Post Season Press Conference: STS is the Devils Playground

I did not get a chance to watch Dabo's press conference today, but I did get to read the comments on twitter this afternoon and read some of the message board chatter about it. Tonight I did get to read it and listen to the presser, and oh boy.

Dabs started out thanking Steele for his contributions, said he was a friend, and said the parting was mutual. Well it wasn't mutual of course, because if The Sweatshirt wanted Steele to stay, he'd still be here. Steele did technically resign, and he is getting a chunk of his buyout amount, but maybe not the full amount he would if he were outright fired. I do think Steele turns out just fine as a LB coach again, and we'll see how much blame Dabo deserves for his defenses' performances this year. I'm not one to put total blame on a coordinator, as some other idiot fans think we were with the post below announcing his firing.

Is Steele still being paid then?

Yes

So he (Steele) resigned?

No he didn't resign, we both agreed that a change was needed we're going to honor his contract. Again, this allows him to pursue some opportunities that he has to look at.

So he didnt resign and he wasn't fired?

That would be correct.

So he will get a buyout?

Yes, we agreed a change was needed. I didnt want to have to fire him. We needed to talk through some issues and those couldnt be resolved.

What kind of philosophical differences were there?

"We’ll continue to be an aggressive attacking defense. It has to be the right. We may stay within staff. I’ve got great men. Whoever comes in has to have good chemistry. Just got going yesterday. Form a philosophical standpoint - lets attack and get after people. Multiple with our coverages. It’s not about scheme as other things.

So I'm missing something, philosophically you didnt agree but you dont want to change the philosophy?

I cant help you there. Its not about scheme, its other things.

Clear as mud. You can see it in the press conference video here. If you know who that was that asked those questions to clown the Clown in the middle and end of the presser, shake his hand.

Back to the opening statements...

"I’m not going to spend a lot of time on the Orange Bowl. It was poor performance. As I step back, you can’t let a terrible night let us lose sight of a special year. This is a roster that had 42 freshmen on it. I am proud of our football team. We had a great meeting last night. We made great progress in the last three years. This is the best season that Clemson has had in 20 years. I spent time with [former Clemson head coach] Ken Hatfield. We talked about that very thing. It’s hard for him to believe that it has been 20 years. He’s lived a lifetime. This team was special. They did something that will be remembered for a long time. The team has made a ton of progress. Nobody except the guys in this room believed that we would be ACC champions, win 10 games, play in the Orange Bowl."

Dabo is correct when he says you shouldn't let the fact that he let us get our asses kicked up and down the field by GT, NC State, SC and WVU color the results of the season. We did win 10 and the ACC. Thanks Chad. Unfortunately we've looked at the snap counts of this team in several posts here, and you weren't even playing the freshmen on the field, so don't give us the "oh we had 125 freshmen" excuse.

The primary freshmen (and RS Fr) who played major snaps were Breeland, Corey Crawford, Anthony, and our WRs. The rest weren't on the field when the defense got shredded by FSU's backup QB, Maryland's backup QB, BC's 4th string RB, SC's 4th string RB, NC State's backup RB, etc. It wasn't the 3rd string D-line that couldn't control Georgia Tech's front, or couldn't get pressure on Geno Smith, who had been sacked relentlessly in Big East play. It wasn't the 2nd string OL that got Tajh planted on his ass by Troy or Wofford either. Were we young in some places? Sure, but don't give me "oh we had a roster of freshmen" excuse. You guys couldn't get some of these freshmen onto the field.

And you had to mention HATFIELD didnt you?

Dabo was asked about his coaching search, which has at least 4 candidates. The first is known to be Oklahoma's Brent Venables, who I definitely do not want, and who OU fans want rid of, but he does follow the style that Dabo prefers on defense. Venables interviewed for the HC job before Dabo was hired. Another is possibly Charlie Harbison, who I am indifferent on as the Coordinator. I know Harbison thinks some of our packages are too complex for the kids to learn, so thats a plus. He'd like to have someone before signing day, which is definite.

