Thursday January 28, 2010
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Thursday January 28, 2010
State of the Union Before I get into it, let me say that I am not the leader but only a fan and encourage you to add your own state of the union for Tiger Nation. My opinion is only that and is not worth any more than yours. Therefore yours is very welcomed in this format. Also, please don’t feel the need to stand up and applaud 300 times. There is no need to feel obligated. We are not trying to convince any anyone so no need for the phony standing ovations. Dear Tiger Nation, The reason we were great in the past is because of leadership. When Joe Sherman talks about “There’s Something in These Hills” the something he is talking about is the Clemson people. He is talking about Tiger Nation. He wrote it in 1969 after years of watching great Clemson leaders like Dr. R.C. Edwards lead great Clemson people. Leaders lead in good times and in bad. They inspire. And trust me we will be great again because we will continue to find new leaders who can and will inspire us. We have already started some of that and have some outstanding leaders on campus today but more are needed and more are coming. As Tiger Nation let’s look at where we are. Perhaps my biggest disappointment is that we are still divided in so many ways. I read where President Obama talked about division last night and I think the same holds true in Tiger Nation. It breaks my heart that we disagree on so much but I truly believe that there has been some unbelievable efforts to unify Tiger Nation, especially by Dabo Swinney. He has inspired us to unite and follow him. I think we are more together today than we have been in years but more work is needed and it is needed across the board. We need more leaders who inspire us to unite and follow. We all know the issues that the poor economy has brought upon our Tiger Nation and our rivals but I think we have done a terrific job there. I don’t know exactly where IPTAY stands at this point but it looks like they are doing a lot to survive the crisis. Attendance at sporting events is down but I think it has been less of an issue here than it has been at other places. Facilities are on hold at this point, with the exception of baseball. I understand budget concerns and don’t have a problem with that decision. In football we won nine games, the ACC’s Atlantic Division and a bowl game. C.J Spiller finished high in the Heisman voting and he broke a ton of records with a remarkable senior campaign. No season that includes a loss to South Carolina can be considered great but it was a success. Football recruiting seems to be going very well this year and the foundation for a top 10-type of class for 2011 has been laid. I would say Dabo and his staff have stabilized themselves and should reap the benefits fairly soon. The men’s basketball program is in a current slump but that was brought on by an injury. I still feel good about this basketball staff and this program. I am amazed at the transformation Oliver Purnell has been able to pull off with this program. There are future plans for improvements in the basketball facilities that should help the program. The baseball program is a pre-season top 20 selection. The team returns a lot of position players but pitching is a concern. Speaking of pitching, I hear very good things about the new pitching coach Dan Pepicelli. There is good news and bad news for the fans coming to the stadium this season. The good news is the two new additions to the outfield with the new seats that look terrific. The bad news is some of the seats on the one closest to the scoreboard have an obstructed view of some of the outfield because of the scoreboard. I am not sure how the engineers let this happen but would think the scoreboard will have to be moved at the end of this season. There is good news in some of the Olympic sports programs and bad news in some. The good news includes another very good year from the folks in Vickery Hall. Student-athletes continue to do well in the classroom. There was an ACC title in rowing this past year and the staff feels good about the future in that sport. The women’s indoor track team is ranked 10th in the pre-season poll and that program appears to be back. Golf, volleyball and women’s tennis programs continue to be very solid and have competed at a high level this past season. All three coaches have won ACC titles in the past and are on solid ground. The men’s tennis program enjoyed a terrific recruiting class and the staff thinks they are closer to returning to power soon. Men’s cross country, men’s indoor and outdoor track are still trying to rebuild and need more time to properly evaluate. They will miss Spiller and Jacoby Ford this year. The bad news comes in the form of men’s soccer, women’s soccer and women’s basketball. All three programs have really struggled. There is hope the new men’s soccer coach can turn things around but women’s soccer appears to headed down the same path as so many players are leaving the program. The women’s basketball team continues to struggle. Men’s and women’s swimming and diving cannot be judged because it would not be fair. Clemson does not have a full-sized pool and it is not appropriate to hold the staff accountable if they are not on a level playing field. I think we need to either build the facility with the proper size pool or drop the sport. I have preached championships lately and I think football, golf, women’s tennis and volleyball are getting closer to returning to that level. Rowing just won their first of hopefully many ACC titles. Men’s basketball always has an uphill climb as does both swimming programs. I think baseball is more difficult now too because the league is better and out of state tuition really hurts with only 11.7 scholarships. Women’s track has made great strides towards winning an ACC title again. At this point though I just don’t see either soccer program or women’s basketball winning a title anytime soon. There are two good pieces of news to finish this address. The board of trustees has developed an athletic department oversight committee. This was not met with enthusiasm among all involved across campus but I applaud the board for taking the initiative. Obviously, Clemson athletics has some issues and I hope this committee will make tough decisions to help the department reach its full potential. The other piece of good news I can finish with is hope for the future. As I mentioned earlier, Clemson has been great in the past and WE WILL BE GREAT AGAIN! The Clemson people will demand it from its leaders and new leadership will be on the way at some point. When we put these dynamic leaders in place greatness will follow. As I mentioned earlier, I look forward to your state of the union address as well. Go Tigers! The Brad Hughes All-State Insurance Agency
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Posted by balllin on January 28, 2010 at 11:22 AM EST #
Mickey, have the members of this oversight committee been named yet? I'm curious to see who is on it, because just the creation of the committee does not excite me. In fact it bothers me that we need to create a committee to make sure the committee we already have is doing its job properly. I understand that some in the athletic department have their own agendas, but creating a new committee will just empower others with a different agenda.
