Dabo has done at Clemson?
Clemson and Arkansas have a lot of similarities.
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That would be wonderful. Let’s hope Sam pulls it off.
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Main difference between Clemson and UA is there are a lot more athletes within 200 miles of Death Valley then there are for RRS. Both the Atlanta (6 million people) and Charlotte (2.6 million) metro areas are closer to Clemson than Little Rock (750,000) is to UA. Heck, Clemson itself is in a bigger metro area (920,000) than LR.
Now does this mean Sam can’t do what Dabo did? No. Just means Dabo had a comparative advantage.
What metro area is that?
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Greenville-Anderson-Mauldin. Spartanburg is also lumped into the combined statistical area which has a population of 1.3 million. Little Rock’s CSA also includes Pine Bluff and Searcy and is about 910,000.
That question would be better answered at the end of year 2 or 3 to give him time to get his guys and coach them up. No one knows what CSP ceiling will be at this time, but we know at this point he has been a definite upgrade to say the least. How we finish this season will speak volumes but won’t answer the question. Honestly we may be a little too high on our program at this time, but it’s hard not to be as a fan as we have been starving for any sign that we can crawl out of the basement such as what we have been witnessing. WPS
Clemson also is in the weaker ACC. That league can have surges, but it is weak now. Sam Pittman is a solid recruiter. I am encouraged by what I think is his ceiling.
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You be encouraged is encouraging to me. WPS
Clemson is an odd place in some ways. The campus and the town seem extremely rural to me. It’s as rural and small as Oxford and Starkville. Five minutes outside of town and you’re likely to be finding yourself trying to pass a small tractor pulling hay going down the highway. It’s rural all the way back to the interstate highway about 20 or so miles away, but it is also very much a fact that they are in a much larger circle of population than Fayetteville is. Tulsa and Kansas City are just as close or closer to Fayetteville than Little Rock is. but they aren’t as close to UA as Atlanta and Charlotte are to Clemson. Atlanta metro is borderline the equal to DFW as far as football talent, and Clemson has a solid presence there. Charlotte is not at that level, but still produces it’s fair share, and Clemson is the big dog in that city. more than the North Carolina schools. Plus Clemson does well up the Mid Atlantic region, and is close enough to Florida to get several players there. Auburn is always the school Clemson most resembles in it’s makeup. Auburn is also rural but very close to Atlanta and Florida Panhandle. But Clemson has much easier schedule than any SEC team.
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Very good analysis. Thanks. But I am not sure that Clemson is a bigger presence in Charlotte than the North Carolina schools. UNC in particular. For example 4 star QB Drake Maye from
there recently decommited from Alabama and commited to UNC. But overall it is possible Clemson has been a bigger factor there, I don’t know.
At any rate it is nice that we have gone from “will we ever beat an SEC team” to “can we be a Clemson”. Maybe premature, but nice progression.
I’m a Clemson football season ticket holder. There ain’t nothing metro about Clemson, SC or within a 30 min drive. Downtown Greenville is 45 min away.
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They don’t have to be a bigger presence than UNC, etc, in Charlotte. They just have to get their share. But right now Dabo can go anywhere and get just about anyone. Fourteen wins a year will do that.
South Carolina doesn’t have huge metro areas but it produces a lot of athletes from its 5 million + residents and Dabo seems to get the best they have.
I was surprised to see how small SC is geographically. We think of Arkansas as a small state but it’s 20,000 square miles bigger than SC and just about the same size as NC.
Clemson is a small town. So is Siloam Springs, but both are included in a metro area.
I didn’t say they had to be a bigger presence in Charlotte than the North Carolina schools. Someone else said they were in fact a bigger presence and I said that may not be true. But sure, they are a presence there and get their share.
I would just like Arkansas to have a winning season in the next year of two. I don’t think we need to worry about National Championships when we are 2-2 and haven’t beaten anybody outside of the state of Mississippi. If Sam can build a program which has consistent winning records in the SEC, we will be in good shape.
I hope CSP can just win at a respectable rate soon and I think he will. As far as comparing to what Dabo has done at Clemson is a stretch. This is the SEC not the ACC.
We did hire a good NC Coach from Clemson once that didn’t quite emulate that here.
Maybe Ken Hatfield can shed light on this. He’d know. He’s coached at both places. Danny Ford too, now that I think of it.
If we had our original 2020 schedule (no FL or GA) with almost a cinch 3-1 OOC record, we’d probably have a winning record this season. That assumes we’d be playing at the same level we are currently.
In fact with the way this season is going, I’m re-thinking the saying that “it is all about the Jimmy and Joes”. Our Head Coach and his staff have certainly proven that great coaching plays a really big part in winning. To win “big”, certainly, you need both.
The man who would know is Terry Don Phillips. He said the SEC is much tougher than the SEC but that Arkansas can and will win in the SEC with the right man. He thought it was going to be Chad Morris based on what he saw as an OC at Clemson but that did not replicate itself at Arkansas because of poor hires. (That last part is from me, not Terry Don.)
The key at Clemson (in my opinion) is two-fold, the huge number of quality defensive linemen and wide receivers rolling through their program. It’s been the same at Alabama.
Another factor…the raw charisma of one Dabo Swinney. Say what you will about Dabo. His schtick leaves me rather cold. But he has the “it” factor. Especially in this part of the country.
I think Sam is proving he has the “it” factor too…and is a perfect fit for Arkansas it looks like.