Dave Clawson Credibility Watch

[ralphkitleyrules]

Yeah this is silly. Clawson obviously earned a least 2-3 more years before panic talk happens. But wake recruiting seems to spiral sometimes when the record starts to decline under a coach. The team right now simply isn't very talented in relation to the league. And Clawson cant go to the gimmicky offense much anymore. Wake is always going to be challenged on defense. If they cant put a lot of points up Wake cant win often.

 

[DeacAssured]

Great thing about Dave Clawson is that unlike other coaches he does not give defensive, dismissive or snarky replies to tough questions. He is an outlier compared to most college coaches and the way they typically respond to the least bit of perceived criticism within a question. Clawson listens, takes a deep breath and answers the dang question. If next year you asked him why should anyone expect anything different from this year, Dave Clawson would answer the question without regard to whether it sounded negative. Fire away. That man deals with "conflict" as a professional. On another note his apparent weariness has to do with this season rather than the entire landscape of college football imho. He's not a quitter.

 

[morrison2951]

Agree that losing grates on Clawson.

Sadly, with his QB1 choice, he brought on more losing.

 

[1976Deac]

Yeah this is silly. Clawson obviously earned a least 2-3 more years before panic talk happens. But wake recruiting seems to spiral sometimes when the record starts to decline under a coach. The team right now simply isn't very talented in relation to the league. And Clawson cant go to the gimmicky offense much anymore. Wake is always going to be challenged on defense. If they cant put a lot of points up Wake cant win often.

True that.
I really would like to know what Coach knows about the other q-backs in the room that he’s stayed with Griffis this long when he’s been struggling so much.

 

[liveanddiedeac]

True that.
I really would like to know what Coach knows about the other q-backs in the room that he’s stayed with Griffis this long when he’s been struggling so much.

Me too, both Kern and Santino have looked much more comfortable in the pocket to me in limited playing time. I'm not saying either of them would've set the world on fire this season, but I have to think they would've been better than Mitch has been.

 

[thatguy2016]

My uninformed guess is that Clawson and his coaches believed that Mitch had a higher ceiling, in terms of running the whole offense, than either Kern or Marucci.

I don't think that is an outrageous opinion. Both Kern and Marucci have limitations. The failure here is that Mitch played way, way closer to his floor than ceiling in just about all of his game action, and the coaching staff has been unable to change that through 10 games.

 

[liveanddiedeac]

My uninformed guess is that Clawson and his coaches believed that Mitch had a higher ceiling, in terms of running the whole offense, than either Kern or Marucci.

I don't think that is an outrageous opinion. Both Kern and Marucci have limitations. The failure here is that Mitch played way, way closer to his floor than ceiling in just about all of his game action, and the coaching staff has been unable to change that through 10 games.

I would love to know what Mitch has the potential to do that the others don't? Whatever it is, he sure hasn't shown it game action.

 

[skinnydeac]

I don't think it has anything to do with what the coaches see in the other guys that cause them to not believe in them. I 100% believe that practice Mitch looks like Drew Brees and he just can't translate that to the game. Every camp and practice rep is a quality rep and he looks so good that they feel like they have to give him the chance to play. I think the staff is just as shocked and confused by his game performances as the fans.

 

[TheAbster]

I would love to know what Mitch has the potential to do that the others don't? Whatever it is, he sure hasn't shown it game action.

In Clawson's post-game presser, he stated that the huge sack on our 5-yard line (which gave NCSU momentum early) was a designed run play and Mitch simply did not hand the ball off. So, read into that what you will but that tells me you have bigger problems with the kid than physical limitations. Is he just not into it? Has he checked out? We are in game #10 and he forgets the play as QB1!?!? Griffis didn't play after that series and I doubt he ever will.

