The Clemson Dubcast

Mike Noonan

Mike Noonan doesn't sugarcoat where he thinks college athletics is headed.

"Buckle up and hold on tight, because we're going to go through a hurricane," he said.

Noonan, who has led Clemson to two national titles in men's soccer, is privy to major changes taking shape in the college game.

"We've made about five different attempts to become a two-semester sport, and modernize the sport, but we have hit roadblocks in the NCAA bureaucracy every time," he said.

"So with all the changes going on with college athletics, and there's been a number of changes in the governing body at U.S. Soccer ... we re-engaged in conversations with them.

"There was a pilot program put forward, similar to the College Football Playoff. We're not leaving the NCAA, but we would play over two semesters and there'd be a national tournament sponsored by U.S. Soccer at the end of the spring portion of our season. The national governing body would pay for the championship, and we would be able to progress our game in a way that we haven't been able to." 

Noonan said athletics directors have been in "great discussions" with U.S. Soccer about adopting the pilot program for the 2026-27 year.

He said there are different championship models that feature 36 teams, 48 teams and even 72 teams.

"We all feel favorable that it's going to happen. It will be a big change."

Noonan also shares how, a few years into his Clemson tenure, he significantly changed his recruiting model.

"When we got here we were in a position where we had to just look for talent. And talent without character is a recipe for disaster."

Noonan consulted a familiar name as he constructed his new model: One Dabo Swinney.

Swinney's advice to Noonan:

It's not what works everywhere; it's what works at Clemson.

"That flipped a switch for me," Noonan said. "We came up with 10 recruiting criteria and decided we were going to recruit to them. And any player that we were going to let come into our program was going to have to tick seven of those criteria."

 

 

 

 

Patrick Sapp

As college athletics enters the revenue-sharing model, Patrick Sapp has a different perspective than most because:

1) He played in the NFL;

2) His son Josh is currently being paid to play at Clemson.

Josh, preparing for his third year with the Tigers, certainly didn't command the major price tag earned by some of the team's elite weapons including Cade Klubnik, Antonio Williams and Peter Woods.

But there were actual negotiations and he is making an actual cut of the revenue share.

"Going through the negotiating process and conversations with Josh was very interesting," Patrick said. "It truly reminded me of the NFL contractual conversations that my agent and I went through when I played for San Diego and Arizona. 

"What's the player's value? What has he contributed? What do the coaches feel like a player can contribute in the future? All those things go into what a player demands from the university, or from the internal collectives. And that is truly how those numbers are reached.

"The other influence on this whole thing is other school are now interested in your players. So for people who say 'This is all crazy,' schools are now coming after your starters. It's not as much about kids being angry over playing time. It's now a case of, you have to protect your starters all 12 months of the year."

Sapp says he does have some concerns over what gobs of money can do the minds of young men who are still in their formative years and expected to attend classes and make progress toward graduation.

"Fortunately my son has me. And we are definitely taking care of his money the right way. He's definitely with a financial planner, accountant and all those surrounding things. And we're not doing it just to manage it for him; we're doing it to educate him along the way so he truly understands it. He and I talk about what's important and not important about how you spend your money, so that he can have those good habits early in life.

"Unfortunately all kids don't have that situation. So then it's up to the coaches and the support staff and all those people to wrap their arms around those young men who are in those situations so they don't do crazy things with the money they have. 

"And I explained it as simple as this to my son: 'This is the only time in your life where you will make a significant amount of money with no financial responsibility. So given that, the money you make in college should triple by the time you leave. Because you have no expenses. This is the only time in your life that you will have that, so let's get a head start on life.' That's where our conversation started."

Sapp also gives his thoughts and insights on the fundamental defensive flaws in 2024 that led Dabo Swinney to fire Wes Goodwin and bring in Tom Allen from Penn State.

Jon Blau and Eric Mac Lain

It's been a surreal week for The Post and Courier's Jon Blau, who reacquainted himself with Tom Allen after covering Allen when he was Indiana's head coach.

