The Clemson Dubcast

Thomas Austin, Part 1

When Dabo Swinney locked up the head-coaching job with a win over South Carolina in November of 2008, Thomas Austin was one of the players that carried him to midfield in the giddy celebration.

Swinney fired Austin last December after a four-loss regular season.

There are layers to this parting that aren't present in most other firings.

Austin and his wife are both Clemson alums, and they have chosen to remain in Clemson because their children are in school.

Austin, who coached offensive line for the Tigers, joins The Clemson Dubcast to reflect on what it was like to suddenly find himself without a job.

He also gives an inside look into what it's like for an assistant coach to navigate the chaotic world of the transfer portal and NIL.

This is Part 1 of our interview with Austin.

 

Billy Milam

As IPTAY becomes more involved with NIL fundraising as part of the 110 Society, and as the collegiate model veers even more sharply toward compensation for athletes, a big part of Billy Milam's role is conveying a modernized message to IPTAY.

In a recent issue of Orange: The Experience, Milam devoted an entire column to encouraging IPTAY members to contribute to the 110 Society.

He wrote that IPTAY "was founded on the notion that many giving some would enable Clemson to better compete with schools with access to significantly greater resources.

"For those 90 years, the Clemson Family has generously and selflessly risen to the challenge and given to IPTAY to change countless lives. The mission today remains the same."

Fundraising for NIL is more abstract and complicated than generating money for a facility that donors can admire for years to come.

And as Clemson attempts to sell the masses on giving NIL contributions on top of what they're already contributing, the messaging is important.

Milam, an Atlanta resident who has been highly accomplished in the business world, is at the forefront of IPTAY's attempts to modernize its brand and its strategies.

Milam has a bachelor's degree in architecture from Clemson, and an MBA in finance from South Carolina. He is chief executive officer of EmployBridge, America's largest industrial staffing firm.

He previously spent more than 22 years with RaceTrac, where he rose to the role of president and chief operating officer.

In 2020, Milam was named most admired CEO in professional services by the Atlanta Business Chronicle. He was named a top CEO on Glassdoor in 2021.

 

 

Otis Pickett

Dr. Otis Pickett brings not just a wealth of educational distinction to his role as the historian for Clemson University, but also a wealth of life experience.

He grew up in Mount Pleasant spending time with his grandfather, a small-town medical family practitioner on Pitt Street in the Old Village.

Many of his grandfather's patients were African-Americans descendants of the Gullah people.

"He treated each one of his patients with dignity, honor and respect," Pickett said. "It didn't matter if it was the governor or a poor man who meandered aimlessly up and down Pitt Street."

In the mid-1990s Pickett and his mother began attending Trinity Baptist Church and were often the only whites who attended. With the encouragement of Rev. Herman Robinson, Pickett pursued pastoral ministry.

He is now a decorated author, historian and religious scholar. He has been known to officiate weddings of former students.

In present times, Pickett can be seen at many Clemson sporting events. He returned to his alma mater in 2022 after accepting his dream job as the third Clemson historian in the university's history (and the first Clemson alum to serve in that capacity).

Pickett's predecessor, Paul Anderson, now serves as Clemson's Director of Football Academics and Freshman Transition. Anderson joined the football program in 2021 after more than two decades at Clemson as a decorated educator and historian.

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.

"We've got to interpret it and talk about it," he said. "I get Clemson. I love Clemson, and I don't think there's a bigger Clemson sports fan than I am. I go to everything, and I've been pulling for Clemson since I was 2.

"I love Clemson. But I'm also like: 'Hey, there's this history that may be difficult. But it also, I think, makes Clemson more interesting. I want to walk through that history. I want people to understand it.' ... We're simply talking about what people have been talking about for 200 and 300 years, which is this concept of race. And in the South that's a big concept and something that shapes our entire culture. And at Clemson it has shaped our culture in a lot of ways."

Pickett previously served in the School of Education at the University of Mississippi preparing Social Studies teachers, the Director of Social Studies Education Programs at Mississippi College, and Associate Professor of History in the Department of History at Mississippi College.

Pickett played a role in the state of Mississippi adopting a new state flag that retired the 1894 flag and its Confederate battle emblem.

Pickett is also the co-founder and co-director of the Prison to College Pipeline Program, the first program in the state of Mississippi to offer tuition free, credit bearing college courses to incarcerated students.

