Additional intel & thoughts on Bates, staff turnover
By: Larry Williams
A few initial reactions to today's big news that defensive line coach Todd Bates is headed to Oklahoma to be the co-defensive coordinator under Brent Venables:
Our first thought this morning when we started detecting some fire to go with the smoke:
Wow.
As in, in mid-December whatever flirtations that happened between Bates and his old/new boss at Oklahoma appeared to be past-tense.
In announcing Wes Goodwin and Mickey Conn as co-coordinators to replace Venables, Clemson also announced promotions for Bates and Mike Reed.
Bates was the new assistant head coach, that title having been previously held by Tony Elliott.
But more than that, he'd just received a $200,000 bump to his salary (to $715,000 from $515,000).
After five seasons in Clemson, Todd Bates is now off to Oklahoma to become Co-Defensive Coordinator. (Tigerillustrated.com)
In mid-December, after Dabo Swinney confirmed that Venables tried to lure Goodwin to Norman, we asked Swinney if Venables attempted to nab anyone else from his staff.
"I'll keep our conversations private, but we talked about a lot of people," Swinney said that day. "Just like Tony and I sat down and I said: 'I'm not going to let you have that one, and I don't want you to have that one.' And he's like, 'Well I'm going to try.' And I'm like, 'Well that's great! I'll be proud of you to go try. But you better try hard.' But it's great. Because I want them to have a chance."
Where Ted Roof and Miguel Chavis were support staffers who joined Venables in major staff roles, this one is of course different because it takes a big fish from Clemson's pond.
So much for the idea that there was some sort of gentlemen's agreement in which Venables consented to not trying to go after any of Swinney's on-field coaches.
Here's what Swinney said about Bates in mid-December in announcing his promotion:
"Todd Bates is a future head coach, and gonna be a great head coach. He's one of those guys that just -- he's special. He's got that gift. Whatever that is that you have to have to be a head coach, Todd Bates exemplifies every single thing you could possibly want. He's got a great understanding of the game. He's young. He just gets it on all levels.
"So him moving into a leadership role is really going to help me. I'll lean on him for a lot of head-coach things, collaboration, discussion. He's somebody I have so much trust in, his opinion on everything. He's also our recruiting coordinator, so just more responsibility for him."
Bates was in Clemson for five seasons after replacing Dan Brooks, and he crafted a reputation as a high-level recruiter in addition to developing some decorated interior linemen.
It's fair to wonder how Bates took the news that he was being passed over for a co-coordinating role here after Venables departed and Swinney quickly named Goodwin the chief play-caller and Conn the co-coordinator.
And we can confirm that when Venables pursued Goodwin, he did so with the same role in mind that Goodwin has now at Clemson: chief play-caller and linebackers coach.
As we have reported, when Conn left an illustrious career in Georgia high school coaching to come to Clemson in 2016, Swinney told him he envisioned him ultimately being a coordinator here.
It's important to note here that we're not picking up any evidence of bad blood between Swinney and Venables, or any indication that Swinney didn't think it was a good move for Bates.
A decade ago when longtime assistant Chris Rumph left Clemson to join Nick Saban's staff at Alabama, Swinney was none too pleased with the move and told Rumph he would regret the decision.
All our indications point to Swinney being happy for Bates and endorsing this promotion of the Alabama grad he brought to Clemson from Jacksonville State after the 2016 season.
That said, this is a ton of turnover for a staff that experienced so little of it over the past decade.
Two years ago, Jeff Scott left for South Florida and Tyler Grisham stepped up to coach receivers.
A year ago, Danny Pearman was moved off the field and Swinney promoted C.J. Spiller to coach running backs while Elliott moved to tight ends.
Now it's official that Robbie Caldwell is going into an administrative role, meaning that four of the five offensive positions have turned over in the last two years (the only exception Brandon Streeter, the longtime quarterbacks coach who's now the OC).
On the defensive side, one of the major sticking points offered by Conn recently after Venables' departure was that there's still a lot of experience and continuity on the staff Venables left behind.
Bates' name was one of the first he mentioned, a key piece of the puzzle.
"We got a whole room full of coaches," Conn said on Dec. 18. "We've got a good group of assistant coaches, and nobody left. Everybody's still there."
Now Bates and Roof will be coordinating the defense at Oklahoma under Venables.
As for where Swinney will turn to fill this vacancy, we had heard some rumblings that new Auburn defensive line coach and former Clemson Tiger Nick Eason might be an attractive candidate. Further checking with well-placed sources casts some doubt on that as an option.
We will certainly keep you posted when we pick up reliable info on this vacancy.
From THE TIGER FAN SHOP: More marked down officially-licensed Clemson apparel and gear! Visit The Tiger Fan Shop HERE!
