Robinson hired by Georgia Tech

Bobby Robinson, Clemson's athletic director from 1985-2002, has been hired to oversee facilities at Georgia Tech.

What were the Jackets thinking? Robinson didn't wake up to Clemson's facilities needs until it was almost too late.

WASTED YOUTH: My crew of friends in college didn't drink nearly as much as this guy, but this story definitely brought back some memories. (It's a little off-topic, but still funny as hell.)

Who's the strongest?

The State has produced a chart illustrating the relative strength of teams in the ACC and SEC. It appears to be based on some kind of mathematical formula or something.

Anyway, Clemson is the seventh-strongest team in the ACC. Whatever.

Tigers picked fifth

Well, the ACC high muckety-mucks have voted, and Clemson is picked to finish fifth in the league this year. The top four are Florida State, N.C. State, Maryland and Virginia.

That dovetails pretty well with everything else I've been reading, though Athlon ranks them like this: N.C. State, Florida State, Maryland, Virginia, Clemson, Wake Forest, Georgia Tech, UNC, Duke.

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I've been monitoring a running dispute on the Tigernet's message board about assistant coach Dabo Swinney's questionable summertime interaction with receiver Kelvin Grant. (It's detailed here, but to sum up, Swinney told the Greenville News he's been running with Grant as "punishment" for Grant's failure to attend summer school sessions, and a bunch of Gamecocks have hijacked the board and are screaming that it's a violation of NCAA rules.)

Now, I'm not familiar with NCAA rules, but if this is a violation, it's so minor that the most it will generate is a warning letter to the coach. After all, jogging is not the same as running routes.

Furthermore, if trying to motivate a struggling student-athlete to go to class is against the rules, then the NCAA is even more screwed-up than I thought.

UPDATE: Well, apparently it is a violation, albeit a very minor one.

Toughening up the defense

Defensive coordinator John Lovett, who I think has the potential to be a great coach, tells the Greenville News that the season-ending 55-15 loss the Texas Tech in the Tangerine Bowl has left a bad taste.

I certainly hope so, and I expect the D to be plenty motivated because of that.

Bowden settles into hot seat

Coach Tommy Bowden held his annual media outing Wednesday. Here's the story.

�Going from the hot seat, probably, to the fiery furnace,� Bowden said following his annual media golf outing at The Reserve, a private course near Lake Keowee.

Clemson is 29-20 in four football seasons under Bowden but is just 14-11 over the past two seasons after an embarrassing 55-15 loss to Texas Tech in the Tangerine Bowl. After the golf outing, which serves as the summer�s opening media event with preseason practice approaching in early August, Bowden acknowledged the Tigers� shortcomings.

Bowden has got to produce this year. The media, the fans, the athletic director, heck, the university president won't settle for less than nine wins.

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Can't wait to see the Tigers play? Check out video highlights from last season here.

Bowden's '12-step program' and other news

Greenville News columnist Bart Wright offers up a 12-step program to help coach Tommy Bowden save his job:

Here's what I think: His job is on the line because the football program has not lived up to expectations and Atlantic Coast Conference expansion next year demands far more than Bowden has been able to produce.

That is not to say he is in a no-win situation, but let's admit he is close to precisely that sort of prickly position. Another low-tier bowl game like last year's disaster at Orlando, Fla., or the previous season's visit to the Humanitarian Bowl in Boise, Idaho, won't be good enough.

Very true.

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Clemson is working to get superstar receiver Roscoe Crosby on the field this fall. God, I hope they can do it. Crosby was awesome in the brief glimpse I saw of him in 2001. He's a tremendous athlete, and we need to get as many of those as we can in the lineup this year.

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Clemson receiver Kelvin Grant has loads of promise. He's also on the verge of being declared academically ineligible.

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Bowden says he'll make a decision soon on the fate of linebacker Eric Sampson:

Sampson was "permanently dismissed" by Bowden in December 2002 for "conduct unbecoming of a Clemson student-athlete," according to a news release by the school at the time. Academic issues contributed to the dismissal, Bowden said.

I hope we get him back. He made some great contributions last season.

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Here's the story behind why the Gamecocks left the ACC. As much as I hate them, I wish they were still in the league. They'd be the perfect 12th team for the newly expanded ACC.

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And finally, here's CBS Sportsline's ranking of the best college football stadiums in the country. Death Valley is 15th. That sounds about right to me.

'The Clemson formula' for success in athletic fundraising

I found this article from the Boston Globe while reading TigerNet's message board. It's about the University of Massachusetts' attempts to raise money for its athletic department, and how IPTAY is the "gold standard" for such programs across the country. An interesting read.

I'm glad Clemson is so highly thought of in fundraising circles, but how long can it last? Here's a Greenville News article on a big slowdown in season ticket sales. People are getting fed up with rising ticket prices and a mediocre product on the field -- my dad among them.

Sadly, he's giving up his season tickets. He has some good reasons for dropping them. The tickets kept getting more expensive, he was never able to significantly improve our seats (Section U since the early 1980s) and a couple of years ago they moved his parking spot from the paved and shady Heisman Lot to a spot on the grass behind the North Stands upper deck. (Yes, it's technically closer, but we really enjoyed tailgating in the Heisman Lot.) Add to the fact that I now live a lot further away and can't get to as many games as I could, and I can understand why he dropped them. Besides, as he pointed out, we could go down there any time and buy tickets.

Check out the schedule

The Greenville News has posted a nifty little Web package on Clemson's upcoming football season. It's a clickable, game-by-game look at the Tigers' opponents. Check it out.

Athlon picks Clemson fifth

I picked up a copy of Athlon's ACC football preview magazine while I was at the beach last week. They're picking Clemson fifth in the league this year.

I've got no problem with that (personally, I think if our O-line gets it together, we could finish higher), but I did have a problem with their unit rankings (see page 60 if you've got the magazine). Clemson's quarterback unit is only ranked seventh in the nine-team ACC.

Seventh? Heck, last year Charlie Whitehurst was fifth in the league in pass efficiency as a freshman, and was eighth in total offense even though he only played in 10 games -- and he only started five of those.

I know preseason prognostication isn't chemical engineering, but I think Whitehurst's performance last season should rank him a bit higher than the seventh-best QB in the league.

(Photo courtesy of TigerNet)