Coach Ford comments on the Situation

Edited with transcript.

Yall just listen to The Man.

Radio Interview via SportsTalk Rewind

Transcript:

(first question is cut off)

I'd be scared to death of playing Maryland because they have their number. Certain teams can have your number and you be a lot better, and they still beat you.

Theres questions about Clemson on the message boards, they're 2-3 and theres alot of doubts about the program. How do you see Dabo because he's alot like you were? How do you see this program right now?

I think number one, anybody is gonna say in the administration or athletically that we wont never do nothing in the middle of the season and we always evaluate at the end of the year. I know they said that two years ago with Bowden, Bowden prolly pulled the rug out from under them on that, but people are pretty nervous at Clemson because of his overall record, because he's young, because of his coaching staff....they havent had success because he hasn't ran Ellington more than the other young man and all this and that and whatever.

The only thing that will cure any of that is a win. But, NC State is alot better than they've been, Maryland has been tough against Clemson, Florida State is getting better every week and they gotta play down there, Carolina is better than they've been playing. They kinda beat em last year in the cycle and they've got to play up here this year but that doesnt mean a whole lot if the other team is a whole lot better. They know they may not win 1 or 2 more football games, then there is really gonna be some talk.

Everybody just has to sit tight and the people will let you know whether you're doing a good job or not if they come to the football game on Saturday.

Now Coach when you look at it, you said "I coached the OLine, I coached what I knew how to coach and let other more experienced guys coach (their jobs), knowing I'm the head coach, but I stayed out of it." Do you think Dabo isn't doing that by hiring a young coordinator, maybe having too many inexperienced assistants?

The first 2 football games Billy Napier was becoming a small Spurrier; he was becoming a genius offensively. Then, the last 2, the last 3 games, everybody questions why they did this, why they did that. I think Billy Napier is a bright young man but now whether he's ready to do what he's doing and continue, that will show up and W's and L's will decide that. That will decide who coaches at Clemson. I don't think you can have a bad year after 9 years of Coach Bowden, keeping a lot of the same coaches and be an average football team or below in your 2nd year and somebody don't think you don't need to make some kind of change. Now that might be the offensive coordinator, defensive coordinator, a position coach, but you can't be satisfied with that. You cant be satisfied as a head coach surveying and those seats (be empty). They may be selling those tickets but if they dont show up... thats easy to see by how many people are in the stands.

Now I hope it doesnt come to that and I hope Clemson runs the table and everybody has a happy Christmas and a happy Thanksgiving and all that. 

The truth of the matter is very simple, this is the way I'd always try to put it. A head coach is like being a used car salesman, new car salesman, or an insurance salesman: if I don't sell so many cars, then I aint gonna eat. If i dont sell enough my bossman is gonna get rid of me, thats the way the thing works. Its no different from any other job that you have to work for a living. If I dont produce and dont carry your load, you cant expect to maintain and be kept around.

We talked before about Woody McCorvey, a guy thats mature, a sidebar for Dabo at times, and you (living) in the area...is this a situation where Dabo needs to come to a guy like Woody or yourself for help? Or does it seem like he's stubborn and wont do stuff like that?

Well you have to use your resources. You don't need to come to me til you win a game because I don't want to take credit for what you're doing right now.

Woody has plenty of sense. He coached for me and he's been a coordinator in coaching a long time and he's welcome to my house anytime. But it don't matter if you dont wanna listen. You gotta listen. Don't ask if you don't wanna listen, and if you do ask for advice then be prepared to take the advice and act on it. Thats the only way i would ever wanna talk with anybody.

If somebody came to me for some kind of advice on the cow business, I'd say do you wanna take my advice? But if you're here and you need some help about cattle, I can tell you what I know about cattle. You can use it or not and you're wasting my time and your time if you say you like my cattle and don't take my advice.

But just doing it to me to tell somebody you did it, or to try to take pressure off of yourself or whatever, thats a waste of time. I've done things like that before and come to watch their practice to have pictures in the paper, that was a long time ago, and i've seen enough practices and don't care to see any more football practices and I dont wanna sit there and watch them, and i've been invited to all of them, because they dont believe what i believe. Thats number 1. I'm wasting my time and they're wasting their time.

I wanna say this coach, you talked about you had a way of doing things back in the 80s that was the signature of Clemson football. It was running the football, it was being physical up front, hitting people in the mouth and playing great defense.  It just seems to me that since Coach Bowden was there and now Dabo that they've gotten away from those concepts: that the way you win football games is to hit people in the mouth, be physical up front, and gotten too fancy with their offense. I think thats their biggest problem.

I think they go no-backs too quick and I've heard people say its hard to be physical when you ain't got a back in there. I think people say they throw the ball too-quick. I think Parker was like 21 out of 37 or something and thats not a bad percentage, but 37 times is just too many times to throw the football.

If you're dictating what you want to do on offense you ain't got to do it that many times. That sounds like a catch-up mode to me. I think some people have the feeling that they got into that too early. If you can't get 3 or 4 yards a clip and you can't maintain clock control, ball control, then you'll never be able to determine your destination. Somebody always has a chance of dropping the football, QB always has a chance of throwing a bad one, theres always a chance of throwing a sack, and theres just a lot of things that can happen. If you can line up and run it and average 3 yards a carry then nobody can take the ball away from you offensively. Its humanly impossible.

I noticed South Carolina running out of the I, they got some big wins with Lattimore young man in there and he seems like an awfully good one and its made Garcia a better QB  and a better QB throwing the football because now everyone knows they ain't going to run the ball every time.

End of Transcript.