SI story on Clawson hire

[DeaconPeach]

I actually like what I read about Clawson in the SI article. His ability to build programs, the fact that he has coached at a school with good academics, and his flexibility to adapt his schemes to the talent he has (no trying to fit square pegs in a round hole).

That being said, I am still firmly #WellmanOut.

 

[KidA23]

I really like Clawson's overall W/L trajectory at Fordham, Richmond, and BGSU.

This has probably been discussed ad nauseum in one or more of the eight threads on this topic, but what is the story with the 2010 BGSU team? I'm assuming that his first year at BGSU (2009) was good because he had a bunch of holdover upperclassmen from the last regime, but that recruiting for 2010 was already finished by the time he started and thus was left in the lurch for that season.

 

[whodatdeac]

I think this is a good hire, especially in a year when there weren't a whole lot of recognizable names available. Clawson has been a winner around the country at various stops and has a well-documented reputation as a program builder. Year 1 will be tough, but I think he has shown he can do what's necessary to progressively improve.

I will say that coaching BG to a MAC championship this year is impressive, NIU had a good team.

 

[IamThunderbolt]

After reading the various Wake boards, I think the adjective that would best describe our excitement is muted. Objectively, this is a very good hire for Wake. He's won at his various stops and had to rebuild at those stops. His record is easily superior to Grobe's at his 1 .500 stop at Ohio, and I'll not even mention Groh and Caldwell. Well, just did mention. Add to that moribund UVA fans are despairing that they still have London, and we have 1 of the coaches they wanted to replace London. Yet we're a collective meh. We'd prolly be a collective meh had we just hired Les Miles.

Buzzdick, Wellman and the last 5 years of poor football have taken its toll on us. As much as I still hate Wellman for Buzzdick and the insulting and dishonest manner he's treated Wake fans the last few years, he did get this hire right. And I'm trying to get more excited about Clawson. But it's taking some work and rationalizing. And that's not Clawson's fault, and I feel a bit bad for him that he's inheriting such a dispirited fan base. So here's to hoping he hits the recruiting trail hard and starts making believers out of us.

I'm not sure that is the case. I'm already planning to get tickets to the home opener and I know several others that are planning on getting season tix after taking a couple of years off. I think there will be some genuine excitement this Spring and especially this fall.

This next season, I just want to see fire and ingenuity on offense, realizing it's going to be a rough year. If we look like we are trying to win and are more competitive than we would have been without the regime change, I'll be satisfied year 1. Year 2 & 3 need to show a significant upswing.

 

[Wild bill]

Lembo was my first choice and was Wake's first choice but Lembo could see that the Emperor had no clothes. Lembo will get what he wants from some other D1 school. Having said that, I support our new coach until he gives me a reason or reasons not to. Welcome DC!!!

I think Lembo will be ok. He should probably stay another year in Muncie as there will be better opportunities than UConn next year, but if he goes to UConn, he'll get a great raise, the promise of any desired facilities, some special consideration on admissions AND he'll be in a conference that will be weaker than the MAC, so he should rack up some wins. Any coaching hire, regardless of prior record, is a crap shoot. We may not know for three years whether this was a good hire or not. The same would be true if we hired any of the other names mentioned.

 

[Deacfreak07]

I really like Clawson's overall W/L trajectory at Fordham, Richmond, and BGSU.

This has probably been discussed ad nauseum in one or more of the eight threads on this topic, but what is the story with the 2010 BGSU team? I'm assuming that his first year at BGSU (2009) was good because he had a bunch of holdover upperclassmen from the last regime, but that recruiting for 2010 was already finished by the time he started and thus was left in the lurch for that season.

I think they lost some scholarships due to some issues with the previous regime.

 

[ChaosDeac]

Tennessee and Wake Forest are not that similar but I got to experience Tennessee's change from Dooley to Butch Jones. He was destined for a bad year based on the roster he inherited but he hit the ground running, developed a plan to rebuild the program (with a cool "brick by brick" slogan the fans loved), and engaged the fans.