Posted by WakeBdr on January 28, 2010 at 12:36 PM EST #
I am amazed at Oliver's transformation as well. Normally when you recruit this much talent you can at least back your way into a NCAA tourney win. Cliff Ellis and Bill Foster always seemed to but they were not program builders like OP... so it must be part of the plan.
Posted by CM Shack on January 28, 2010 at 12:53 PM EST #
Mickey, Since we are so limited with scholarships in baseball, and out of state tuition is so high, why is there not more emphasis placed on recruting our own state? South Carolina really seems to be cleaning up on in-state baseball prospects.
Posted by grrrtiger on January 28, 2010 at 01:49 PM EST #
CM Shack, you seem to be forgetting that those other basketball coaches (especially Ellis) were good for one NCAA Tournament appearance every four years. He would build around one or maybe two good players, and also rely on some junior college players. The other years we were in the NIT. No thanks on going back to that.
Posted by Judge Keller on January 28, 2010 at 04:17 PM EST #
If I were writing the speech for TDP, then I would say that our athletic achievement has not lived up to the expecations of Tiger Nation over the past 20 years, but that all of our programs are well on their way to getting to a level where they can compete for championships every year. We could very well end up being one of a select few who has its football team, men's basketball tema, and baseball team all ranked in the final polls, and that would have to be considered a realtively successfull year for our sports program.
Posted by Locotiger on January 28, 2010 at 04:40 PM EST #
Judge...I'm not forgetting ANYTHING! I know well of Ellis and Foster's many shortcomings. That is why I don't understand how they could fall a$$backwards into a Tourney win(or 2) and yet the "Program Builder" has yet to win a game in THE Tourney EVER! I am 40 so I really only remember the Tater,BF,Cliff, Rick, Loser Larry and OP. This is the longest gap I have seen between NCAA Ws and I am to believe that OP is the best coach in my lifetime? Buddy-have another drink. Spare me the Shyatt left us in the lurch line. I have never seen an ACC team as devoid of talent as the Slab Five and it did not take Tricky Rick half as long as OP has been here to get 3 invites and 2 WINS. I also love how any critic of OP is seen as a yearning for the past. Does that mean as long as he does'nt suck as bad as Larry we should just shut up and be thankful?
Posted by CM Shack on January 28, 2010 at 05:21 PM EST #
It's a good thing you stuck to talking about athletics or all this talk of unity would have gone out the window. You can't talk about unity out of one side of your mouth and then demonize your leadership out of the other. You have stirred more pots than Chef Boyardee Mick. This really does remind me of our national politics.
Oh and CM Shack, I think I will have another big orange.
Posted by kiggity on January 29, 2010 at 08:19 AM EST #
As Lucas Glover put it, " I'd watch checkers on TV if Clemson had a team". I too want CU to excel in all sports/endeavors, including Women's Soccer and Basketball. It really irks me that these two have fallen to rock bottom and no one seems to be held accountable (or even cares). What makes it worse is Usc's W. basketball and soccer teams are getting ever stronger. It's sickening.
Posted by clemson737 on January 29, 2010 at 09:54 AM EST #