By: Larry Williams
A few initial reactions to today's big news that defensive line coach Todd Bates is headed to Oklahoma to be the co-defensive coordinator under Brent Venables:
Our first thought this morning when we started detecting some fire to go with the smoke:
Wow.
As in, in mid-December whatever flirtations that happened between Bates and his old/new boss at Oklahoma appeared to be past-tense.
In announcing Wes Goodwin and Mickey Conn as co-coordinators to replace Venables, Clemson also announced promotions for Bates and Mike Reed.
Bates was the new assistant head coach, that title having been previously held by Tony Elliott.
But more than that, he'd just received a $200,000 bump to his salary (to $715,000 from $515,000).
After five seasons in Clemson, Todd Bates is now off to Oklahoma to become Co-Defensive Coordinator. (Tigerillustrated.com)
In mid-December, after Dabo Swinney confirmed that Venables tried to lure Goodwin to Norman, we asked Swinney if Venables attempted to nab anyone else from his staff.
"I'll keep our conversations private, but we talked about a lot of people," Swinney said that day. "Just like Tony and I sat down and I said: 'I'm not going to let you have that one, and I don't want you to have that one.' And he's like, 'Well I'm going to try.' And I'm like, 'Well that's great! I'll be proud of you to go try. But you better try hard.' But it's great. Because I want them to have a chance."
Where Ted Roof and Miguel Chavis were support staffers who joined Venables in major staff roles, this one is of course different because it takes a big fish from Clemson's pond.
So much for the idea that there was some sort of gentlemen's agreement in which Venables consented to not trying to go after any of Swinney's on-field coaches.
Here's what Swinney said about Bates in mid-December in announcing his promotion:
"Todd Bates is a future head coach, and gonna be a great head coach. He's one of those guys that just -- he's special. He's got that gift. Whatever that is that you have to have to be a head coach, Todd Bates exemplifies every single thing you could possibly want. He's got a great understanding of the game. He's young. He just gets it on all levels.
"So him moving into a leadership role is really going to help me. I'll lean on him for a lot of head-coach things, collaboration, discussion. He's somebody I have so much trust in, his opinion on everything. He's also our recruiting coordinator, so just more responsibility for him."
Bates was in Clemson for five seasons after replacing Dan Brooks, and he crafted a reputation as a high-level recruiter in addition to developing some decorated interior linemen.
It's fair to wonder how Bates took the news that he was being passed over for a co-coordinating role here after Venables departed and Swinney quickly named Goodwin the chief play-caller and Conn the co-coordinator.
And we can confirm that when Venables pursued Goodwin, he did so with the same role in mind that Goodwin has now at Clemson: chief play-caller and linebackers coach.
As we have reported, when Conn left an illustrious career in Georgia high school coaching to come to Clemson in 2016, Swinney told him he envisioned him ultimately being a coordinator here.
It's important to note here that we're not picking up any evidence of bad blood between Swinney and Venables, or any indication that Swinney didn't think it was a good move for Bates.
A decade ago when longtime assistant Chris Rumph left Clemson to join Nick Saban's staff at Alabama, Swinney was none too pleased with the move and told Rumph he would regret the decision.
All our indications point to Swinney being happy for Bates and endorsing this promotion of the Alabama grad he brought to Clemson from Jacksonville State after the 2016 season.
That said, this is a ton of turnover for a staff that experienced so little of it over the past decade.
Two years ago, Jeff Scott left for South Florida and Tyler Grisham stepped up to coach receivers.
A year ago, Danny Pearman was moved off the field and Swinney promoted C.J. Spiller to coach running backs while Elliott moved to tight ends.
Now it's official that Robbie Caldwell is going into an administrative role, meaning that four of the five offensive positions have turned over in the last two years (the only exception Brandon Streeter, the longtime quarterbacks coach who's now the OC).
On the defensive side, one of the major sticking points offered by Conn recently after Venables' departure was that there's still a lot of experience and continuity on the staff Venables left behind.
Bates' name was one of the first he mentioned, a key piece of the puzzle.
"We got a whole room full of coaches," Conn said on Dec. 18. "We've got a good group of assistant coaches, and nobody left. Everybody's still there."
Now Bates and Roof will be coordinating the defense at Oklahoma under Venables.
As for where Swinney will turn to fill this vacancy, we had heard some rumblings that new Auburn defensive line coach and former Clemson Tiger Nick Eason might be an attractive candidate. Further checking with well-placed sources casts some doubt on that as an option.
We will certainly keep you posted when we pick up reliable info on this vacancy.
From THE TIGER FAN SHOP: More marked down officially-licensed Clemson apparel and gear! Visit The Tiger Fan Shop HERE!
