Fan departures and the hypocritical pumper backlash

So I perused a Clemson fansite and came across this 25-year-old guy whose only Clemson football experience is the dreaded Hatfield and West years. To wit: he never experienced what a championship Clemson team.

You know about message boards, right? Those whose posters coach Dabo Swinney referred to as “irrelevant” in his post-game press conference after the inexplicable loss to Florida State? The third swipe he’s taken at fans this season?

Dude went on to say that he’s quitting his Clemson patronage after this season because he’s sick of it.

Gotta say, I’m impressed with the forethought and wisdom in this young man, as he is seeing the writing on the wall at such an early age, a wall scrawling that people twice his age have yet to realize.

It is indeed disheartening, discouraging, and every other dis to be a Clemson football fan nowadays. No conference title in almost 20 years, no 10-win season, no BCS bowl invite, nothing. It’s become a waste of time, energy and money for many fans, and this 25-year-old has accepted this fact at such an early age.

Gives you a glimmer of hope that those of his age aren’t all a bunch of Jersey Shore-watching, Facebook-posting, Halo-3 nerdberries.

There were some who understood his pain but, as expected, there was a backlash from the Pumper commune.

“Don’t let the door hit you on the way out.”

“Calm down.”

“While you’re at it cancel your subscription.”

“Take all those fair-weather fans with you.”

Those are a few of the comments. The fact these come from the Pumpers is funny on many levels.

Funny strange, not funny ha-ha.

First, the pumpers are largely the group that bitch and moan about the “haters” dividing the fanbase with their negativity. Yet when a fed-up fan decides to quit on Clemson, which I understand completely, they launch into said fan, effectively dividing the fanbase themselves with their negativity.

But the haters largely direct their negativity toward Swinney, Terry Don Phillips, James Barker and the board of trustees. These morons, on the other hand, direct their negativity at other fans and, in sleight of hand fashion, at the players with their “we don't have the talent we think we do” crap. So, who is dividing the fanbase more?

Second, I’ve noticed after an inexplicable loss, which are many, when the realists launch into Swinney, TDP, etc then the pumpers come out and say something like “it’s just a game.” But when a fan such as the guy above realizes it is just that and gives it up, the same pumpers launch into him for not being a true fan like them. They basically bid a nasty farewell by saying “good riddance, we don’t need fans like you!”

But I thought this was just a game, right? If it’s just a game, then why are you getting all riled up over a fan who decides this so-called “game” is no longer worth his time and resources and decides to live life differently?

To the pumpers, it is just a game when Clemson loses. But when Clemson wins it is the start of something “special”. And when a justifiably disgruntled fan departs, these same people label him as a bad fan.

The pumper crowd rears its duplicitous head when fans decide to take direct action instead of pouring money into a failed program and burn a candle by their bedside hoping for the best as they do. It’s like the pumpers want the whole of Clemson’s fanbase to be just like them - a throng of rubes who are continually taken on a ride by the university’s marketing and public relations arms. To dutifully eat the same old shit sandwich the university feeds them and like it out of some warped moral obligation to “the kids”.

Clearly, Clemson’s fanbase is still divided into two distinct camps - the “true” fans, a.k.a. the pumpers, and the realists, a.k.a., the haters. Who knows the percentage of each but judging the message boards it appears slightly in favor of the realists but not by much.

But it’s rather like Congress. Sure one party has a majority, but there’s still enough of the minority party to be obstructionist and bring everything to a halt.

Until Clemson’s fanbase gets to about three-fourths of one side or the other, you’ll have this infighting but the infighting will continue regardless if the underachievement continues. Hopefully the future three-fourths will be those with a brain and clear vision and will see the deplorable state the football program is in and demand (not hope for) change.

But forget all this verbose bluster - I thought it was just a game?

Swinney insults fans for third time

From Swinney's press conference post-FSU...

"We still have a lot out there, trying to get bowl eligible this week."

Really? A bowl invite is "a lot" to Swinney? Who doesn't get invited to a bowl? Losers get bowl invites nowadays, so Clemson will be in good company.

"Last night, offensively, just missed opportunities. We moved the ball down the field but again some kicking miscues that cost us some points in the red zone. For whatever reason that's where our miscues are coming."

So, Swinney's throwing the kicking game under the bus for this loss? As if his offense had nothing to do with it? Yeah the kicking was horrific but clearly Swinney is passing the buck and blaming Chandler Catanzaro and Co. for this loss. Nowhere did he mention offensive woes (he did praise Kyle Parker for an "excellent" showing even though he had two picks against zero scores and only a 5.4 yard average). Speaking of miscues costing points, how about getting first and goal inside the 10 in the second and you can't punch it into the end zone? How is that a kicker's fault? Or first and 10 at the FSU 14 and your quarterback you can't stop raving about throws a pick on second down? Was that Catanzaro's fault too?

