Wednesday Clemson Football Nuggets
By: Larry Williams
A few football-related nuggets and insights five days before the season opener at Duke:
-- Dabo Swinney has significantly limited media access to the offensive and defensive coordinators.
Today, Garrett Riley and Wes Goodwin will visit with the media. It will be one of just four press conferences scheduled for the coordinators over the regular season.
That's a dramatic reduction from the previous routine, which featured the coordinators conducting weekly press conferences not just on Mondays nearly every game week but also after every game.
From this point Swinney will be the sole coaching voice beyond the four aforementioned press conferences on the schedule for Riley and Goodwin.
Clemson fans will hear from Garrett Riley (directly) much less in the coming months. (Tigerillustrated.com)
Speculation from outside the program of course could run wild as folks wonder if he's cracking down on criticism that's come over the past two seasons.
We don't get that sense from recent conversations we've had about the change in access. We're told Swinney surveyed media policies elsewhere, particularly at the top programs, and found that other places provide much less access to coordinators and other assistants.
The first sign of a different approach came during August camp, when coordinators were not made available to the media. As far back as we can remember, coordinators conducted press conferences during August camp.
Just to be clear here: The intent here is not to bash Swinney for tightening things up access-wise. It's not going to affect our coverage one bit, because press conferences typically aren't our central focus as we dig beneath the surface to present an authoritative account of not just what is happening inside the football program, but why it is happening.
Our job every single day we get out of bed is to provide our subscribers with meaty insight, information and analysis that they can't get anywhere else. And that model isn't built on what coaches and players say in front of the cameras and microphones. The press-conference stuff has always been a secondary focus for us.
That said, we do think it's unfortunate and we do respectfully disagree with the change because it takes away a direct link for fans to receive regular updates and explanations from highly-paid decision-makers in the aftermath of games.
Some historical context: The last time Swinney made significant changes to media-access policies was 2011. So it's been a while.
And to be fair: Swinney is much more expansive and available than the head coaches at some other top programs he surveyed.
His opening statements are longer than the entirety of most Nick Saban press conferences. Kirby Smart typically isn't all that forthcoming. And press conferences for Jim Harbaugh seem like pretty much a joke to him as he does everything he can to avoid genuine, insightful answers.
That said, a strong case can be made in Clemson's case for more regular coordinator appearances.
Riley was the top coordinator in the country when Swinney plucked him from TCU. He came to Clemson with the aura of a rock star, and his next job will almost certainly be a head-coaching job. Fans would've probably wanted more windows for him to speak, not less.
Goodwin, by his own admission, did a lot of learning on the job last year after he was promoted to replace Brent Venables. Part of that learning process was facing the cameras every week and being the figurehead for his unit, during some quite trying circumstances at times. In Year 2 of one of the most unconventional hires in college football history, fans certainly would prefer weekly opportunities to see how Goodwin is further growing into the high-profile role.
We'll be interested to hear subscribers' views on this.
But beyond what's written above, we're moving on and will continue our commitment to providing you all with the best coverage of Clemson football anywhere.
-- Some injury-related updates:
*** We're interested to hear how Walker Parks has progressed since spraining an ankle in the first scrimmage of camp.
Initially we were told it was a minor sprain, and on the ankle opposite the one that underwent surgery after last season.
We checked on this yesterday and a contact reaffirmed the belief that it's a minor injury. But it's still something we're watching.
*** As Paul noted Tuesday morning in his excellent analysis of the depth chart, the fact that Brannon Spector was designated as an "or" with Troy Stellato should probably not be meant as a compliment.
Spector has missed time recently with a hamstring injury. We're told he's walking around fine, but this is also something we'll be monitoring entering the opener.
*** One of our questions to Goodwin today will be whether Jeremiah Trotter has totally put the hamstring injury behind him.
As we've been reporting for a couple weeks, Trotter was held from a significant portion of camp so he could fully recover from a minor hamstring injury.
We've heard nothing this week indicating this is a problem, but still worth asking just for clarity from Goodwin.
NOTE: Please do not copy/paste or summarize any portion of this post to other websites or social media, as it is a direct violation of copyright laws. Thank you!
JUST RELEASED: The new Clemson Nike Zoom Pegasus 40 Running Shoes now in stock at The Tiger Fan Shop HERE!
