It may sound crazy, but consider a few things:
- Justin is about the same age as Dabo was when Dabo became interim HC
- Justin was a position coach as was Dabo
- Justin has a former HC and DC (Tracy Claeys) and NFL/CoDc Bill Teelink) on his staff to help him
What might the coaching staff look like in the short term:
Justin Hamilton - HC
Tracy Claeys - DC
Bill Teerlinck - DL Coach
Darryl Tapp - CO DL Coach
Jack Tyler - Line Backers
Person Prioleau - Safeties
I can't imagine as a new HC Hamilton would be paid what Fuente was paid (Similarly, see Dabo's salary history below). That would potentially free up more money to replace Cornelsen, Shibest, Vice (though he may stay), and Lechtenberg. Let's say Hamilton gets a significant increase to $1M/ year. That leaves an extra $3.25M for an OC, Special Teams, and Running Backs coach. That $3.25M could go a long way.
2020 $8,258,575
2019 $9,255,000
2018 $6,205,000
2017 $8,504,600
2016 $4,417,500
2015 $3,300,000
2014 $3,150,000
2013 $2,540,024
2012 $2,040,024
2011 $1,833,333
2010 $1,750,000
2009 $250,000
Comments
I appreciate the research and effort that went into this post. But no.
Dabo had been a position coach for 13 years when he took over at Clemson. Hamilton has three years of Power 5 experience.
11 years, he was out of football for 2 years. Your point still stands.
No
No
Yes. What was the question?
Definitely, no.
And to your point - I don't know that I can point to the advantages that Claeys has provided to Hamilton's development as a DC. His unit was out of whack most of the year, and the defense dropped from 45th nationally in 2019 to 103rd in 2020. Rankings here.
And for those that argue scheme fit - maybe rebuilding your entire defense, and wasting the bulk of your returning starters that could have aided a once-in-a-decade rushing attack, should have been put off for a little bit. Aside from a couple tall defensive ends, it's not like recruiting help is on the way to fix this system.
So again, respectfully, no. This kind of talk makes me worried that Justin Hamilton will become the James Johnson of this decade, and I really don't want that.
I see people saying this, but I'm not sure what it means. Does it mean you want Bud to not have retired? That's really the only way we don't end up with a ground up rebuild.
What about jham has shown you he can coach well? Our defense is horrible. May improve, but we should probably wait and see.
I have seen more improvement on defense though. Considering he didn't have the same amount of time to install his defense this year, the covid issues, and then short on players, he didn't really get a fair shot.
Still don't think he needs to be elevated to HC though.
Maybe. Who knows. I doubt Clemson fans were really happy at first when their position coach became HC.
Would it really make sense to pay a $10M buyout to give a pay raise to a DC that is already under contract....
I rather doubt it. No idea if Fu gets fired and if he does, if Hamilton gets retained. But I think if he is retained in some capacity, we should give him the chance to be our Justin Hamilton first
Probably gonna want to add a CB coach. Torrian?
Every young, charismatic coach who is a good recruiter and not an X's/O's expert is going to be called a 'dabo'.
Charisma can help you lead a team, but so much more is needed to be a successful head coach. I do like JHam, I do think he's a pretty sharp guy with a high ceiling, I think he was destined to fail this season as soon as summer workouts/spring practices were canceled, but I don't think he is anywhere near ready for a head coaching position at the FBS level.
I don't get the Dabo charisma thing. He comes off as a total goober to me.
Perhaps 'high energy' would be a better term than 'charisma'
Possibly, but we'll never know, cause there ain't no way he gets the head gig with his resume
No
If JHam is our Dabo, then is Corny our Tony Elliott??
Where's our Tahj Boyd / Deshaun Watson?? I'll take him now, pls... /s
In all seriousness, everyone saying "absolutely no" would have been one of the ones mocking Clemson when they hired Dabo and then struggled early.
JHam has been dealt a tough hand: it's a COVID year and His wife had their baby right before the season started. He had to install a brand new system, and follow a legend in Bud Foster. Not to mention, he went most all of the year without two NFL corners, Farley and Waller.
I think the jury is definitely still out on how good he can be, and am excited to see how well he can do in normal circumstances.
And he was sidelined with COVID early in the season, too. I am sure that affected his ability to prepare the team.
I'll be so glad when I don't have to read this anymore.
Dabo also recruited really well as a position coach. I'm not saying JHam can't recruit well but I just don't think we have enough data to say one way or the other. JHam is still too much of an unknown at this point. Could he be a Dabo? Maybe. He could also be really far from it. We just don't know. If JHam had been at VT for the entire Fuente tenure and had recruited really well while here and the defense progressively improved every year under his direction I'd be more interested in pursuing that as an option. Unfortunately, none of those things are true. I feel badly for him because I think he got dealt a really shitty hand and there was no way he was going to find success with the position he was in. I'd love to see him succeed somewhere but I don't think a place like VT is in a position to risk it with him.
If all those were true, we likely wouldn't be having conversations about who the next head coach would be
well, I can't argue with that
Dabo was a massive gamble when he was hired, and before they beat us in the 2011 ACC Title game, the jury was still out on him as a head coach, with Clemson leaning toward maybe moving on. They hit the lottery with that hire, and its a mistake to really think what they did is repeatable anywhere.
I also think Dabo grew into the position. The HC'ing he does now is likely light years better from what he did in 2009-2010. He also had support from his university to go hire the best coordinators he could find, ie - the budget given to him to do it. For Dabo - Clemson turned out to be the right combo for him and Clemson together. I don't think he'd repeat his success at another school.
All the same, all prop's to Dabo. He definitely made the most of the opportunities.