"...we have several dinged up"

See how he slipped the injury excuse in?

"We have a lot of good things happening in recruiting and a bunch of good kids we've redshirted."

Using recruiting as his human shield. Nice. Very vajayjay.

"I don't pay any attention to what some people on some message board may say. That's totally irrelevant to what reality is."

This is the third time Swinney's insulted the fans (first the quacking ducks snap, then the "crazy" five percenters, now this). Earth to Swinney, message board or not these are still real, fleshy fans who pay thousands a year in IPTAY memberships, season tickets and tailgating paraphernalia and have supported Clemson through thick and thin for decades, you know, the ones paying your unjustified salary...and you're failing them left and right. You best realize they're very relevant. They're tired of the mediocrity and they're tired of you dismissing them as 'irrelevant" or otherwise.

As I said in a previous blog entry, you've proven beyond the shadow of a doubt you're completely immature and can't handle the stresses that go with a head coaching job. You're like a four-year-old who didn't heed your parents' warnings and went out into the ocean as the tide is going out and now you're being carried out to sea while the lifeguard is getting his third nap of the day in. You're a lame-duck coach...well, you're just lame. Speaking of 'what reality is", your record since taking over as head coach is 14-13 when you remove all non-BCS foes except TCU. You suck and don't realize it because you're arrogant and stupid.

"There will be a time where we'll look back at this and we'll say 'Wow, we've made a lot of progress.'"

Just how delusional are you? Please, research Seroquel, then consume some.

We've definitely seen enough

See post below...

Don't blame me for being ahead of the curve.

Clemson head coach (and athletic director) candidates

I was considering not posting this right now, but on second thought I think we’ve seen enough. Don’t you?

I mean, I'm no longer willing to wait around two more years for coach Dabo Swinney's impending failure to prove itself when the writing is and has been on the wall since he was hired. The proof is there, anyone who doesn't see it is blind. Fans did that "two more years" crap with Tommy Bowden every time he had a strong recruiting class and it never paid off, and I'm not about to do it with a guy who is even less qualified than Bowden was.

But for Clemson to merely replace Swinney while keeping athletic director Terry Don Phillips around is like, well, getting an oil change while not getting your broken tie rods fixed. Merely changing the oil won’t do.

However if Clemson does fix its tie rods, it still has to change the oil. You can't solve the problem (TDP) and leave the symptoms as-is (Swinney) and think you're healed. When you're sick and you end up getting cured, the symptoms naturally go away. If you are "healed" and still experience symptoms, you're not really healed are you?

But Clemson does need an oil change regardless, so let’s start there. Some realistic replacements for Swinney might be:

Gary Patterson, head coach, TCU

Sure he turned Clemson down before, but if you were being interviewed by apathetic director Phillips wouldn’t you? Would you want to work for him? With a respectable AD running the ship, one that measures success only in championships, Patterson may be interested.

Regardless, Patterson’s track record at TCU speaks for itself. Multiple conference championships (across multiple conferences no less), BCS bowls, beating up on BCS foes including yours truly, what’s not to like? The only thing holding him back at TCU is the corrupt BCS system, which will never allow his Horned Frogs to play for the National Championship. For as good as TCU is, and they are indeed quite the program, Patterson would have a far better chance of playing for a NC at Clemson than at TCU. Proper university support being assumed, that is.

Although Patterson is not the most gettable, he is the most ideal on my board. The most gettable would be...

Gus Malzahn, offensive coordinator, Auburn

This guy will get snapped up by a BCS school sooner than later. This is one of those ‘mark it down’ moments. Arkansas offensive coordinator in ’06 when the Hogs last won the SEC West, then spent two years at Tulsa where he fielded the nation’s top offenses those years, and now at undefeated Auburn where he is coaching Heisman candidate quarterback Cam Newton. Swinney only says he’s never failed. Malzahn has actually never failed thus far in major college football.

Malzahn is probably the most gettable candidate on my board.

Rich Rodriguez, head coach, Michigan

Was Tommy Bowden’s first offensive coordinator at Clemson and then went on to his alma mater West Virginia in 2001. I don’t think I need to expound upon Rich-Rod’s successes at Clemson and West Virginia.