Before Blau left Bloomington for Upstate South Carolina in 2021, he was presented with an Indiana football helmet signed by Allen.

Now Blau considers possession of the helmet a conflict of interest and is considering auctioning it off.

Blau has plenty of stories and insight into Allen for fans curious about the coach's backstory and what makes him tick.

Eric Mac Lain rejoins the podcast to give his take on Dabo Swinney's recent big move and what it means for the overall state of the program.

Also, what does Mac Lain think about the state of college football as it moves quickly toward the revenue-share model?

Once upon a time, Mac Lain was stoked to get free swag from the Orange Bowl after repeat appearances there.

Now, Clemson's highest-paid assistant coach (Allen at $1.9 million) isn't making as much as the quarterback.

"I'm just mad I came along too early to get some of that money," Mac Lain said.

 

Beth Hoole of FOX Carolina News

Beth Hoole was a total stranger to the Clemson-South Carolina rivalry when she moved from Fargo to Greenville in 2022 to be the sports director at FOX Carolina News.

"I've never experienced anything like this rivalry, and it's so much fun. When people say sports are so much different in the South, it's so true. It's wild how passionate and upset people can get about the other side."

Hoole has fully immersed herself in all aspects of the job, and now she's specializing in helping tell the stories behind Clemson athletics as part of her station's formal relationship with the school.

Once upon a time, Hoole was the first female sports director in the history of North Dakota. It was not well received, as she got nasty emails telling her she should be working in the kitchen and had no business covering sports.

A Nebraska grad, Hoole has learned to be comfortable in her own skin as she explores the deeper layers of the backgrounds of players and coaches.

And her regular access to Dabo Swinney and Brad Brownell has given her a fascinating window into how the two coaches operate behind the scenes.

Hoole also recounts getting roasted (in a playful way) by Mike Krzyzewski when he learned she is from the Chicago suburbs.

 

 

 

 

Best of 2024, Part 2

In Part 2 of our Best of 2024 podcast, we revisit some of the more memorable excerpts from our interviews over the past year:

-- Thomas Austin, on what it's like to deal with being fired by Dabo Swinney. In 2008, Austin was an offensive lineman on the team that helped Swinney secure the head-coaching job with a victory over South Carolina. Swinney even rode on Austin's shoulders to midfield that day to shake the hand of Steve Spurrier.

-- Otis Pickett, on returning to his alma mater from Mississippi to be the historian of Clemson University. A significant part of Pickett's mission is introducing and framing the public conversation on Clemson's past, which includes difficult and complicated topics on race.

-- Cliff Ellis, former Clemson basketball coach, shares numerous stories about his musical career. Had he not chosen coaching, Ellis could've easily spent his life as a professional musician. In the mid-1960s, his group The Villagers was a sensation and even recorded at the legendary Fame Studios in Muscle Shoals, Ala. Ellis remembers joining Roy Orbison on stage at a sold-out concert in Dothan, Ala.

"If you can perform in front of people with Roy Orbison behind you, you're going to be OK going up against Dean Smith and Mike Krzyzewski," he said.

-- Tommy West looks back to a totally different time for Clemson football in the 1990s when the Tigers didn't have any facilities to speak of and were so behind on that front that he once tried to stage an August practice at a local livestock arena.

 

 

 

Best of 2024, Part 1

We go back through the interview files to excerpt the most memorable sequences from our 2024 podcast interviews.

Today in Part 1:

-- Brad Scott and son Jeff Scott, on being out of the football business. Also, their insider recollections of various high-stakes recruitments including Sammy Watkins, Mike Bellamy and others;

-- Mike Noonan, who brought Clemson two national soccer titles in three years. Noonan shares his family's fascinating backstory, and the unlikely path he and his wife took to Clemson;

-- Billy Donlon, an assistant under Brad Brownell, on his life in basketball that includes formative years in the shadow of the Chicago Bulls dynasty.

