Ok before you crucify me, I would not want Dabo as a coach, but after watching the Clemson came last night and watching the on field post-game interview below, it got me thinking about a few things...
I live on the outskirts of Greenville SC about 30 minutes from Clemson and so I get this junk shoved down my throat all the time and I have to say these people have the biggest man crush on Swinney. The USC fans however typically refer to him as "the cheerleader" which we all know to be a pretty truthful moniker. However I am of the opinion that that is exactly why he has been so successful at Clemson and that it is this quality that VT is missing at present.
Hear me out.
1. Clemson fans, students, alumni, and donors love Dabo. He is the kind of coach that annoys most everyone that is not a Clemson fan, but they love him. If he can't do anything else he knows how to get people excited, get butts in seats, and keep the cash flowing in. I'm not saying that this is more important than coaching but it's really flipping important. The crazy part was that he was getting people excited when he first arrived, even before he started to see success.
2. The guy knows how to motivate and entice players. One of the reasons why college football is great is because of the unpredictability and inconsistencies of 18-22 year old kids. In the NFL, while there is more parody, you expect a player to not get rattled and to play consistent football. At the college level however you can see the #25 team in the nation spank the #3 team in the nation, and while it's exciting it's not exactly an unheard of event.
Dabo knows how to motivate kids and get them excited. He knows knows what to say to keep their emotions in check and how to keep them consistently playing to their potential. It may be annoying to the rest of us but those kids love him and he makes them want to play their heart out for him. While I wont belabor the point with an obvious explanation this also has a profound impact on recruiting.
Now why does this matter for us? Well it matters because these are things that we seem to be doing very very poorly right now. While poor performance is always going to damper excitement I see no efforts to keep the fanbase engrossed. Most of us here will obviously stick with the program through thick and thin but our demographic doesn't represent the majority of any CFB fanbase. Unfortunately most people need intentional motivating. They need to be made excited, and the past few years I have seem very little effort from the coaching staff to make that happen.
Also while I'm not just blaming the HBC, our players just seem so apathetic right now. It has been mentioned several times but Frank just seems tired. Of course he has made some suspect comments (ie. exhibition games) but even then he seems to have slowed a good bit. I don't fault him for this as it is a natural outcome of old age but he has to recognize it and its effects. Right now Frank just doesn't look like he's motivating anyone whether it be players, recruits, fans, alumni, students, donors, or anyone else.
Clemson it seems has put together an interesting formula that is working for them. They are a team with a coach who has average coaching ability at best, but a great motivator. They have then surrounded him with a top notch staff who has the ability to develop players and call a great football game. Notice their coordinators are going off to take head coaching jobs while ours (or at least the OC spot) are either getting fired or demoted.
In conclusion I don't want a Dabo Swinney, but I do want a motivator. None of this is to downplay coaching ability, which is obviously of primary importance, but "the cheerleader" has certainly proven that his "skills" can make one heck of a difference.
Thoughts?
Comments
I didn't read your whole post. Yes, I would take someone like Dabo...His teams are very consistent, fun to watch, and they only lose to top-10 caliber teams. They have a bunch of signature wins and they recruit well and develop their talent. I don't see anything wrong with a guy like that. Sure Dabo annoys me but he's anything but an A--hole like RR and the fans/players like him. I don't think he does anything questionable (he definitely seems like a by-the-book type). I could live with someone who annoys me slightly if they fielded a product like Dabo does.
No need to put so many qualifiers in your post.
I don't find Dabo annoying in the least. He seems like a bit of a bumpkin, but his players arn't in trouble and he doesn't seem shady.
If Clemson keeps it up and avoids "Clemsoning" over the next few seasons his resume will more than likely surpass Beamers.
So yes, I would gladly take a coach like him right now
Dabo isn't a brilliant Xs-and-Os guy and he is severely underrated because of that. It took me until the victory over Notre Dame to realize it. If he finishes this season strong, I'll have to consider him a very good HBC
I don't find Dabo annoying for any reason other than that he's a great coach for another ACC team.
Yes.
I'd take someone like Dabo in a heartbeat. He's everything you want in a head coach - surrounds himself with good staff, manages the game well, strong recruiter, good communicator, old enough to have the experience but young enough to connect with the players, and runs a clean program. Sign me up. It's going to be hard to replace Frank when that day comes, but if we can check those boxes, I'm a fan immediately.
You had me at "strong recruiter."
Dabo is exactly what we need, with some tweaks.
He's motivated, and connects with his players to motivate them and bring about the family atmosphere (Franks does none of that now).
He recruits like it's the end-all be-all base requirement of a great football team (it IS, you don't have to have the most stars, you just have to have the right guys).
He finds capable coordinators, and lets them do their jobs (Frank does this on defense, but he never has been able to help himself on offense, see: Mini Beamer).
All of those things are the things we need in a HC.
We also need a coach with a nasty attitude on the field. As much as I hate the guys, Paul Johnson, Urban Meyer, and Nick Saban are not nice guys on the field. They aren't horrible people off it, even if they're not the guy you want to go get a beer with, at least you could stand him at dinner.
We need a coach who tells it like it is, and doesn't lay the blame in his player's laps every-time they fail. Players play for men they respect, and taking that heat for them is about the quickest way to get them to love him.
