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Welcome Dave Clawson - 430PM Presser (Clawson Wins Presser, OGB Gets E-Boners)

PhDeac said:
I'd still like to hear a good argument about how fewer exceptions are a better solution than better academic support for athletes (and non-athletes as well).
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The argument would be Stanford. We just need our Harbaugh and our Andrew Luck.

1-11 season, ignore recruiting rankings, sign the 3rd worst ranked class in the Pac-12 by the numbers, stop trying to tutor kids in the program and tighten the restrictions to get in in the first place... 3 years later they make 5 straight bowl games. Faces of Wake football like Curry graduate and shit on the program. Faces of Stanford graduate and give millions back to the Athletic Department, directly funding massive improvements in recruiting and facilities. Don't have any confidence it'll work at Wake, but that's the argument for getting guys that fit the academic standards of the school rather than allowing a bunch of exemptions in and trying to prop them up to stay in school.
 
Not the easiest thing to replicate.

Stanford also has many recruiting edges over ourselves
 
PhDeac said:
Reposting because my edit wasn't quick enough:

I've taught probably 2 or 3 football players a year at a school probably on par with Ball State. I don't remember any who were "unwilling" to do the work. Now there were several who needed additional help figuring how to get work done but definitely were willing. I've never met one who was just like "I just need to pass yo class, dawg. I ain't trying to read and write and that shit."
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There are definitely some kids who are like that, however, I believe a lot of it comes down to how the coach treats academics. At Elon, Lembo treated academics as the most important thing for his players. The coaches did breakfast checks to make sure they were up and then class checks to make sure they were in class. There were weekly meetings with the coaching staff and the academics staff as a whole. And then there were daily meetings between position coaches and academic staff and players. He made a point to make sure that the kids did what they were supposed to and was on top of everything.

When Swepson came in, those meetings between football staff and academic staff ended. No more breakfast checks, coaches did not do any class checks and players were not held accountable for any academic offenses that had occurred. A lot of the same players all of a sudden quit caring about going to class or meetings because the head coach did not treat academics as the most important thing.

Granted, there were still kids who didn't care under Lembo and there were kids who still worked hard on academics under Swepson, but there was definitely a shift in the attitude between the two coaches that was visible to the department as a whole.

(this is in regards to those kids who were either high academic priority types or borderline priority types, not those that came in with good academic backgrounds)
 
So then what's the hold up with Lembo? Everything about him sounds incredible.

And again his APR at Ball freakin State is basically less than half a percentage point than Grobe's at Wake.
 
PhDeac said:
So then what's the hold up with Lembo? Everything about him sounds incredible.

And again his APR at Ball freakin State is basically less than half a percentage point than Grobe's at Wake.
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Our AD is the same guy who hired and has since retained [Redacted]. He is a goddamn moron.
 
PhDeac said:
Reposting because my edit wasn't quick enough:

I've taught probably 2 or 3 football players a year at a school probably on par with Ball State. I don't remember any who were "unwilling" to do the work. Now there were several who needed additional help figuring how to get work done but definitely were willing. I've never met one who was just like "I just need to pass yo class, dawg. I ain't trying to read and write and that shit."
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I think you have to teach at a powerhouse school like UNC to get student-athletes like that.
 
PhDeac said:
I'd still like to hear a good argument about how fewer exceptions are a better solution than better academic support for athletes (and non-athletes as well).
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EbertStreetDeac said:
Agree 100%. That would be very interesting to hear. Many times the kids who are exceptions succeed because someone finally has taken the time to truly invest in their academics rather than just pass them through the system because they are a star athlete on the high school level. More than anything, it comes down to the kid wanting to succeed in the classroom and willing to work to make it happen. I have seen more kids that have been told that they don't have what it takes academically graduate than don't graduate. If you put the resources into academic support systems and with a coach that cares about their academics, you will see these kids graduate. And honestly, there is nothing better than seeing someone who comes in and can barely write a paper work hard for four-five years and get a diploma through their own hard work and the hard work of academic support staff.

I know many academic coordinators who would rather work with an exception who is willing to put in time and effort to overcome their academic background or lack there of than a student-athlete that wasn't an exception but struggles to maintain eligibility due to not caring or laziness.
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Wasn't this supposed to be the point of collegiate athletics before it morphed into the minor leagues? To offer educational opportunities to kids who wouldn't otherwise get them? If anything, the need to do this is greater now than ever. Obviously we don't want to set them up to fail, but if there's a chance a marginal kid can succeed with the right support shouldn't we be doing that? If anything, to not do so goes against WFU's stated academic mission.
 
If we whiff on this hire, which becomes likelier by the hour, I'd say we might have an institutional problem greater than Wellman on our hands.

Might have to shift the focus from #WellmanOut to a campaign asking whether success in athletics matters to Wake.
 
bigdoublezero said:
If we whiff on this hire, which becomes likelier by the hour, I'd say we might have an institutional problem greater than Wellman on our hands.

Might have to shift the focus from #WellmanOut to a campaign asking whether success in athletics matters to Wake.
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"Do you value winning?"

I think it's a question regardless of the hire.
 
If Pete Lembo is the rock star no-brainer hire that we seem to think he is, maybe he's holding out for a better job than Wake Forest.
 
PhDeac said:
"Do you value winning?"

I think it's a question regardless of the hire.
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Agreed. And it's a question both for the administration and for alums. Maybe most alums don't care if we become Davidson.
 
faxmachineanthem said:
If Pete Lembo is the rock star no-brainer hire that we seem to think he is, maybe he's holding out for a better job than Wake Forest.
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Very possible, but there isn't a better job this year. I'm sure he has considered gambling it up for another year.

However, it is pretty easy for an agent of a coach to leak to a reporter that they aren't in play for the job if Lembo really wasn't interested. If your theory is true, why would Lembo leave this cloud hanging over the Ball St program?
 
Clawson versus Lembo is not the no-brainer this board is making it out to be.

Wake met with Clawson yesterday afternoon. Lembo might be interviewing with UConn. Clawson was offered by Temple last year and interviewed with Wisconsin, and now Boise State is calling.

Expecting this to be a done deal by 9am this morning or calling Clawson a "whiff" is off base.
 
faxmachineanthem said:
If Pete Lembo is the rock star no-brainer hire that we seem to think he is, maybe he's holding out for a better job than Wake Forest.
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What does Ball State's team look like for next season? He could be next coming of Nick Saban but if he doesn't have a winning season next year he ain't getting a better job than Wake. If he thinks he can win the MAC he will definitely be on people's radars again... but the list of schools won't have many where he's a leading candidate at a better job than Wake.... but there will be a couple, with heavy competition.
 
I'm curious about that too.

I think we'd see a lot of responses full of false choices like "I'd like to win but I'd rather just be competitive if it didn't mean sacrificing our values."
 
Brendan207 said:
What does Ball State's team look like for next season? He could be next coming of Nick Saban but if he doesn't have a winning season next year he ain't getting a better job than Wake. If he thinks he can win the MAC he will definitely be on people's radars again... but the list of schools won't have many where he's a leading candidate at a better job than Wake.... but there will be a couple, with heavy competition.
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I evaluated the Ball State roster for this purpose. They lose their GOAT Ball St QB but have quite a bit coming back otherwise including their star WR.
 
Definitely. I think it's just vague platitudes.
 
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