Clawson needs to do the same thing...
Embrace Wake Forest and the community, ensure the continued commitment of the desired recruits plus maybe pick up a few more good ones, develop his gameplan for the program while identifying that recent results are not acceptable, engage the fans through public appearances, digital media, and other means, etc.

 

[cville deac]

I mean first, that's pretty reductionist. It seems like CVille is trying to take the temperature of the fan base generally and explain why we collectively aren't as excited about Clawson as we might otherwise be. That's not LOWF, that's just context.

If a wife comes home every night and the nanny her husband hired to watch the kids beats the snot out of her for 5 years straight, I don't think it's "dwelling on the past failures" for her to be a just a tad reticent about embracing the new nanny her husband hired to replace the old one. Yea, we want to be optimistic, but context matters.

Context is apparently a difficult concept for pourman. That's exactly what I was doing. LOWF in this situation would have been being fine with a lesser hire and rationalizing it by asking rhetorically that's the best we can do because of our size and academics. I think this is a really good hire, and, outside of the sunshine brigade, we don't seem to be as excited as we should be because of how downtrodden we've been the last few years.

 

[Turd Ferguson]

Tennessee and Wake Forest are not that similar but I got to experience Tennessee's change from Dooley to Butch Jones. He was destined for a bad year based on the roster he inherited but he hit the ground running, developed a plan to rebuild the program (with a cool "brick by brick" slogan the fans loved), and engaged the fans.

Clawson needs to do the same thing...
Embrace Wake Forest and the community, ensure the continued commitment of the desired recruits plus maybe pick up a few more good ones, develop his gameplan for the program while identifying that recent results are not acceptable, engage the fans through public appearances, digital media, and other means, etc.

I would say not running the option or the draw on 3rd and 10 should buy him at least two seasons.

 

[cville deac]

I think Lembo will be ok. He should probably stay another year in Muncie as there will be better opportunities than UConn next year, but if he goes to UConn, he'll get a great raise, the promise of any desired facilities, some special consideration on admissions AND he'll be in a conference that will be weaker than the MAC, so he should rack up some wins. Any coaching hire, regardless of prior record, is a crap shoot. We may not know for three years whether this was a good hire or not. The same would be true if we hired any of the other names mentioned.

Screw SueConn. I don't even know WTF conference they're going to be in next year. That's football death. He should wait till next year and accept UVA's offer. UVA is a good opportunity. VT will be an even better opportunity for someone in 2-4 years.

 

[Turd Ferguson]

Context is apparently a difficult concept for pourman. That's exactly what I was doing. LOWF in this situation would have been being fine with a lesser hire and rationalizing it by asking rhetorically that's the best we can do because of our size and academics. I think this is a really good hire, and, outside of the sunshine brigade, we don't seem to be as excited as we should be because of how downtrodden we've been the last few years.

Agree, I was pissed that Wellman wasn't more aggressive going after Lembo. Felt like another case of him being obstinate or thinking he was smarter than the rest of the world about Lembo. But I've let that go, and Clawson is an exciting hire, much better than previous hires. Hopefully he'll be having success here for a long time after Wellman is gone.

 

[pourdeac]

I mean first, that's pretty reductionist. It seems like CVille is trying to take the temperature of the fan base generally and explain why we collectively aren't as excited about Clawson as we might otherwise be. That's not LOWF, that's just context.

So......trying to distill the thoughts/temperature of the Wake fan base into a single point of view ISN"T reductionist? Isn't that the definition? Commenting on that single reductionist view point as LOWF is what it is, but it's not reductionist. In context, that's a comment on someone else's reductionist view point.

The fan base is acting as if a very good hire is "meh"....based on the failure of one prior coaching hire to date, pangs of "we're still stuck with Wellman", the longer than most tolerance for Grobe's issues, and the somewhat comical notion by some that he failed to get the uber #1 candidate Lembo. What I sense is a fanbase that can't figure out how Wellman succeeded. He wasn't supposed to and it's hard to accept (which IMO is also LOWF).