Admittedly he’s struggling in Ann Arbor. So much that he’s on a hot seat and may not make it to the end of the year. If so, he would be prime pickings for Clemson, and I don’t think anyone in Tigertown would hold Rich Rod accountable for his failures at Michigan. Clemson is more like West Virginia than Michigan so he would be a better fit here than in Ann Arbor.

But like for Patterson, would Rich Rod work for someone as incompetent and careless as Phillips?

Vic Koenning, defensive coordinator, Illinois

Was Tommy Bowden’s DC for four years through the 2008 season, when Koenning fielded strong defenses throughout his time at Clemson. Sure he has an elastic defensive philosophy, but stats don’t lie, as Clemson’s defenses were chronically in the nation’s top-20 in yardage allowed and scoring. Not to mention the fact he’s prepared and sent a shitload of players to the NFL (Gaines Adams, Phillip Merling, Michael Hamlin, Darell Scott, Chris Clemons, Anthony Waters, etc). There is a track record of measureable success with Koenning, unlike with Swinney.

Koenning also has head coaching experience via Wyoming. But although Koenning failed there, who wouldn’t? Clemson needs someone who is qualified, has measureable success and is competent. It doesn’t need someone who can raise the dead. (Well, maybe it does.)

Koenning is probably just as gettable as Malzahn, and it is my opinion that a responsible athletic director would have awarded the Clemson head coaching job to Koenning before to Swinney.

Bud Foster, defensive coordinator, Virginia Tech

This guy has historically fielded top defenses, period. He knows how to punch an opposing offense in the mouth to where they don’t get up. Why this guy hasn’t been snapped up by now is beyond me.

I’ll retract my statements about Koenning and Malzahn as being most gettable. Foster is by far the most gettable, as he publicly stated he would jump at the chance at the Clemson job if offered. He said that back in 2008 so I can only assume he’d still jump on it.

Kevin Steele, defensive coordinator, Clemson

Steele’s candidacy will be controversial, as he is in fact part of an overall failure of a coaching staff. His defenses have been erratic and unpredictable up until the past few games, for certain. But his candidacy will only be legitimate if his defenses continue to be a dominant ACC force, as at the time of this writing Clemson defense is first in the ACC in touchdown scoring and tied for eighth in the nation in the same category. And touchdown scoring is arguably the top KPI for defenses in my mind. Yeah it's frustrating to see a defense let an opposing offense drive down the field, but if they end up giving it away or you force them to settle for a field goal, you just made them waste a lot of time, and that can demoralize them.

Outside of Clemson, has coached at top schools, has coached in the NFL and was Baylor’s head coach at one time. But like with Koenning, it’s extremely rare and difficult to win at Baylor so I can’t hold his failures there against him.

But, again we’ll have to wait and see how his defenses fare the rest of the season. If it implodes against Florida State and South Carolina, then his candidacy will be immediately retracted.

Quick list of who I would not consider, at all, no way in hell:

• anyone on the current staff except for Kevin Steele
• Bobby Bentley
• Bobby Johnson
• Troy Calhoun
• Mark Richt
• Danny Ford (let’s give it a rest, okay?)
• Ellis Johnson
• Tommy Bowden
• Rob Spence

Why would you want any of these guys when Foster, Malzahn and Koenning would be all over this?

Now, on to the tie rods. Possible replacements for Terry Don Phillips and the era of laziness and complaceny.

Jeff Davis, Asst. AD for Player Relations and External Affairs, Clemson University

Forget football for a moment, where he won Clemson’s only national championship then played for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers for several years. This guy has made quite the life for him and his family after football. Started the Call Me Mister program at Clemson, which according to Clemson’s website “seeks to recruit, train, certify, and secure employment for African-American males as elementary teachers in the state's public schools. In 2001, he was awarded $100,000 for the program from Oprah Winfrey's ‘Angel Network.’”

Ordained minister on top of that, and you have a monster of ambassador for Clemson, which is what Phillips is nowhere close to being. Davis has proven he can connect with the people and can raise funds, two things Phillips fails at miserably. Clemson needs a positive force running the show, and Davis more than qualifies.

The only knock against Davis is a guilt-by-association thing. He’s part of a poor athletic department now, and that may be cause for concern. But I’m not certain fans would object to his promotion.

Dwight Clark

Played at Clemson and produced so well there that he was handpicked by Niner head coach Bill Walsh for the draft. He went on to San Francisco, earned accolades for the legendary “Catch” where he helped lead the Niners to an NFC championship. They went on to win the city’s first Super Bowl, which was the launching salvo in the 49ers becoming one of the elite NFL franchises.

