ball minus a few costly mistakes. In otherwords, our offense is in a position to compete against a program like Clemson, our defense however is not. Our defense needed to keep us in that game early until our offense got on track, but it could not do it.

as much as it felt like we should be trailing 45-10 at halftime, it was only 17-10, and the defense gave the offense the ball down 7 coming out of halftime. The offense then fumbled on its own 20, not once but twice. Can't give Clemson two short fields in one quarter and expect to win the game.
 
as much as it felt like we should be trailing 45-10 at halftime, it was only 17-10, and the defense gave the offense the ball down 7 coming out of halftime. The offense then fumbled on its own 20, not once but twice. Can't give Clemson two short fields in one quarter and expect to win the game.

That's certainly true and that sequence was huge giving the ball right back, but the defense has got to better than to let a team that has struggled on offense all year, go off for all those rushing yards.
 
Both sides failed, but one side made the leap from good to great and the other hasn't even been good under Hemphill.

Scoring Defense under Hemphill
2019 - 29.1 (76)
2020 - 32.8 (91)
2021 - 30.8 (92)

Scoring Defenses under Elko
2014 - 26.4 (60)
2015 - 24.6 (43)
2016 - 22.2 (23)

Scoring Defense under Sawvel
2017 - 28.4 (76) Sawvel
2018 - 33.3 (101) Sawvel fired in Sept
 
Hate on Dabo all you want but stuff like this is why he's so successful.

I just don't see how Hemphill survives this. Clawson has put together an incredibly successful offense and should return almost everyone next year. An at least mediocre defense is the missing piece. Hemphill has shown no ability to get us there.

Piling on here, but this is where I am as well without knowing much of anything as it relates to Hemphill's relationship with the staff. I don't think DC is leaving after this year and he knows that a serviceable defense makes us undefeated and in the CFP conversation going into the last regular season game of the season. It can be done at Wake.

My gut is that DC tells Currie that he needs a raise, that some of his staff need a raise and that in order to take the next step, we need to pay quite a bit of money to a DC to come in and fix this mess as soon as possible. If we do that, especially if we are able to win an ACC title this year...we could be legitimate national contenders next year if we come into the season ranked in the top 15. Don't see us squandering this opportunity, and everyone except the dweebs watching game film know our defense is the problem.
 
Piling on here, but this is where I am as well without knowing much of anything as it relates to Hemphill's relationship with the staff. I don't think DC is leaving after this year and he knows that a serviceable defense makes us undefeated and in the CFP conversation going into the last regular season game of the season. It can be done at Wake.

My gut is that DC tells Currie that he needs a raise, that some of his staff need a raise and that in order to take the next step, we need to pay quite a bit of money to a DC to come in and fix this mess as soon as possible. If we do that, especially if we are able to win an ACC title this year...we could be legitimate national contenders next year if we come into the season ranked in the top 15. Don't see us squandering this opportunity, and everyone except the dweebs watching game film know our defense is the problem.

Let’s win league first but I agree with this- we have a 1-2 year window with Sam still running the offense and before rest of the league figures out how to stop in and/or copies it. Have a once in a generation chance to legitimately go to CFP.
 
Let’s win league first but I agree with this- we have a 1-2 year window with Sam still running the offense and before rest of the league figures out how to stop in and/or copies it. Have a once in a generation chance to legitimately go to CFP.

Exactly. If we got enough donor support to shit-can Manning and bring in Forbes during the middle of a global pandemic, we can absolutely unite and bring in a stud DC this offseason. I think DC knows this is a moment where we need to double down or we may not have another seat at the table for a while.
 
I had to look his name up, but is Greg Jones the guy responsible for the recruiting of LBs in addition to coaching them?

because he should probably go if so
 
Watching Phil Jurkovec rush for 66 yards, while running like a 3 legged giraffe, had to make Clawson want to pull his hair out. Even when we knew he couldn't throw, he was still able to keep the ball moving on the ground. Here is hoping that Clawson's contract extension included enough money to get a new Coordinator on defense.
 
I had to look his name up, but is Greg Jones the guy responsible for the recruiting of LBs in addition to coaching them?

because he should probably go if so

Nice guy, terrible beer pong player (at least a decade ago), but Wake hasn't given him a ton to work with at LB, and injuries have killed this position group more than any other, but LB is probably our weakest position right now. He is a young coach, and hopefully he can pull it together.
 
Watching Phil Jurkovec rush for 66 yards, while running like a 3 legged giraffe, had to make Clawson want to pull his hair out. Even when we knew he couldn't throw, he was still able to keep the ball moving on the ground. Here is hoping that Clawson's contract extension included enough money to get a new Coordinator on defense.

I don't think the BC game is one to point to regarding the defense struggling. BC had 19 yards passing and 182 total yards of offense. The defense also had two picks and a fumble recovery.
 
