The Clemson Dubcast

Dubcast Rewind: Steve Spurrier and Tom Rinaldi

We travel back to late 2018 when Clemson was on a rampage to its second national title in three seasons.

In the days before Clemson's rivalry game against South Carolina, we visited with Steve Spurrier for his recollections about his epic wars of words with Dabo Swinney when Spurrier was the Gamecocks' coach.

As Spurrier crept closer to walking away from the game, and as he saw Swinney building Clemson into a powerhouse, the two became closer and Spurrier ended up inviting Dabo and wife Kathleen to his induction into the College Football Hall of Fame.

Late in 2018, Rinaldi traveled to Clemson for an in-depth ESPN story on the 10th anniversary of Swinney taking over as Clemson's head coach. As he said during this interview, the inspiration for his feature was a multi-part series Tigerillustrated.com reported on the same topic earlier that fall.

The interview with Rinaldi took place as Clemson was preparing to face Notre Dame in the Cotton Bowl.

The Tigers went on to beat the Irish and Alabama by an aggregate 74-19 in the 2018 College Football Playoff.

 

Billy Donlon

Billy Donlon goes way back with Brad Brownell -- all the way back to when Brownell was an assistant at UNC-Wilmington and Donlon played for the school.

Donlon later served as an assistant for Brownell when Brownell was head coach at UNC-W, and then he followed him to Wright State when Brownell got that job.

After Brownell left for Clemson, Donlon took over for him at Wright State and lasted six seasons.

Donlon has been Brownell's associate head coach for the past two seasons. He joins The Dubcast to reflect on the Tigers' stirring Elite Eight run and all the things that went into it.

Donlon also goes deep on his life story: His grandparents came to America from Ireland, living in New York after entering via Ellis Island.

Donlon's father was an assistant coach for Providence and played a major role in recruiting the team that went to the Final Four in 1987. He had left a year earlier to join Bill Foster at Northwestern.

Donlon remembers growing up in the Chicago area when the Bulls were becoming transcendent with Michael Jordan, Scottie Pippen and others.

He routinely visited the Bulls' practice facility, and he recalls one day when Pippen and Horace Grant invited him to lunch.

"I was three hours late coming home, and the cops were at my house when I got home because my mom didn't know where I was," he said.

 

Thomas Austin, Part 2

In Part 2 of our lengthy interview with Thomas Austin, the former Clemson offensive line coach reflects on how he has transitioned from the non-stop grind of coaching.

Having become strongly rooted in Clemson, he and his family are hoping to remain. 

"My oldest is 12, and he was on the sidelines when I was the coach. He's still processing it. He's pulling for baseball right now, and he loves Clemson Athletics. But the football side of it is complicated for him. 

"Our other children, we'll sit them down and say: 'We need to talk to you guys.' And they'll be like, 'Oh no, are we about to move?' And we'll say no, we're just going to the lake this weekend."

"They're always worried that the next time we sit down to talk to them is going to be when they're told they have to leave all their friends.

"So that's the human element of it. It's not just about me. It's about my wife and my family too. It affects a lot of people. But that's a part of the business."

Austin also shares a classic story from his recruitment, when a first-year South Carolina coach named Steve Spurrier tried to pursue Austin but was told in no uncertain terms by Austin's mother that her son was going to Clemson.

 

 

 

 

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."