The Clemson Dubcast

Matt Connolly

Longtime Clemson chronicler Matt Connolly joins the podcast to reflect on what it's like working normal hours now after years of being a one-man show covering the Tigers, and basically being on call at all times as he reacted to every piece of news.

Connolly still covers Clemson, but more from a distance from his home in Spartanburg. The more regular structure has allowed him to spend more quality time with his family, though he did get to Clemson this season for games against Florida State and Notre Dame.

Connolly gives his take on Dabo Swinney's decision to fire two assistants, and what it means about Swinney's commitment to getting the Tigers back to the top.

Should Swinney and the Tigers' staff consider adding a portal quarterback to challenge Cade Klubnik for the starting job?

Does the successful pursuit of Matt Luke and Chris Rumph -- and the eye-opening salaries for both -- say something about Clemson positioning itself to play big-boy football long-term, perhaps in another conference?

What of the chaotic uproar that followed the Seminoles' snub from the College Football Playoff? Connolly said he'd have also left FSU out because of Jordan Travis' season-ending injury, but he feels awful for the Seminoles' entire team.

 

Ellis Johnson

Ellis Johnson has been on both sides of the Clemson-South Carolina rivalry.

As Tommy West's defensive coordinator from 1994-96, Johnson remembers facilities that were so bad that the Tigers once tried to practice in a nearby livestock arena.

"That lasted about 40 minutes and we left," he said. "The reason most people have never heard about it is because we didn't want to let it get out and risk recruits hearing about it. 

"Clemson obviously doesn't have that problem now. Their facilities are amazing."

Johnson, a native of Winnsboro, was also on Steve Spurrier's staff at South Carolina from 2008 to 2011 as major recruiting hauls helped push the Gamecocks to sustained success they'd never experienced before and haven't since.

The Gamecocks beat Clemson five years in a row from 2009-13, all by double digits.

South Carolina's win last year in Death Valley snapped a seven-game Clemson winning streak in the series.

"I don't think they'll ever get back to winning like they did when we were there," Johnson said of the Gamecocks.

Johnson, whose last stint as a full-time assistant was at Auburn in 2013-14, said Dabo Swinney wanted him as his defensive coordinator when Swinney took over as head coach in 2008.

Johnson's contract at South Carolina had a massive buyout of more than $1 million, and Clemson AD Terry Don Phillips was against the move. Swinney ended up hiring Kevin Steele, who lasted three seasons.

Johnson's son Charlie is a freshman walk-on receiver at Clemson. Charlie had a scholarship offer from The Citadel, but he wanted to walk on at either South Carolina or Clemson. He chose the Tigers in part because of how much Swinney's culture embraces walk-ons.

Ellis has watched both teams from afar this season, and he believes Clemson has been better than all 11 opponents it has faced.

"Turnovers are the reason they've lost four games," he said.

He thinks Swinney's team is significantly better than Shane Beamer's.

"If both teams come in and play well, Clemson will win by 10 points," he said. "But in that game, and at night, and at South Carolina's stadium? You can't count on that happening. There may be some turnovers and other things that happen. 

"Clemson better be prepared for the noise, because on offense it's a very difficult to place to play. It will be a factor in that game. If Clemson sputters and turns it over early and keeps that crowd in it, they're going to have a hard time. But if they come out and control the ball and put points up, take the ball off of South Carolina, it may not be a close game.

"But I wouldn't begin to try to predict this game, because both teams have been less than consistent."

 

Laura Rigney, mother of Tristan Leigh

When Laura Rigney learned her son was probably going to be good enough at football to play in college, she began making plans to move with him wherever he ended up.

So in 2021 when Leigh left for Clemson, Laura sold their home in Fairfax, Va., and took the family with him.

Leigh, a third-year sophomore who starts at left tackle for the Tigers, chooses to live at the family home 20 minutes from campus near Lake Hartwell.

Beyond the football field, Leigh is far from the typical jock. He has a soft spot in his heart for people with disabilities, or kids who aren't popular.

"Growing up, he would always find the person sitting alone in the classroom and befriend them," his mother said.