Pickett's grandfather, Robert Alexander Westbrook, graduated in the Class of 1950. His great grandfather, Albert Hayne McMeekin, was in the Class of 1918.

Pickett and his wife Julie (Class of 2002) live in Clemson and have three children: Martha Jane, Otis, Jr. and Thomas.  

He met his future wife on her 21st birthday at the Esso Club. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Brad Brownell

Brad Brownell visited with the media this week for the first time since his team's stirring run to the Elite Eight -- a run that was closely preceded by a brutal ACC Tournament loss to Boston College that had people screaming for his head.

Brownell kept the receipts and brought some of them to a press conference where he said he deserves more credit for the long-term work that went into the Tigers' postseason spectacle.

"I'm doing a ton of fundraising, folks, and I have been for 14 years," he said. "One of the reasons we were in the Elite Eight is because of all the fundraising, friend-raising, whatever you want to call it, for 14 years. It's one of the reasons we have a facility that's much nicer than it was. It's filling those premium seats. It doesn't just happen with NIL. It happens with improving your facilities. It happens with donor retention. It happens with getting folks to buy into your program enough that when (NIL) was new that our people were involved and engaged to be able to support the guys on our team to be ready for this opportunity when it did show up. We were there to meet it. 

 

"I do deserve a lot of credit for that. A lot. Because it's been a 14-year journey. And had we had a different coach, or a newer young coach at the time, it wouldn't have happened. There would have been no chance. 

 

"So that's obviously been a little bit of a sort spot of mine at times. Because I think that's gone not as noticed as I would like. And obviously it's vital. In college basketball right now, NIL is a major factor."

 

We present the full audio from Brownell's press conference, which lasted more than 45 minutes.

 

 

 

Dabo Retrospective, Part 2

As part of Tigerillustrated.com's lengthy 25th anniversary series uncovering untold stories over that stretch of time, we continue with a glimpse back at the transformative days of 2008.

Two days after a dominant victory over South Carolina that sealed the removal of the interim tag from his title, Dabo Swinney was introduced at a press conference on the third floor of the West End Zone facility.

This is the uncut digital audio from that press conference, provided by Jeff Kallin and Matt Glenn of the Clemson Athletics Department.

Terry Don Phillips drew an ovation toward the end of the press conference when he said: 

"I say with great confidence that Dabo Swinney is going to become one of the great coaches in America."

 

 

A Dabo Swinney retrospective

As part of Tigerillustrated.com's extensive unearthing of the history that led to Dabo Swinney becoming the figure who would transform not just a football program but an entire community, we take a glimpse back to the two-month period in 2008 when everything changed.

We present the audio from some key moments during that timeline:

-- The introduction of Swinney as interim coach on Oct. 13, 2008, when Tommy Bowden suggested a change to AD Terry Don Phillips and Phillips shocked many by elevating a receivers coach who had no head-coaching or coordinating experience;

-- The coach's show that followed his first victory in charge, an exhilarating and vital triumph at Boston College that snapped a three-game losing streak to the Eagles;

-- The press conference that followed a convincing victory over rival South Carolina, which sealed the removal of the interim title. Swinney, on what it was like to hear the crowd chanting his name as the final seconds ticked off: "I felt like Britney Spears."

-- The news coverage that accompanied the press conference two days later to announce his hiring.

 

Patrick Sapp

Patrick Sapp played football at Clemson, and now he's watching his 19-year-old son Josh play football at Clemson.

What makes it most special is Patrick's 7-year-old son Miles gets to watch it all as the family makes memories of a lifetime.

Sapp rejoins The Dubcast to talk about his six years on the football staff at Greenville High School, and why he chose to give it up after last season.

Sapp's role as a television personality is going to increase moving forward as he contributes to FOX Carolina in various ways.

Sapp also keeps close tabs on Clemson football, and he was in attendance when Trent Pearman stole the show at last week's spring game.

Sapp believes Cade Klubnik will maintain his hold on the starting role, but he said Pearman's performance does make things more interesting in the Tigers' quarterback room.

He also gives high marks to Dabo Swinney's hire of Matt Luke and Chris Rumph, who have brought more energy and fire to the program.

