Posts Tagged ‘dabo swinney’

First year Clemson defensive coordinator Brent Venables was asked by reporters earlier today about the similarity between the college communities of Clemson and Oklahoma (where he coached last season), and how each of them have managed to have sustained success despite relatively small population bases and sharing the state with other BCS caliber schools.

After noting continued success relies a lot on stability within the administration, and continuity within the coaching staff, Venables goes on to explain a few other areas he sees as key to building a consistent winner in a campus community similar to his last two coaching stops.

"You have to be able to recruit at a high level. Let's face it, players help make everything easy." Venables said, adding that recruiting coupled with stability within the staff and administration is the foundation that everything else is built upon.

"Consistency within your approach is also important. Obviously, you have to be thorough and detailed in how you run a program."

"Having a foundation of recruiting tough, disciplined players, and they don't have to be real flashy. That's kind of contrary to popular belief anymore in this day and age of 'Let's see what new play this team comes up with this week' or, 'What cool pretty uniform will this team show up in?'"

"That's not how you win. Now, kids like that so you can recruit some kids, but if that's what they're making decision off from, then that's not the kind of guy that I want to coach anyway. I'm in it, so I get it, but I want some guys that have a little more substance to themselves. But that's just me." Venables explains.

"Again, Bill Snyder is the model of consistency as a coach and his approach. He doesn't change. He is faceless day in and day out in his approach to young people and I think there's a comfort in that, in a very systematic approach. When you start deviating, being here and there and everywhere else, I think that when they start to see through you and gets everyone out of their comfort zone."

"There are a lot of variables that go into it, but I think having a foundation of those things are critical."

After weighing in on program building, Venables provides some quality insight on the importance of the four hour radius surrounding the Clemson campus and why that radius weighed heavily into his decision to take a position on Dabo Swinney's staff.

After nearly a two-year wait, Clemson is on the verge of moving into its indoor practice facility. In fact, the school hopes it will be ready in time for the Tigers' game with South Carolina on Nov. 24. 

"They're starting to put on the finishes touches," said head coach Dabo Swinney told OrangeandWhite.com. "They're grading it right now, and hopefully the turf will be here Monday. They've told us they think we're going to be in there the week of the South Carolina game, or maybe just a hair earlier."

Announced in January 2011, the facility will boast a regulation-sized, artificial surface field complete with a coach's tower and video platforms. Garage-style doors will give the team the option of holding open-air practices on days with favorable weather. The project was expected to cost $10 million when it was announced.

The indoor facility is built on top of the Tigers' existing outdoor practice fields. Which means that in the meantime, the team's existing practice field real estate has been downsized. Like a family forced to vacate its home for a hotel room so the house can be fumigated, things have gotten cramped.

"Our fields are just torn up right now and are in terrible shape because we've been limited," Swinney said. "Two fields are hard to manage when you're talking about big athletes, big bodies.

"We've really just had one field - Field 3 - to do all our competitive work. It's just a dirt pile out there."

Below is a video released by the architecural firm with artistic renderings of the facility.

Clemson travels to Wake Forest tonight for another Thursday night extravaganza (7:30 p.m. ET, ESPN). Dabo Swinney's team comes in riding a three-game winning streak with a 6-1 overall record and in first place in the ACC's Atlantic Division at 3-1. Jim Grobe's squad is 4-3 on the year and 2-3 in the ACC.

Clemson has won three straight in the series, but Wake Forest has won three of the past five games played in Winston-Salem. Jim Grobe and co. have experienced success in the Thursday night spotlight. ESPN's last two Thursday night games at Wake Forest ended in Demon Deacons victories: 24-21 over Florida State in 2007 and 12-7 over Clemson in 2008.

Clemson clinched the Atlantic Division championship in last season's 31-28 meeting with the Demon Decaons. Wake Forest made the Tigers sweat for it, though, as Clemson battled back from a 28-14 hole by scoring the game's final 17 points on two Tajh Boyd touchdown throws and a Chandler Catanzaro 43-yard field goal as time expired. 

Wake Forest will have to find a way to slow down Chad Morris' explosive offense to pull off the home upset. Clemson ranks in the top 20 nationally in scoring offense (40.8 ppg), total offense (492.9 ypg, 6.17 ypp) and passing offense (301.1 ypg). The Tigers have scored 37 or more in every game since their season-opening 26-19 win over Auburn. Quarterback Tajh Boyd ranks second in the conference in total offense, while wide receiver DeAndre Hopkins is second in the country with 845 receiving yards.

Unfortunately for Wake Forest, its best statistic, turnover margin, is also an area where Clemson excells. The Demon Deacons are plus-5 for the year, while Clemson is slightly better at plus-7. Still, the Demon Deacons will need to re-create its recipie from last year when they forced Clemson into three turnovers while committing none of their own. A fumble and interception in Clemson territory on consecutive drives allowed Wake Forest to push the score from 14-14 to 28-14. They will need more where that came from tonight. 

Here is what Jim Grobe sees coming into the game tonight.