I agree our defense is terrible, but firing a coordinator after you win the first ACC Championship in 15 years? That's a tough one I think for Clawson. I get it, you have to do what's necessary to be the best you can be. And that's easy for us to say. But it's fairly possible Clawson isn't seeing the points allowed the way we are. I know he believes our defense is going to allow points because our offense strikes so fast which leaves the defense on the field a bigger portion than is typical. The Army 17:17 offensive possession time is a great example. You're going to allow some points if you are on the field playing defense 3 quarters of the game. I'm not defending our DC and I would fire his ass but Clawson has some perspectives maybe we don't - not the least of which is he would be firing a guy after our best season ever.
 
Watching Phil Jurkovec rush for 66 yards, while running like a 3 legged giraffe, had to make Clawson want to pull his hair out. Even when we knew he couldn't throw, he was still able to keep the ball moving on the ground. Here is hoping that Clawson's contract extension included enough money to get a new Coordinator on defense.

He may look awkward, but PJ has proved to be an effective runner his whole career so far. We seemed to adjust pretty well after he burned us a few times.
 
I agree that Clawson is probably not going to fire Hemphill this off season, but we have to consider how close we were to playoff contention, and how much pressure this team put on the offense to keep us in games. If Clawson plans to keep winning 9-10 games a season we are going to have to improve on defense because we can’t score 45ppg every season
 
I agree our defense is terrible, but firing a coordinator after you win the first ACC Championship in 15 years? That's a tough one I think for Clawson. I get it, you have to do what's necessary to be the best you can be. And that's easy for us to say. But it's fairly possible Clawson isn't seeing the points allowed the way we are. I know he believes our defense is going to allow points because our offense strikes so fast which leaves the defense on the field a bigger portion than is typical. The Army 17:17 offensive possession time is a great example. You're going to allow some points if you are on the field playing defense 3 quarters of the game. I'm not defending our DC and I would fire his ass but Clawson has some perspectives maybe we don't - not the least of which is he would be firing a guy after our best season ever.

Clawson has not sounded pleased in post-game or pressers about some of the D performances. He knows what he has going into next year. I would be shocked if there are not changes. My guess is there was money put aside in the "contract extension" for assistants and to go after a better DC.
 
There are times when programs need to ride it out, stick with personnel that maybe aren't the best, just cover basic facilities maintenance, etc. Then there times to sprint forward as fast as you possibly can.

This is time to sprint. We have an electric offense, the perfect coach, an ACC Championship appearance, and a truly remarkable home experience given the size of our school. We need to raise shit tons of money, hit up every lackadaisical donor, push our big donors as far as we can, upgrade facilities, hire the absolute best coaches we can and lock them down. Currie has crushed it with regards to facilities, the game day experience, and now getting Clawson locked down. There's absolutely no way assistant compensation wasn't discussed in his extension, and this is the time to upgrade. We don't need to trash Hemphill and demonize the defense - NC State and BC were both far from the disaster defensively that fans seem so quick to call our defense.

But if Clawson doesn't make a move, we have next year where we could potentially be even better than this year and probably will enjoy only a slightly stronger ACC. After that, with Hartman leaving and maybe some reloading in order, we're probably out of sprint-mode and we missed the window. Just look at what happened to Duke after they did jack shit with Cutcliffe's early success, or even back in the Grobe era for Wake. Plus, the hope would be we get football locked down and turn the sights to basketball after Forbes gets us to the tourney this year...
 
Kinda surprised that my friend who’s DC at Georgia Tech didn’t get fired, I know he was worried.
 
Clawson is a guy who is constantly searching for an edge or advantage. He knows how little margin for error we have. Can’t see him holding back on hiring someone who can help us get better just because we had a great season.
 
There are times when programs need to ride it out, stick with personnel that maybe aren't the best, just cover basic facilities maintenance, etc. Then there times to sprint forward as fast as you possibly can.

This is time to sprint. We have an electric offense, the perfect coach, an ACC Championship appearance, and a truly remarkable home experience given the size of our school. We need to raise shit tons of money, hit up every lackadaisical donor, push our big donors as far as we can, upgrade facilities, hire the absolute best coaches we can and lock them down. Currie has crushed it with regards to facilities, the game day experience, and now getting Clawson locked down. There's absolutely no way assistant compensation wasn't discussed in his extension, and this is the time to upgrade. We don't need to trash Hemphill and demonize the defense - NC State and BC were both far from the disaster defensively that fans seem so quick to call our defense.

But if Clawson doesn't make a move, we have next year where we could potentially be even better than this year and probably will enjoy only a slightly stronger ACC. After that, with Hartman leaving and maybe some reloading in order, we're probably out of sprint-mode and we missed the window. Just look at what happened to Duke after they did jack shit with Cutcliffe's early success, or even back in the Grobe era for Wake. Plus, the hope would be we get football locked down and turn the sights to basketball after Forbes gets us to the tourney this year...

Agreed. Clawson can't squander this season (and, hopefully, conference champsionship) like Grobe did. I don't expect he will.
 
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