The Clemson Dubcast

With Kirby Smart and his program facing repeated off-field-incidents, the latest the arrest of receiver RaRa Thomas and his subsequent dismissal from the team, what's the common view of Smart and his culture from typical Georgia fans? Is it fair to say he and his program have a character problem?  What of Dabo Swinney, and the view of him from Bulldogs people? Is there a belief in Athens that Clem...

In our final installment of the full, uncut media sit-downs recently conducted by Clemson's assistant football coaches, we present Kyle Richardson and Mickey Conn. Richardson is in his third season coaching the Tigers' tight ends, and he has a potential star in Jake Briningstool. Conn, who is in his eighth year coaching safeties while also holding the co-defensive coordinator title for a third sea...

We continue with the uncut audio from the recent sit-downs with Clemson's football assistants. Tyler Grisham prepares for his fifth season in charge of Clemson's receivers after taking over for Jeff Scott in 2020. He sees big things out of this group if the receivers can stay healthy, something that's been a major obstacle in recent years.  Mike Reed discusses replacing Nate Wiggins after a specta...

We continue presenting the full, uncut audio from the recent interviews conducted of Clemson's assistant football coaches. Today C.J. Spiller reflects on his upcoming induction into Clemson's prestigious Ring of Honor, and also his assessment of the Tigers' situation at running back behind starter Phil Mafah. Nick Eason, back for his third season as defensive tackles coach, holds court and shares...

We present the full, uncut audio from the recent media sit-downs by Garrett Riley and Wes Goodwin. Riley discusses Year 2 in his role as offensive coordinator at Clemson after last year didn't go according to plan, with the offense frequently succumbing to self-impaling turnovers, erratic quarterback play, lack of cohesion at receiver and inconsistent offensive line play. Goodwin, who rebounded in...

We present the full audio from the media's visit with Matt Luke and Chris Rumph last week. Dabo Swinney made a major splash last December -- one his skeptics didn't think he'd make -- by parting with Thomas Austin and Lemanski Hall. Much like with the Brandon Streeter-Garrett Riley transition, Swinney probably wasn't going to make a change if he couldn't land a big fish. Luke and Rumph qualified a...

With C.J. Spiller in the news recently upon the announcement of his induction into Clemson's Ring of Honor, we go back four years to an extended interview with the former superstar and current running backs coach. Back then, Spiller was preparing for his wedding. He had not yet joined Dabo Swinney's staff. He was a volunteer track coach at Liberty High School, trying to impart some of the lessons...

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 Cl...

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 se...

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 Clems...

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 cho...

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 IPTA...

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 tre...

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...

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....

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, w...

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 r...

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 Spartan...

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...

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...

A decade ago, Thad Turnipseed left Alabama to join Dabo Swinney at Clemson and played a major role in turning the Tigers' football program into a cutting-edge operation on numerous levels. Turnipseed, who spent 18 months at Oklahoma under Brent Venables, returned to Clemson with his family last summer and is currently spending most of his time in real estate. Turnipseed, who recently became a gran...

Dabo Swinney sits down to discuss the progress of his team a week into spring practice. Swinney reflects on the talent of freshman receiver Bryant Wesco and what he could bring to an offense in desperate need of playmaking. Cade Klubnik enters Year 2 as the starter feeling more comfortable in the second year running Garrett Riley's offense. Klubnik believes the Tigers are going to have weapons gal...

Last week, Gene Sapakoff announced he's leaving The Post and Courier after 38 years at the Charleston newspaper. One of the strange elements of his departure: The leadership at the paper hasn't given him an opportunity to write a farewell column in the sports section that featured his mug shot since the 1980s. Sapakoff joins The Dubcast to reflect on when and why he chose to hang it up, and what h...

In many ways, the media and journalism industry has become almost totally disfigured over the past two decades. Yet inside Clemson's Sports Communication program there are students who find a multitude of ways to distinguish themselves. Grayson Mann is a senior who has spent his time at college starting his own podcast, writing for Tigerillustrated.com, doing video play-by-play for North Greenvill...

Paul Strelow, longtime recruiting reporter and analyst for Tigerillustrated.com, is also a family man and a father of five. He's been fully devoted to the lives of his children over the years, and that's included serving as a coach of their various teams. Strelow gives his perspective on the climate at youth and high school sporting events as fans get edgier and more willing to chastise not just r...