As of last night, I’ve made contact. When this gets out in the public, at a place like Clemson, it doesn’t take long. It’s not fun to have a job opening. There’s a lot of great people you have to say no to. You can only say yes one time. I’m just starting that process.. We’ve contacted all those guys. No issues there. No time frame as to when. Just want to make right decision for staff, players, myself and Clemson. We’ll hire a great guy, a great footballl coach and will bring a lot to the table, and will fit in the culture at Clemson and will buy into the vision that we have. I have four or five names tha are pretty special. We’ll start there."

Yanity asked what his preferred base defense would be, and he said 4-3, but his response about Odd/Even fronts is no-BS. I think we have personnel to play either and the particular style is unimportant. What is important is hiring a good coach to run the defense. His scheme does not matter.

- Dabo announced that reserve FS Carlton Lewis will graduate and transfer to another school. This is one I wasn't expecting, but I do expect another, probably Matt Sanders.

- He expects no other coaches to leave at this time. I think one or two could possibly, depending on the specialties of the DC that is hired, but its too early to guess. Venables is a LB coach.

Dabo when you first took over you expressed a desire to be physically and mentally tough, especially on the offensive line, how much progress do you think you've made there?

See those three trophies? (ACC, ACC Atlantic, Bowl trophy) We've made great strides in that area....We're developing our linemen....thats where we've made a lot of progress.... Theres a standard that we've set and you have to be physically and mentally tough to reach it.

What? Way to bullshit a question about our pitiful OL and mental strength. I guess our mental strength was apparent to him when NC State and WV were putting up 100 points in a quarter. Then he pointed to Chris Hairston as an example of our great physical abilities and praised Antoine McClain and Landon Walker. All the others he mentioned as NFL greats we've put in the league from our OL get railed on by their fans, particularly Richardson at KC.

I was expecting David Hood to ask a question about Joey Batson and Caldwell, since TNet works for the AD anyway, but I don't know his voice from the others. Can someone verify who asked this?

Alot of the toughness questions go back to Joey Batson, it seems like there are websites (HAHAHA) dedicated to it now.

"That is a joke. That’s the problem. It’s crap like that I don’t know where it comes from. People have no clue. Batson is as good a strength coach as there is in the country. I have no idea. If he wasn’t a championship caliber guy, he wouldn’t be there. The discipline and accountability we have and the reason we don’t have crap is that goes on at other places is because of Batson. They respect him. The problem with the internet is that people have their own agendas. I don’t read any of it. Zero. (lie) That’s the devil’s playground. In fact I met with Jon Gruden and with Ron jaworski- they said ‘Your guys are physical and strong. I don’t see many teams that look like your guys.’ It’s an all-encompassing program and it starts with joey. He’s as good as it is out there. As is Abernathy and Greenlee. My standard is the best and if he couldn’t live up to the best he wouldn’t be there."

Never heard that it was a personal problem at all, more philosophic with recruiting and motivation/discipline of the OL....and I'm thrilled if he stays. I just want to see what happens after signing day.

Another reporter asked good questions at the end about toughness

How do you prevent losing again like you did this year, its almost like, in those 4 losses, you hit Clemson in the mouth and you've got them where you want them?

Did you watch the games? It starts with taking care of the football. That affects your momentum, your psyche. Come turn on the film and say Brandon Thompson aint tough. We just got beat. Did you predict us to be 14-0?

Did I? No.

OK, did you predict us to be 10-4?

I thought possibly.

OK, you need tough guys to get it done. You dont win 10 games if youre not tough. You dont win in Blacksburg if you aint tough. We had the 2nd largest comeback in the history of this school. At Maryland, 18 down. Came back from 14 3 times, Never been done. Get your facts right.

Fantastic Dabo, laud them for coming back to win games they should've won without a doubt in the first place. Auburn? OK. Not Maryland.

LW asked him offline, after the Assistant SID hurried him out of the room because of the heat, about the comments made by WVU players about our OL. He dismissed it totally as internet stuff.

Welcome to my playground.