Wednesday February 14, 2007

The Responses; Wake Forest; The ACC

The Responses
As I wrote in yesterday's blog, I thought Terry Don Phillips would come out with a letter. I was not sure Jim Barker would and I was not sure if Bowden would be allowed to comment. But since they have here are my initial thoughts:

*The three are very different. Like all of his e-mails, Barker's was addressed to Clemson. It was written to all of those who have an interest. In my opinion, his was the most difficult to pen because he has to protect so many aspects of Clemson. If he went too far towards athletics then some on campus would have been upset and vice versa. He has to keep some people at bay and others encouraged. I thought it accomplished that.

*Barker's letter said a review will take place and that is fair. The only problem I had was the idea of admissions was still used. Again, this is not about admissions. Instead it is about the right to send an LOI to a prospect. An LOI is not an acceptance letter. In fact, AN LOI IS ACTUALLY LIKE THE STUDENT-ATHLETE'S APPLICATION. Not all those that apply will get acceptance letters but they should not turned down before they apply. Let them sign the LOI and then if they are cleared by the clearinghouse they should be allowed to get into Clemson. That is a level playing field.

*Also the One Clemson thing has not been in place.

*Phillips' letter was to a different audience. He was speaking to those who had an athletic interest. His comments were much more specific. The most telling aspect if his letter to me was the omission of one AARC committee member. He praised the president, the provost and the NCAA faculty rep but left one prominent member off of his praise list. He did say that athletics was looking forward to participating in the review.

*Bowden's release was totally different. It was not a "company line" letter. It was released statements that were more specific. He said he was thankful the president was going to review the process and he was looking forward to participating. He said we have an academic record to be proud of. He said he has confidence the university understands the importance of a level playing field. Perhaps the most telling comment here was when he mentioned a level playing field in the future. He defended his record and made no mention of how level the playing field has been.

*It is clear that coaches in many sports at Clemson have a lot at stake with this. It is a shame that it took football to bring this kind of attention. The other coaches deserved better.

I think this is the first step and I am eagerly awaiting the outcome. I have no idea what will come out of it but I wish I was more encouraged. I do know that your words and actions have made the difference. If not for your voice this would have never been in the public eye. Your persistence got their attention.

I am looking forward to moving on to Clemson basketball and Clemson baseball. Spring practice is also right around the corner. In the future this blog will release information when I think it is necessary but the AARC will not be the single focus.

Huge ACC Road Game
Clemson comes into tonight's game as a 5.5 point favorite and I am a little surprised by that number. The Tigers are a much better team than Wake Forest. I know the Tigers have not faired well in Winston-Salem but tonight they will not face Randolph Childress, Delaney Rudd, Hot Rod Griffin, Skip Brown or Tim Duncan. This is a bad Wake Forest team. The Tigers took a big step back in the right direction with last week's win over FSU but a loss to Wake Forest would be a huge step backwards.

Clemson comes into the contest very well rested after paying only twice in 16 days. This game should be manageable for a Clemson team because of depth and talent. All bets are off if they suffer a shooting performance like they used to in Lawrence Joel Coliseum but if the Tigers rebound well they should emerge victorious.

A win would put the Tigers at 6-5 in the league and in fifth place. Clemson, Duke, Florida State and Georgia Tech are all fighting for that fifth spot at this time and the team that could emerge could challenge to get in the top four in the ACC. Remember a top-four finishes gets you a first-round bye in the ACC tournament.

The ACC
I caught myself watching the UNC-VT basketball game last night wondering who to pull for. The Tigers might have benefited the most if the Hokies had dropped to 7-4. If Clemson wins tonight they would have been within one game of Virginia Tech in the ACC standings. It is fun to speculate about ACC seeds but actually it is too early to begin that process because the league is so unpredictable (look at the crazy outcomes especially here recently). At this point how can you go down a schedule and predict winners? As fun as that might be the best part of it all is that Clemson is actually a factor in basketball.

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