By: Larry Williams
A few football-related nuggets and insights five days before the season opener at Duke:
-- Dabo Swinney has significantly limited media access to the offensive and defensive coordinators.
Today, Garrett Riley and Wes Goodwin will visit with the media. It will be one of just four press conferences scheduled for the coordinators over the regular season.
That's a dramatic reduction from the previous routine, which featured the coordinators conducting weekly press conferences not just on Mondays nearly every game week but also after every game.
From this point Swinney will be the sole coaching voice beyond the four aforementioned press conferences on the schedule for Riley and Goodwin.
Clemson fans will hear from Garrett Riley (directly) much less in the coming months. (Tigerillustrated.com)
Speculation from outside the program of course could run wild as folks wonder if he's cracking down on criticism that's come over the past two seasons.
We don't get that sense from recent conversations we've had about the change in access. We're told Swinney surveyed media policies elsewhere, particularly at the top programs, and found that other places provide much less access to coordinators and other assistants.
The first sign of a different approach came during August camp, when coordinators were not made available to the media. As far back as we can remember, coordinators conducted press conferences during August camp.
Just to be clear here: The intent here is not to bash Swinney for tightening things up access-wise. It's not going to affect our coverage one bit, because press conferences typically aren't our central focus as we dig beneath the surface to present an authoritative account of not just what is happening inside the football program, but why it is happening.
Our job every single day we get out of bed is to provide our subscribers with meaty insight, information and analysis that they can't get anywhere else. And that model isn't built on what coaches and players say in front of the cameras and microphones. The press-conference stuff has always been a secondary focus for us.
That said, we do think it's unfortunate and we do respectfully disagree with the change because it takes away a direct link for fans to receive regular updates and explanations from highly-paid decision-makers in the aftermath of games.
Some historical context: The last time Swinney made significant changes to media-access policies was 2011. So it's been a while.
And to be fair: Swinney is much more expansive and available than the head coaches at some other top programs he surveyed.
His opening statements are longer than the entirety of most Nick Saban press conferences. Kirby Smart typically isn't all that forthcoming. And press conferences for Jim Harbaugh seem like pretty much a joke to him as he does everything he can to avoid genuine, insightful answers.
That said, a strong case can be made in Clemson's case for more regular coordinator appearances.
Riley was the top coordinator in the country when Swinney plucked him from TCU. He came to Clemson with the aura of a rock star, and his next job will almost certainly be a head-coaching job. Fans would've probably wanted more windows for him to speak, not less.
Goodwin, by his own admission, did a lot of learning on the job last year after he was promoted to replace Brent Venables. Part of that learning process was facing the cameras every week and being the figurehead for his unit, during some quite trying circumstances at times. In Year 2 of one of the most unconventional hires in college football history, fans certainly would prefer weekly opportunities to see how Goodwin is further growing into the high-profile role.
We'll be interested to hear subscribers' views on this.
But beyond what's written above, we're moving on and will continue our commitment to providing you all with the best coverage of Clemson football anywhere.
-- Some injury-related updates:
*** We're interested to hear how Walker Parks has progressed since spraining an ankle in the first scrimmage of camp.
Initially we were told it was a minor sprain, and on the ankle opposite the one that underwent surgery after last season.
We checked on this yesterday and a contact reaffirmed the belief that it's a minor injury. But it's still something we're watching.
*** As Paul noted Tuesday morning in his excellent analysis of the depth chart, the fact that Brannon Spector was designated as an "or" with Troy Stellato should probably not be meant as a compliment.
Spector has missed time recently with a hamstring injury. We're told he's walking around fine, but this is also something we'll be monitoring entering the opener.
*** One of our questions to Goodwin today will be whether Jeremiah Trotter has totally put the hamstring injury behind him.
As we've been reporting for a couple weeks, Trotter was held from a significant portion of camp so he could fully recover from a minor hamstring injury.
We've heard nothing this week indicating this is a problem, but still worth asking just for clarity from Goodwin.
NOTE: Please do not copy/paste or summarize any portion of this post to other websites or social media, as it is a direct violation of copyright laws. Thank you!
JUST RELEASED: The new Clemson Nike Zoom Pegasus 40 Running Shoes now in stock at The Tiger Fan Shop HERE!
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