The Clemson Dubcast

In her book The Devil at His Elbow: Alex Murdaugh and the Fall of a Southern Dynasty, author Valerie Bauerlein hones in on not just Mark Tinsley's central role in the fall but his full story. Away from the courtroom, Tinsley's passion is traveling to isolated regions of the world and hunting big game. He has stalked Dall sheep on the edge of the Arctic Circle, moose in the Yukon, mule deer in the...

As a reporter for the Wall Street Journal, Valerie Bauerlein had a front-row seat to the most captivating murder trial since OJ Simpson. But Bauerlein did more than file dispatches to her newspaper during Alex Murdaugh's trial: She wrote the definitive narrative of not just the Murdaugh story, but the roots of the generational power the Murdaugh family wielded in Hampton County for more than a cen...

For the first time in 156 years, Clemson University has brought the Will of Thomas Green Clemson back to campus. "Not having the Will here would be like the United States not knowing where the Constitution was, or knowing where it was but not having access to it every day -- the original document," says university historian Otis Pickett. "And now Clemson -- our Constitution, our founding document...

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...

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. Bu...

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 ha...

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 full...

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 d...

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...

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; -- Wi...

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'...

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 wal...

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 coordinat...

Scott Hamilton is a media survivor. He prefers to call himself a cockroach. Whatever the name, his current title is sports columnist for The Post and Courier newspaper and he's utterly thrilled to hold this position as the only newspaper sports columnist left in the Palmetto State. "I feel like I'm 28 years old again," he said. "It's so exciting." Hamilton joins the podcast to reflect on a career...

In a mere three years, Terrence Oglesby has established himself as a successful college basketball broadcaster and analyst. It's taken lots of hustle and networking, but most of all Oglesby's continued upward trajectory is a tribute to his smooth style and his strong command of the game. Oglesby's duties consist of: Analyst for Charlotte Hornets home games; ESPN; FOX; NBA TV; The Field of 68; and...

Earlier this week, Dabo Swinney wished a happy 80th Birthday to his mother and shared some details of her positively remarkable life story. Five years ago, Tigerillustrated.com sat down with Carol and she told the story in full. A small excerpt: At some point my mother noticed there was something different about how polio had affected me, compared to others. It left me weakened from my waist up an...

On May 3, WYFF News 4 Sports Director Marc Whiteman shared this on social media: Been pretty low key on social media and at work lately, and I’m ready to share some news. Liam Finn Whiteman was born at just 28 weeks old last weekend at 3 lbs and 12 ounces. Earlier in the week, Mary and I were rushed to the hospital under the threat of preterm labor, and a little less than 72 hours later, Liam was...

In 2006, Patricia Watkins thought her son was going to play college football for the Florida Gators. She had never even heard of Clemson when CJ Spiller traveled for a visit there that changed his life, and their lives. Last week, Watkins was a part of Spiller's entourage on the field at Death Valley when he was inducted into Clemson's Ring of Honor. It brought tears to her eyes because the first...

David Hale of ESPN has a fascinating, tumultuous relationship with Dabo Swinney dating back nine years when Swinney's nuclear response to a Hale question about "Clemsoning" went viral. Hale joins the podcast to share what that relationship has been like in recent years as he communicates with Swinney both in press conferences and in more informal settings. In a transformative time for college athl...

Mickey Plyler, a Clemson-area sports-radio institution, rejoins The Dubcast to talk football ... and the current political-football fiasco taking place in Clemson. Plyler turns the tables on the interview and asks his own questions about: -- Seneca Journal publisher Jerry Edwards using shady tactics to try to influence the Clemson mayoral and city-council elections; -- The publisher joining forces...

Earlier this summer we sat down with Brad Brownell for an interview that lasted more than two hours. The full Q&A was published at Tigerillustrated.com in June. Last week was Part 1, and now we present Part 2 of a conversation that touched on a number of topics including Clemson's stirring run to the Elite Eight in last season's NCAA Tournament.

Earlier this summer we sat down with Brad Brownell for an interview that lasted more than two hours. The full Q&A was published at Tigerillustrated.com in June. We now present the full audio of that conversation that touched on a number of topics including Clemson's stirring run to the Elite Eight in last season's NCAA Tournament. Part 2 of the interview will be published next week.

Three years ago, Jon Blau left Bloomington, Ind., and found himself in a strange new world of big-time college football after he took over as the Clemson beat writer for The Post and Courier of Charleston. Jon has fashioned a reputation as an excellent storyteller during his stint, uncovering angles and depth that others don't see. He joins the podcast to reflect on his job and how he does it, inc...

Brad Scott has retired from football and is now back in Clemson enjoying the grandad and golf life. Jeff Scott is fully immersed in his custom homebuilding business and out of football for a second consecutive season. In other words, father and son have time to sit back and tell stories from their decades in college football that included epic runs at Clemson and Florida State. Brad remembers goin...

Under Gary Stokan's leadership and vision, Peach Bowl Inc. events have generated an economic impact of $1.27 billion and $76.74 million in direct government tax revenue for the city of Atlanta and state of Georgia since 199. Stokan was also a key driver of relocating the College Football Hall of Fame to Atlanta. Once upon a time in the early 1980s, Stokan was a late-20s sneaker rep for Adidas and...