After his playing career he was a team executive for the Niners and the Cleveland Browns. So he clearly knows how to run a football program from a front office standpoint, unlike Phillips.

He lives in California, reportedly, and has established a life there, so I wonder if he would be interested in the job to begin with. Nonetheless, he would be a great hire and quite frankly, Clark is choice No. 1 on my board.

Mark Richardson

Former Clemson player who went on to help create the Carolina Panthers NFL franchise, where he served as President. Like Clark, he has playing and front office experience which only lends more credibility to a hire.

Danny Ford

I was on the fence about this. On one hand I think Clemson should let the memory of Danny Ford be just that - a memory. Like Davis he is a great ambassador for Clemson and would do well, but due to his age Ford is no long-term solution. I would take Ford in a New York minute for interim athletic director while they search for a permanent replacement.

But then again a couple years ago Nebraska hired the then-71-year-old Tom Osborne to be interim AD in Lincoln, only to make him the permanent director later. In his interim Osborne kicked the failed (and arrogant) Bill Callahan to the curb and hired Bo Pelini, who was a very successful defensive coordinator prior to taking the Nebraska job. If all Ford did was clean house in Jervey and kick Swinney and his bunch of failures to the curb, replacing him with a candidate with actual proven qualifications, that would galvanize Clemson fans and give them some level of true hope, unlike in many, many years.

Quick list of who I would not consider, at all, no way in hell:

• anyone currently in the Department except for Davis (hell, they all need to be fired)
• Tommy Bowden
• Ken Hatfield
• Bobby Johnson
• Dabo Swinney
• Rob Spence
• Brad Scott
• Bobby Bentley (I know some of you have a hard-on for him)
• anyone in an ACC school’s front office
• anyone in a Big East school’s front office
• anyone from any South Carolinian school

Worth mentioning: if a new head coach was hired and they asked me about position coaches who I think would be good defensive coordinators, I’d recommend Mike Ekeler, Nebraska’s linebackers coach. Long-time pupil of Bo Pelini, a fiery recruiter and was instrumental in the resurgence of Nebraska’s Black Shirt defense.

Clemson officials resent football? Not impossible.

A noted Clemson fan on a Tiger message board out there on the interweb had his opinion of the state of the football program posted (with his permission of course). Basically he argued that the university administration is willfully killing the football program so it won’t prostrate the academic side of the school as it is perceived to have done during football’s glory years of the 1980s.

It wasn’t a surprise to see a few dismiss this argument as being ridiculous.

Perhaps, because if Clemson University did indeed kill the football program, then the enormous revenue football brings the university would dry up. Given university officials are more corporate whores than true academians, I can see this also.

In reality, I think it’s both. Officials would love for football to go away but they’re not about to sacrifice the revenue that comes with it.

Because they suffer through something they resent in exchange for money, they epitomize the classic definition of whore.

As intelligent Clemson fans know, this all started in 1985 when Max Lennon was named University President after serving as an administrator at Ohio State. I’m not getting into details but I will say than when Lennon declared athletics would be subordinate to athletics, you have to remember the context of the time.

Clemson was a rising football power when Lennon took over. So much so that it is my belief that had Danny Ford been given two more years the Tigers would have been playing for a second national title. So when a university president says something like this during an era like that, the only way for that to happen with any expediency is to systematically dismantle football.

You can’t bring academics up quickly at all but what you can do quickly is bring football down.

It’s funny really. For all the academic bluster by Lennon and his cronies I don’t remember Clemson’s academics improving significantly under his watch. If true, all he did was destroy football and did nothing academically. The only thing I remember him doing was spend spend spend and build buildings. And it didn’t stop at Clemson; when he went to Mars Hill College the professors there hated him because of his fascist, corporate ways.

Nonetheless, the intentional destruction of football, no academic improvement and a deluge of cosmetic improvements to the university campus marked Lennon’s Clemson.

Is the same philosophy still present at Clemson?

I’m not certain that Clemson’s current leadership is as fascist as Lennon (maybe it is, I don’t know), but I do think it’s very probable that current officials are still intentionally reigning football in as a pre-emptive measure to keep it from being "too big".

I do know that it is highly prevalent among academians to resent sports in general. While I respect and agree with most of his philosophies, I do think prominent linguist and anarcho-syndicalist Noam Chomsky’s view of sports is a bit over the top. A couple of quotes:

“Sports plays a societal role in engendering jingoist and chauvinist attitudes. They're designed to organize a community to be committed to their gladiators.”

“...it occupies the population, and keeps them from trying to get involved with things that really matter.”