Included was Zoe, a special-needs student Tristan protected in high school.

“If you have the power to change the culture in school or in a group, you gotta use that,” Tristan told Jon Blau of The Post and Courier. “That’s where I saw that opportunity. I saw them picking on her, I’m like, ‘I can shut this down right now.’ It’s what we should all do.’”

It's those moments that make Tristan's mother the proudest. Whatever her son goes on to achieve on the football field, it won't match the loving and empathetic soul he's become off it.

 

Todd Summers

Not a minute goes wasted for Todd Summers on fall Saturdays as he grinds to fulfill duties for both the WSPA news show and the Dabo Swinney coach's show that is filmed and edited after the game.

Summers frequently travels with the team for road games. And that means for games that end late at night he's making sure he doesn't get left by the team buses in the wee hours as he tries to finish his work.

Summers has worked in local TV sports for 25 years, and at WSPA since 2002. He is a three-time South Carolina sportscaster of the year, and a two-time Emmy Winner.

Summers is right at home covering college football, but he loves covering high school sports and unearthing unique stories that come from listening and asking the right questions.

Summers previously worked at WCYB-TV in Bristol, Va., WBIR-TV in Knoxville, Tenn., and WRIC in Richmond, Va.

He and his wife Christie have two sons.

Mickey Plyler

Mickey Plyler joins The Dubcast for an hour-plus-long conversation that features very little talk about Clemson's defeat at N.C. State, and not a lot of talk about the Tigers' 4-4 start.

And therein, perhaps, lies the genius of Dabo Swinney bringing the heat to fans both Monday night and at his Tuesday press conference.

Whether calculated or spontaneous, Swinney's sermons took the focus off the football team's struggles and left the Notre Dame-week radio and social-media debates more about what is OK and what is not when it comes to fan criticism, and a head coach's response to that criticism.

Plyler, who has spent nine hours this week in the middle of it as a morning host at WCCP-FM, reflects on the big-picture meaning of it all, and offers some thoughts on how everyone involved -- fans, coaches, media -- can be better.

 

Eric Mac Lain

Eric Mac Lain's job with the ACC Network and ESPN is calling things like he sees them on the football field.

And of late, that's meant calling out the program that he loves and played for.

Mac Lain, who played his final season at Clemson in 2015 when the Tigers advanced to the national title game, joins the podcast to reflect on his process and how he navigates criticizing people he loves and admires.

Mac Lain lives in Columbia with his wife and 1-year-old daughter. During the week he does most of his work from a garage he converted into a studio for his work on television, satellite radio and podcasts.

Mac Lain spent three days at Clemson's practices during August camp and walked away feeling uplifted about the offense. He's spent much of the past two months wondering what happened as the Tigers sit at 4-3.

"It's the most bizarre thing," he said. "You just wonder how they got to this point. I think it's unfortunate. Hopefully there are things that can be done and will be done to fix this. But as much as people want to place the blame on Dabo Swinney or a play call, he's not the one fumbling at the 1-yard line. He's not the one making an errant throw or deciding to pull a ball when a run is called. He's not missing a tackle or not run-fitting correctly. ...

"But at the end of the day the man who will take the brunt of the blame is the head coach. There's a reason he's paid so much. There's a reason he makes the decisions. He's earned all that. But with that comes criticism."

 

 

 

Reggie Merriweather

Reggie Merriweather has a rather indelible memory of being recruited by Clemson.

Tommy Bowden and assistant Rick Stockstill stopped by his home in North Augusta on a Sunday. 

As the two coaches and the Merriweather family watched NFL football, Bowden took off his shoes and propped his feet on the coffee table.

"My mom didn't like that," Merriweather said. "She asked him to please take his feet off the table, and then they were out the door soon after that."

Merriweather ended up going to Clemson, and he views that choice as central to his becoming the man he is today. He works in construction and is in his seventh season working for the Clemson Radio Network as a football analyst.