Here is the actual quote from the post-game:

"We took two sacks. The sacks aren’t always on the quarterback, but we have to get rid of the football. The one play, he was supposed to hand the ball off. For whatever reason he didn’t and he got sacked within the five yard line. He just seemed off." -- Dave Clawson

 

[TimmyClutch]

I like numbers, here are some. Last season Wake averaged 443 yards a game, the season before 467. This season 331. Last year Wake averaged 36 points a game, the year before 41. This year Wake is averaging 20. Wake currently is 2nd from the bottom in points and 3rd from the bottom in yards. We have 6 more points than Pitt, so it will be interesting to see if they surpass us before the end of the season.

There are some good numbers though, Wake is currently only giving up 24 points a game, while the last two years it was 29 and 31 respectively. I don’t think this is all due to teams letting up near the end of games, so we have seen improvement in our defense.

I know people have been saying all along that this would be a bridge year after Hartman left, but did anyone think our offense would be in the basement of the conference?

4 wins doesn’t necessarily look like a complete cratering, but if we had played Pitt or UVA’s schedule, we are most likely a two win team as well.

As much as we have been asking about Clawson’s credibility, what about Ruggiero? He is the QB coach who couldn’t develop a QB and the offensive coordinator who couldn’t figure out what to do after Hartman left. There is a lot of blame to go around. Tabacca the Oline coach is going to have answer tough questions, as well as the new WR coach Confesor.

 

[liveanddiedeac]

I don't think it has anything to do with what the coaches see in the other guys that cause them to not believe in them. I 100% believe that practice Mitch looks like Drew Brees and he just can't translate that to the game. Every camp and practice rep is a quality rep and he looks so good that they feel like they have to give him the chance to play. I think the staff is just as shocked and confused by his game performances as the fans.

Well, that makes me wonder about practice. I know you can't have your QB's taking hits, but how live are we going in practice I wonder? Our defense is decent this year, seems like in practice he should be making some of the same mistakes. Unless, he has some fear of being hit he can't overcome and it shows up in games?

 

[liveanddiedeac]

I like numbers, here are some. Last season Wake averaged 443 yards a game, the season before 467. This season 331. Last year Wake averaged 36 points a game, the year before 41. This year Wake is averaging 20. Wake currently is 2nd from the bottom in points and 3rd from the bottom in yards. We have 6 more points than Pitt, so it will be interesting to see if they surpass us before the end of the season.

There are some good numbers though, Wake is currently only giving up 24 points a game, while the last two years it was 29 and 31 respectively. I don’t think this is all due to teams letting up near the end of games, so we have seen improvement in our defense.

I know people have been saying all along that this would be a bridge year after Hartman left, but did anyone think our offense would be in the basement of the conference?

4 wins doesn’t necessarily look like a complete cratering, but if we had played Pitt or UVA’s schedule, we are most likely a two win team as well.

As much as we have been asking about Clawson’s credibility, what about Ruggiero? He is the QB coach who couldn’t develop a QB and the offensive coordinator who couldn’t figure out what to do after Hartman left. There is a lot of blame to go around. Tabacca the Oline coach is going to have answer tough questions, as well as the new WR coach Confesor.

I mean in reality if we don't win any more games this year, it's a 3 win season in my mind. Look, I loved the Pitt game, but we were gifted that one. The Pitt QB screwed up and it wasn't a forced screwup, he just completely misjudged where he needed to get to pickup the first down. Glad we won, so at least we won't have a conference goose egg this season, but we really "beat" 3 teams. Credit for our guys taking advantage of the Pitt's mistake, we still had to make the plays to get the winning TD. Considering a shutout is a strong possibility at ND, Pitt probably will surpass us before the end of the season.

 

[Deaconblue]

Well, that makes me wonder about practice. I know you can't have your QB's taking hits, but how live are we going in practice I wonder? Our defense is decent this year, seems like in practice he should be making some of the same mistakes. Unless, he has some fear of being hit he can't overcome and it shows up in games?

Until this season, Griffis had a three year hiatus from being hit. That is a long, long time between hits. Could be he just hasn't adjusted to the pain.

 

[Biff Tannen]

Until this season, Griffis had a three year hiatus from being hit. That is a long, long time between hits. Could be he just hasn't adjusted to the pain.

It didn't seem to bother Carson Beck. Of course he has a great offensive line in front of him, a running game, and an OC who calls a great game. He's also throws the ball on time.