When considering Clemson’s pitifully average to below-average state over the past two decades and the more global view of sports’ perception among academic purists, yes I do think it’s very possible that Clemson still has forces within it whose goal is to keep football down. Very.

But again, these same forces are not about to do what they really want because of one reason only - money. Clemson prefers to dupe its gullible fanbase into believing it is football friendly and there is absolutely no hostility towards it at all in hopes of keeping revenues maxed out.

For all who may disagree with him, at least Dr. Chomsky isn’t a hypocrite when it comes to sports. Clemson officials are.

* * *

What Clemson officials don’t realize, or more likely don’t want to face, is that schools can have strong academics and strong football programs as well. Here is a list of schools that are actually capable of doing both.

• Georgia Tech (2009 ACC champion)
• Texas (2005 & 2009 Big XII champions)
• Ohio State (BigTen champion each year since 2005)
• Harvard (four Ivy League titles since 2001)
• Penn (four Ivy League titles since 2000)
• USC (six straight Pac-10 titles from 2003-2008)
• Oregon (2009 Pac-10 champion and current leader in 2010)
• Florida (three SEC titles from 2000-2008, 2006 & 2008 BCS champion)

What do all these schools have in common? They’re all members of the esteemed 63-member Association of American Universities, America’s version of the UK’s Russell Group (Oxford, Cambridge, etc). Magazine rankings are a beauty pageant, but to be an AAU member is where the real prestige is. All Clemson has is a magazine ranking, something you can manipulate your way up. You can’t manipulate your way into AAU membership. That requires real work.

This is clear, undeniable proof that schools can have top-notch academics and a championship football program simultaneously. But will Clemson fact this indisputable fact? Not a chance.

Considering its long-time goal to make athletics subordinate to academics, in the end Clemson has neither.

Swinney proves he’s immature

First it was the “quacking like ducks” insult, where he basically told fans to shut up about their complaints of a noon kickoff. Okay, fine. We’ll let that slide.

Then came the recent comments where Clemson coach Dabo Swinney said that there’s about five percent of Clemson’s fans who are just crazy because they expect more than they’re willing to give (huh?) and expect this team to show up each week and win every game.

The nerve!

If he thinks that’s crazy, wait’ll he stumbles across one of those nutjobs who demand a full-blown ACC championship.

I could be overlooking one, but by my count that’s twice since the season started that Swinney has lashed out at fans.

So let’s get this straight:

1. His offenses are predictable...at the line of scrimmage by opposing defenses,

2. His defenses have largely been inconsistent since the beginning of the year,

3. He’s hellbent on starting an injured quarterback who’s head is more in Major League Baseball and won’t be here next year instead of a highly-talented guy who has gotten zero meaningful snaps this year and can change the complexity of a game by his mere presence,

4. He neglected to give the rock enough to his top producer (coincidentally the ACC’s top running back) the first part of the year while giving it to a back that dances the night away or throws it to receivers who can’t catch...

But it’s the fans who are crazy?

Well, maybe they are crazy. But unlike Clemson’s head coach, they aren’t stupid.

Regardless, the question in my head about this whole thing is this: who exactly does Swinney think he is, that he has somehow earned the right to scold the fanbase? What heights has Clemson ascended under him to justify his arrogance and condescension?

Atlantic Division title last year? Is that the mountainous ‘height’ you’re referring to? The title he not so much won but rather he fell ass-backward into because of a shitty division and he wouldn’t have been able to do that had it not been for C.J. Spiller? You talking about those lofty heights?

If he was a winning coach, I can understand the ego. But he's a loser.

Here’s a fact - Swinney hasn’t done squat to justify mouthing off to a very justified fanbase who is about as equally pissed with him as they are with Terry Don Phillips and James Barker. Yeah, Phillips and Barker are the core culprits but Swinney is screwing up in his own right. Alienating a rabid fanbase who pays your salary is always asking to get canned.

But maybe he won’t get sacked. It is my belief that Swinney’s job is safe and secure as long as TDP is there, and Swinney knows this. He knows that the fans can’t fire him; only TDP can do that. So perhaps that’s why Swinney feels comfortable lashing out at fans; there are simply no consequences.

Just as a pre-emptive measure, no apology from Swinney, should it be forthcoming, should be accepted. Keep in mind this isn’t he first time he’s been snarky at fans. He'll do it again.

No, he gets no forgiveness. Not for his attitude, and not for his failing the football team, the university and most importantly, the fans who pay hard-earned money in this deplorable economy to pay his unjustified salary. Inexcusable behavior should never be forgiven.