Merriweather reflects on the balance between his loyalty to his alma mater and many friends who are on the coaching staff, and his desire to speak the truth during some difficult moments -- including the late-game play-calling on offense in Clemson's overtime loss to Florida State last month.

Merriweather said he has a habit of throwing his headsets in the booth during some of the more confounding moments, and he said he's tossed them quite a bit over the past two-plus seasons.

 

 

 

Jad Dean

Given the torment and abuse he suffered for years after his missed field goal late against South Carolina in 2006, it's a surprise to hear that Jad Dean is currently as big a message-board junkie as anyone.

Dean is an avid subscriber to Tigerillustrated.com, refreshes the site non-stop through the day, and he even visits Saturday in-game message-board threads that can turn nasty in a hurry.

It took Dean years to fully get past the missed kick that allowed the team he grew up hating to walk out of Death Valley with a narrow win 17 years ago.

For a while he tortured himself over that kick, telling himself he probably should've instead gone to play at Georgia where the weight of his lifetime of loving Clemson wouldn't have affected him in a game and pushed him away from the school and fans he loved.

He can laugh about a lot of it now -- the double birds from the elderly woman as he departed the stadium that day, teammate Phillip Merling trying to go into the stands and confront the woman in defense of his teammate, and the wild behavior of fanatics whose emotional stability is tied to the actions of college kids on a football field.

In fact, Dean considers himself one of those fanatics these days as he yells at the television screen when things aren't going great with his Tigers.

Dean joins The Clemson Dubcast to reflect on his long journey since his college career ended, and the healthy perspective he has on it all now.

 

Tim Cowan and Chapel Fowler

Tim Cowan's seats at Death Valley are so low in the north lower deck that leaving via the field is his preferred route after every game. It beats having to wait until all the foot traffic clears from the steps above.

Cowan became a sensation last week when it was discovered that he placed himself behind the last three coaches who have won at Clemson during their postgame TV interviews -- Pitt's Pat Narduzzi in 2016, South Carolina's Shane Beamer in 2022, and Florida State's Mike Norvell last month.

Once upon a time, Cowan spent seven years as a Clemson student in the 1990s and actually owned a downtown bar for a stretch. The bar was called Rumors, and Cowan became good friends with a number of football players during that time including quarterback Brandon Streeter.

Cowan also recalls Run DMC playing a festival on Clemson's campus. Cowan met the group backstage and paid them $500 to show up and perform at Rumors later that night.

"They pulled up in a white van, and when they rolled their windows down a huge cloud of marijuana smoke comes pouring out of the van," Cowan recalled. "I told them the cops down here probably weren't going to be cool with that."

Cowan lives in the Atlanta area and is a realtor. He said he loves life as a Clemson football fan, doesn't get overly emotional about it, and he predicts he won't be standing behind any opposing coaches after games because the Tigers aren't going to lose at home anytime soon.

Chapel Fowler of The State newspaper tracked down Cowan last week after his postgame videos went viral and told his story. He described Cowan's vibe after the three home losses as "a parent who's not mad at you, just disappointed."

Fowler reflects on growing up as the son of prominent Charlotte sportswriter Scott Fowler. He also shares what it's been like getting a closer look at Dabo Swinney since he began covering Clemson football in the summer of 2022.

 

 

DeAndre McDaniel

When he was a third-grader living in the projects of Tallahassee, DeAndre McDaniel learned his mother was taken to jail yet again.

From there it took a village to keep McDaniel on the straight and narrow, as his grandmother Dot and godmother Kim wrapped their arms around him and protected him through middle school and high school.

When Dabo Swinney began recruiting McDaniel in high school, that support group was convinced Clemson and not FSU was the place where DeAndre would grow into a man.

Tonight McDaniel will be inducted into the Clemson Athletics Hall of Fame. He is in his ninth season on Swinney's staff, and he has his master's degree plus an enormous amount of gratitude to the people who shaped him.

In this interview, McDaniel shares his life story in full for the first time -- from growing up way too fast as a child, to the devastation of not making it in the NFL, to working at a Wal-Mart as he adjusted to the real world, to returning to Clemson when Swinney told him it was time to come back home.