 

[88Deac]

I posted most of this on the other thread, but it something that people need to consider.

Ability to rebuild is why I like him and am starting to like him more than Lembo.

The thing people need to realize about Lembo is that his best years at Elon he had the SoCon's all time leading receiver (not sure if the record still stands) who now plays for the Ravens and Hudgins (another top historical SoCon WR), who signed with the Cowboys. Scott Riddle, the QB for Lembo, is Elon's all time passing leader. I am sure his coaching helped, but having that kind of talent at Elon is a rare thing and none of these guys were players he recruited and he left at the end of their careers.

This year a BSU according to this depth chart http://ballstatesports.com/downloads2/695002.pdf Lembo's team this year started 10 seniors or juniors on offense and all 11 starters on defense fit that bill- none of which were recruiting by Lembo who was only in his third year. The only other starter was a sophomore, so all 22 were players he didn't recruit. Obviously the guy can coach and I think will do well, but he has never stayed anywhere long enough to make me believe he can built a program up- just that he can win with other coaches players. This would be fine and dandy if we currently had players and weren't in rebuilding mode. I just don't see the track record to make me feel confident he would have been the guy to right the ship.

This leads me to Clawson. Clawson is 90-80 all time as a head coach. The difference here is that Clawson has taken over teams that were turrible and righted the ship. His first year at Richmond they went 3-8. His last year they went 11-3 with players he recruited. At BG he started out stronger, but they had major academic issues under the previous coach, had to dismiss players etc. and the program tanked. He proved again that he can recruit what he needs and implement systems to fit personnel and 4 years later has led BG to a MAC Championship. It is this proven record of team building that makes me like him.

That said, the biggest red flag was his year as the OC at Tennessee in 2008, replacing Cutcliffe. That year the Vols had their worst offensive year in 30 years. There are, however, reasons that his concern can be tempered (i.e. the program was already in flames etc.)

He also won at UR with his players. Losing in the semis to App St his last year, and then his players won the FCS title the next year after he left. He can recruit and coach, and has done so everywhere except UT. I don't know any of the facts there, but most seem to say he really didn't get to implement his system under Fullmer.

 

[siff]

The guy is only 46

 

[OldGoldBeard]

lol at someone who's still making excuses for Bzdoofus calling anyone else LOWF. Losers like pourdeac who wring their hands and sob about how WFU can't possibly expect their coach to win more than 34 games in three years are the definition of LOWF.

As for his latest strawman, the only person I saw who said from the get-go that we should expect Wellman to fail were the other Bzzpologists--Scwhabber, Dillon, mebane--talking about how the fanbase had "poisoned the well," and there was no way we should expect a good candidate to come here.

 

[bernbp5]

So......trying to distill the thoughts/temperature of the Wake fan base into a single point of view ISN"T reductionist? Isn't that the definition? Commenting on that single reductionist view point as LOWF is what it is, but it's not reductionist. In context, that's a comment on someone else's reductionist view point.

The fan base is acting as if a very good hire is "meh"....based on the failure of one prior coaching hire to date, pangs of "we're still stuck with Wellman", the longer than most tolerance for Grobe's issues, and the somewhat comical notion by some that he failed to get the uber #1 candidate Lembo. What I sense is a fanbase that can't figure out how Wellman succeeded. He wasn't supposed to and it's hard to accept (which IMO is also LOWF).

The meh isn't based on the end results but the process. From everything we heard Wellman screwed up the process, but ended up with a good candidate.

 

[Brangus]

(1) I loathe Wellman
(2) I would have preferred Lembo

But, come on, Clawson just won his conference's title against the #14 team in the country and showed a TON of energy and enthusiasm on the sideline. He also did not hesitate to raise hell with officials over calls.

We could have done far worse than Clawson. I think Clawson will renew some enthusiasm for the program. I am now, for the first time in years, looking forward to spring practice!

This....again. THIS.