 

[Deaconblue]

It didn't seem to bother Carson Beck. Of course he has a great offensive line in front of him, a running game, and an OC who calls a great game. He's also throws the ball on time.

With the O-line Beck has in front of him, how often did he really get hit?

 

[IamThunderbolt]

Here's my read on the Clawson's thought process. I can see his logic until the FSU game - going with Mitch because he doesn't have confidence in Kern or Mooch. Kern is a somewhat decent QB, but not made for our system. Mooch has a lot of energy - but even in the win, wasn't a good QB.

Elon - Mitch is the starter, he struggled holding the ball too much (and Clawson was disappointed in QB play per his post game), but we won and it was the first game - Mitch can improve
Vandy - Mitch was decent, not great, but our running game carried the day - still held the ball too much, but nothing to lose the starting job yet
ODU - this was a bad game, but Mitch got it together to lead the comeback - maybe things are starting to come together for him
GT - unmitigated disaster - Mitch is probably not the answer. We have a bye week coming up, so maybe it can be fixed - we'll see what he can do @ Clemson. I don't have a lot of confidence in Kern reading the offense (not yet ready to scrap the offense b/c we don't' have a QB that can run it)
Clemson - Let's see what Mitch can do after the bye
VT - Mitch is still not it, benched after the 1Q for Kern. Kern is hurt, Marucci hasn't had enough practice, so Mitch is back in - finishes the game but gets hurt himself
Pitt - Marucci is not a good QB. He has struggled seeing the field in practice, so let's limit the playbook extensively - Offensive is pedestrian, but D balls out and Marucci loses the game on an INT, then wins the game on some good throws.
FSU - Marucci is not a good QB - he won the game, but didn't look great aside from the last drive. Kern is still hurt, so let's see what Mitch can do (this is where I think he messed up and lost the team and the fans)
Duke - Mitch rebound game, but two turnovers cost us - did well enough to have a short leash against State, but I'm looking for answers this team probably doesn't have
State - absolutely abysmal - given the 1Q then benched and won't return
ND - pre locker room meeting to see if Sam will throw the game or switch teams at halftime
Cuse - who the fuck knows

I would have made the change after GT, but I can see why Clawson didn't. Rolling Mitch back out after Pitt was a big mistake for momentum.

 

[tigerswood]

Dave Clawson is the best coach Wake could ever have. Yes, this season is a dumpster fire but considering every aspect of head coaching there is no better person than Coach Clawson.

I mean people said the exact same thing about Jim Grobe. We found a better coach in one hire.

Is that likely again? No. Do I think Clawson is/should be going anywhere? No. Would I rather have Liberty's coach than Clawson right now? Probably.

 

[Rafi]

I am not sure how Griffis performed well in practice when he cannot scramble at all ever. Maybe the yellow don't hit the QB jersey masked his ineffectiveness.

There's no way he was just playing pitch and catch with our WR in practice. He can't do that at all, either.

I bet he did look good in practice. Probably similar to how he played in the first 3 quarters of the Duke game. He was 16/19 for 240 yards and no picks. I just think there are a small number of athletes that perform much better in practice than in game time, and Mitch is one of those guys.

 

[JKW385]

The Grobe administration wasn’t perfect but they didn’t have many misses at QB. Other than Jamie and Sam- I don’t see a P5 level QB that DC has landed and kept- that’s 2 guys in 10 years - pretty abysmal and not sustainable especially in an offense that puts a lot on the QB. Wolford was a Grobe guy.

 

[liveanddiedeac]

I mean people said the exact same thing about Jim Grobe. We found a better coach in one hire.

Is that likely again? No. Do I think Clawson is/should be going anywhere? No. Would I rather have Liberty's coach than Clawson right now? Probably.

I mean I love Dave, but even so, I wouldn't say he's the best coach Wake could ever have. Especially, with the changes we're seeing. Dave might not be a great fit going forward who knows, he's earned the opportunity to turn it around, but to say he's the best we could ever have is a little much.