Would I take Dabo himself? Damn straight. Is he the best fit for us...nope, not by a long shot. He's not near a big enough a**hole on the field, and he's got religion so far up his butt it's a "miracle" he hasn't been cited for First Amendment violations.
So you guys help me out here...who's the a**hole, who can get players to love him, motivate them, talks to the media like a man, can CEO a top 30 program, and recruits like a banshee?
I'm not sure you really follow VT football if you think this.
You think he connects with players he demonstrates an inability to recall the names of, refuses to protect in half-time interviews, and blames for losses? I'm pretty sure he doesn't. Since he doesn't connect, he can't very connect to motivate and bring about the family atmosphere. I'm not saying he didn't, I'm saying he clearly doesn't.
Maybe look how the current players and past players ALL look at Beamer as a father and great man. I would challenge you to find ten players with legitimate gripes over how Frank treated them while on the team. Those kids love him.
Great, they love him. Yet he isn't motivating them. He isn't connecting to them to create the family atmosphere, it's not us vs the world...it's just a boy scout troop going to summer camp and having a good time.
Agree. "Players' coaches" don't always (or hardly ever, really) generate the most Ws.
Listening to this makes me think back to Beamer in the late 90's, and it is upsetting to really think about. Our next coach has to be confident, competent, and connect with the players.
Like SCHokie2011, I live around the upstate SC area. Went to high school there. Had Clemson shoved down my throat.
I hate Clemson. I hate everything about them. I don't care if it is frivolous. I had people telling me I was so stupid to think that Virginia Tech could win in 2006 I ought to have my skull bashed in. When I told people a few years later that I was going back home to go to Virginia Tech, they would tell me not to get shot.
I understand that these came from young kids, but that kind of thing turns you against something forever. I hate Clemson more than I hate UVA, Miami, and WVU combined.
If we hired Dabo I would burn all of my VT gear and never associate with the school again. I hate that man. He is nothing but a hypocrite and an actor. I have known many people who have worked for the Clemson athletic department, and none of them like him. They say he is like a used-car salesman. He is just putting on a face for the world.
For the record, those same people loved Chad Morris.
I feel like when you have Chad Morris coaching the offense and Brent Venables coaching the defense like he did that last few years, seems hard to screw that up.
But it's also hard to hire those people.
Not to mention that before Dabo hired Morris, he had coached one year of college ball. It was a ballsy but smart hire for Dabo to grab him. Making the right hires is 50% of management, maybe more. Give Dabo some credit.
Yes. Pure and simple we need someone who still has fire in their veins and still loves what he does, not someone who is just hanging around because reasons...
Isn't this a new trend in college football. Coaches like Fleck,Dabo etc. who ate great motivators not the greatest X's and o's guys. Ina situation like ours, maybe it is a good fit to get a master communicator at the helm if you get people like Bud to support home. A guy like Dabo will recruit like hell, motivate and unlock need fundraising opportunities and will keep the program in news constantly. Again, a cheerleader CEO type of coach will tend to be cheaper on the pocket as well ex, Dabo ranked in the bottom half of ACC salaries till bout 2 yes ago. Fleck make only bout 800,000. Maybe days of Saban and Urban as prototype head coaches are changing.
Speed typing + smartphone + auto correct.. A match made in heaven. Ignore the mistakes plzz.
We don't "need" a dabo but I wouldn't mind one. Dabo isn't a great coach by any means, but he surrounds himself with guys to get the job done and he is in the forefront of the recruiting and PR for the school. If we have a new staff I hope we hire a defensive guy because that is what VT was built around and if Bud is gone I would hope we would be able to continue that defensive legacy while still bringing in an OC that can make us relevant offensively.
I think it's a little disrespectful/offensive to call Dabo a cheerleader. It's not like he's working 30 hour weeks while everyone around him is working 80. He still has final calls on personnel choices, recruiting, game planning, when they go for it, etc. In today's college football world, if any coach is/was involved with X's and O's, then he is doing a poor job of delegating work. He's made great hires, which is much easier said than done.
Dabo is the a-hole version of Mike London. London motivates in a way that "inspires" whereas Dabo motivates in a way that fires players up. Dabo obviously has the whole coaching thing down better than London.
I'd submit we need someone like Dabo with less of his tacky hillbilly appearance. I admire his spirit and that's about it. Personnaly I can't stand the man, especially after the speeding ticket debacle. But the Hokies as well as the university as a whole could use someone with his spirit to rally behind. Hopefully just not someone with his less attractive attributes.
I have faith Whit can find the right man. I think he handled "the basketball problem" well.
Were we calling for Dabo when "Clemsoning" was a thing?
Whit will find the right guy without our help, I'm pretty sure.
In Whit We Trust.
Easy killer. I never said I was attempting to "help" Whit out. I was just looking for another way to lament our current situation while trying to fabricate some sort of idea of hope for the future.
You have to be relevant to even be "clemsoning." Would take that at this point.
I mean, I was rewatching the game last night and noticed they had a graphic that just said, "Clemson's Notable Losses" since 2012 or something like that. It just struck me as somewhat funny that the guy at the top of the list for some people has the same issue people were pissed at Frank for - inability to win big games. But hey, I guess that's just where the fanbase is now.
I don't even know when Clemsoning became a thing considering VT have been experts at it since 2001.
And we did it against Clemson. Twice.
DABO FROM THE TOP ROPE
good rant. I'm not a huge Dabo fan but I support his argument here...