-- Thad Turnipseed, looking back on all the things that came together for Dabo Swinney's program to ascend to almost unimaginable heights.

Part 2 comes Dec. 31st.

Cade Klubnik and Todd Dodge

Cade Klubnik's return to Austin to face former high school rival Quinn Ewers is one of the more compelling stories of the inaugural 12-team playoff.

The story has fascinating roots, and with that in mind we revisit two interviews we conducted years ago to learn more about Klubnik's background:

-- With Klubnik in December of 2021, days before he was to fly to Clemson to begin life as a Tiger;

-- With Klubnik's high school coach, Todd Dodge, in December of 2022 as Klubnik was set to take over as Clemson's starting quarterback.

The most remarkable part of Klubnik's journey to Clemson is that he stuck with the Tigers even when they didn't offer him. He had to wait until Ty Simpson decided between Clemson and Alabama before that offer came. And meanwhile, Steve Sarkisian at Texas and Jimbo Fisher at Texas A&M had already offered him.

Dodge decided to retire after Klubnik led Westlake High School to a third consecutive state title as a senior. After two years out of the game, Dodge returned to the football field last offseason when he took over at Lovejoy High in Lucas, Texas.

B.T. Potter

B.T. Potter has known current Clemson kicker Nolan Hauser since Hauser was in middle school.

Potter, who kicked for the Tigers from 2018 to 2022, was in Bank of America Stadium when Hauser drilled the 56-yard field goal that put Clemson in Austin for Saturday's first-round playoff game against Texas.

Potter says Hauser has a confidence that he lacked as a freshman and had to learn over time.

What's it like to be on special teams when the rest of the team is grinding away through physically demanding practices?

What's it like to get reamed by Dabo Swinney on national television, as Potter did in 2021 after missing two short field goals he should've made in a close game against Florida State?

What's it like to get cut from an NFL team and wonder if your football career is done?

Potter, who recently signed with the Michigan Panthers of the United Football League, has a lot going on right now including preparing for a wedding.

He shares his story here.

Roy Philpott

Thirteen days ago, Roy Philpott got the assignment of his dreams from ESPN:

South Carolina at Clemson, Nov. 30.

Philpott, a Clemson graduate who spent many years in the area working in various media capacities covering the Tigers, joins The Dubcast to reflect on a wild afternoon at Death Valley and what it meant for both teams.

There were so many twists and turns late in the game that Philpott walked away from the stadium asking himself if he did justice to the game, its stakes, and the extraordinary show put on by Gamecock freshman LaNorris Sellers.

Philpott spent quite a lot of time with Dabo Swinney and a few other staff members the day before the game.

What were his takeaways? What does he think about Swinney's ability to adapt to a rapidly changing collegiate model enough to get Clemson back to the top of the mountain?

Philpott's normally busy schedule is about to get even crazier with the overlap of college football and college basketball. He still lives in the Upstate and has no desire to leave.

 

Ellis Johnson

A year ago on this podcast, Ellis Johnson correctly foreshadowed a Clemson victory in Columbia because in his mind the Tigers were just better.

Now he has no idea how to predict Saturday's Top 15 showdown in Death Valley.

"I think it's a dead-even game," he said.

Johnson has been on both sides of this rivalry, in the mid-1990s at Clemson under Tommy West and as Steve Spurrier's defensive coordinator in Columbia from 2008 to 2011 (and as an analyst under Will Muschamp from 2016-18).

Johnson is a closer observer of Clemson now because is son Charlie is a walk-on for the Tigers. Ellis' routine during the season is traveling to Clemson and watching every Tuesday practice.

In addition to sizing up this rivalry matchup, Johnson gives his thought on the tumultuous state of college athletics as the model transitions from amateurism to NIL to the full-on revenue sharing to come starting in the summer of 2025.

"The NCAA has created a mess," he said. "Letting the top level of college football get too far out of hand is going to seriously damage the overall college football scene. And when that damage happens, it's always the kids that get affected by it."