"We've got to get back to the basics and the grind," he said. "We've got to be tougher. We've got to be better. We've got to be stronger. We've got to be more disciplined, and we've got to play with an attitude. I think that was the emphasis for the hires. ... You bring in guys who have the experience, who have the confidence, who have the moxie to walk out every day and challenge their players, challenge the attitude of the team. 

 

"If you watch them practice, you can see that Nick Eason, Coach Rumph and coach Luke are his attitude guys. Those are the guys who are setting the attitude and the tone for everybody. I think Coach Swinney understood he needed that on his staff."

Jerome Hall

Jerome Hall is less busy than he used to be, having given up his job as a college referee a year ago after 20 years.

Yet he still teaches at RD Anderson Applied Technology Center from 8 AM to 3 PM each weekday, instructing high school students in carpentry and officiating.

Four days a week, he leaves school at 3 and heads straight to the courthouse and works until 7 as a magistrate for the Spartanburg County court system.

And somehow he still found a way to follow his son PJ in his final season at Clemson, which of course included recent trips to Memphis and Los Angeles as the Tigers made a stirring run to the Elite Eight.

Jerome, who will turn 55 in two weeks, reflects on his son's life and what makes him one of the iconic figures in Clemson basketball history.

The Hall family also shares a deep love and appreciation for Brad Brownell, whose only promise during PJ's recruitment was that Clemson would take care of him.

"He was the only coach who didn't promise him a starting spot right away," Jerome said.

 

Cliff Ellis

Had he not chosen the coaching profession, Cliff 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.

Ellis announced his retirement in December, ending a 49-year coaching career. His final 17 seasons were at Coastal Carolina, where he led the Chanticleers to 297 victories and 10 postseason appearances.

His 831 career NCAA victories put him at ninth in Division I basketball history behind Krzyzewski, Jim Boeheim, Bob Huggins, Jim Calhoun, Roy Williams, Bob Knight, Dean Smith and Adolph Rupp.

Ellis says the changing landscape of college athletics, namely NIL and the transfer portal, led him to walk away.

He's currently writing a book about his life, and he looks back fondly on his time at Clemson from 1984 to 1994.

Ellis led Clemson to its only ACC title in school history in 1989-90 when the Tigers claimed the regular-season title with back-to-back home triumphs over North Carolina and Duke.

Four years later, he abruptly resigned and later took the head job at Auburn. He said he was angry over the Clemson administration's handling of the Wayne Buckingham situation in the face of NCAA scrutiny of the player's eligibility as a freshman.

Ellis remembers exactly where he was on Jan. 18, 1990 when he heard Danny Ford was out as Clemson's coach.

"I was playing golf with our pilot, Earle Ambrose," he said. "We were on the 15th hole at Boscobel. It was a tough, tough time.

"But I told Danny at the time to tell Clemson thanks a million. Because they paid him a million dollars. And then he went to Arkansas and got another thanks-a-million. I never got those thanks-a-millions."

Tommy West

Tommy West has decided it's time to hang up his whistle after more than four decades in the coaching profession.

"It's a young man's game now," said the 69-year-old West, who was on Rick Stockstill's fired staff at Middle Tennessee State.

West has kept busy playing golf and taking care of his yard. He says the biggest question is how he'll find the fulfillment that came when he experienced success through grinding away as a coach and recruiter.

West goes in-depth on his time at Clemson as an assistant under Danny Ford, and as the Tigers' head coach from 1993 to 1998.

Clemson was trying to figure out what it wanted to be back then, and that meant trying to figure out how invested it wanted to be in winning football games.

The facilities suffered as a result, and it was West who first came up with the idea to build a complete football-operations facility in the west end zone of Memorial Stadium.

That facility finally began taking shape well into Tommy Bowden's tenure, and the first head coach to actually occupy the structure was Dabo Swinney in 2009.

West shares some vivid and colorful memories of the old days, including when the fired staff got together on the practice fields in the wee hours of the morning after their final game, a win over South Carolina.

They built a fire and spent hours reminiscing and connecting for a final time. Defensive coordinator Reggie Herring was so angry about the firing that he threw his Clemson apparel into the fire and watched it burn.

Soon thereafter Herring was retained by Tommy Bowden and wearing new Clemson gear.

West spent the next year living in Clemson as Bowden ushered in a new era.

"I was a total mess," he said. "I was lost."