Clawson Tweet - Rumored to be fired

[h2oville rocket]

THe truth is getting old? Look at the other programs around the MAC...NIU and UT had horrible years and follwed them with a medicore year and then were in a position to contend. I see us being on a similar arc. Hell...We would have been bowl eligible if we had CMU and/or Akron on the schedule...every other MAC program had at least one of the creampuffs on their slate. We didn't. We had the top three from the west and the top two from the east.

I think you reevaluate next year if we tread water or regress...as it sits I think Clawon's doing a good job

Yep, our mediocre 7-1 MAC season in 2010 put us in position to contend this year with a sparkling 7-1 MAC record.

[Flipper]

actually...dum dum...I was referring to the 3-9, 5-7, 8-5 arc you had from the last year of fatstutz to the start of 2011. I thought that would be obvious...even to you . Wow...someone actually overestimated you...that doesn't happen very often, does it?

[freefalcon]

Yes...just wait until next year!!...just wait until next year!!...just wait until next year!!...just wait until next year!!...just wait until next year!!...just wait until next year!!...just wait until next year!!...and so on and so on

[Flipper]

Right...we should forget about building a program and just focus on short term results....

[Falconfreak90]

Coach Clawson and the staff have the foundation in place...now comes the fun part. This team is gonna roll in 2012.

[sum1udontknow]

I have a really hard time listening to people talk about "rebuilding" at the MAC level.... coaches don't come to the MAC for a career, its a stepping stone to the future and bigger conferences. So with that being said, we should be focusing on short term results. Everyone keeps talking about improvement that Clawson is making.

First season was a success, a bowl game appearance, with all Brandon recruits.

Next season was 2-10 with Clawson's new guy taking over the helm in Schilz, who eventually got hurt. Yes terrible special teams and some unlikely bounces killed this team but oh well.

This season 5-7 with multiple games left on the field we could've won. I'm sorry but I can't consider this team looking at an amazing season next year when we lose so many receivers, the one strength of this team. Yes Anthon Samuel had a fine season and the defense made big plays at times. But I know what I see and that is a team that is not well coached and relies on talent alot of times to get the job done. So many times we've had stalled drives when the offense is clicking because we get away from what we do well. We scored in a 1:08 against Wyoming with the game on the line but several times over a 1:00 we take knees and go into half. This is the MAC, its wide open offense. Conservative style will not win you games in this conference. I retweeted what FBrumormill had posted to get some replies and got alot of people hoping that was true. I know Jason Knavel was furious but its a topic for thought that people should be allowed to talk about.

Just a thought for everyone, remember when Urban Meyer got here, and we got real good, and then he left, thats gonna happen at Bowling Green. I just think its Win or Leave for Clawson next year because I'm sick of seeing us lose. Believe it or not I care about this program.

[Flipper]

Do I really need to keep repeating myself? Look at the other top programs in the league...they all went through what we are going through. It's unrealistic to expect us to be any different. It takes time to build a program...if I have to sit through one excruciating year of football and one tremendously frutrating year of football to be in a position to contend long term...so be it. Cripes on Friday... Look at the depth chart on defense...if there's a true or redshirt freshman on the two deep next year, they'll be there because they can play..not because they're a warm body. That's what we've fallen into in the oast and what we now no longer need to do..

[Falconfreak90]

Too many people are caught up in the "Win now or else" theme of college football. Not many people show patience when a program needs to rebuild.

Look at Miami the last 4 years...1-11, 2-10, 10-4 (MAC Champs) and back to 4-8. I don't wanna see BG in that position. I wanna see BG contending for titles every year, or nearly every year. Consistent winning...

Yeah the last two years have been frustrating but Flip is right...long term success is the way to go.

[kdog27]

I get sum1's point or at least I think I do. We give Clawson his four years and he has the year we have been waiting for, if he leaves are we right back where we were 4 years ago? Or has he elevated the players on the field enough that we won't see much of a dropoff with a good staff?

I haven't questioned the talent we put on the field. 4 first team all mac selections is impressive but you would also think a team with 4 selections would have been better than 3-5. Clawson has got some real good players but I still have serious doubts that he can win consistently when he never puts the foot down with a lead and they can't stop a running quarterback to save their lives. They made a couple quarterbacks this year look like Doak Walker finalists. I didn't get to see the Buffalo game with the holiday but I am glad we ended the year on a winning note.

I am excited about next year and the players we have coming back, but I am concerned with how terrible our record has been in close games the last 3 years. You can't ignore all these last second and final drive blunders.

[mc3022]

I know a lot of people are hung up on the whole "I blame Greg Brandon" thing as a joke, but I think it truly applies here.

The fact that Clawson inherited a team that had only 10 graduating seniors this year is a mark of a recruiting failure of the previous classes.

The third year of a coach is typically when the coaches own recruits start taking the field and playing, and I think those recruits have done a nice job so far.

You're looking at a team next year that has the majority of its "key" players coming back - with personnel that I believe will be able to fill the void at WR based on what I have heard from the practice film. (The position I believe was most impacted by graduation)

To win at any level of D1, you have to recruit - and I believe that Clawson has the personnel for this team to do very well next year.

[mmisbg]

I know a lot of people are hung up on the whole "I blame Greg Brandon" thing as a joke, but I think it truly applies here.

Right on. I think we are seeing exactly what happens when you run a program the way that Brandon ran the program. His record before the Meyer kids aged out was significantly better than his record after those kids left. Once the progress that Meyer established had been cycled out, Brandon's recruiting methods and management style dug a serious hole.

We were losing scholarships because he was signing players with the athleticism to play at BCS schools but with grades more suited to Community College. Plus, he was putting all of his attention into acquiring wide receivers and ignoring the rest of the team. By the time these two things ran their course, we wound up with a defense that couldn't tackle, an offensive line that couldn't run or pass block, kickers that couldn't hit the broad side of a barn, and a special teams unit that allowed huge returns. And this doesn't even begin to address the legal issues beginning to mount by our players.

In three years, Clawson has brought our scholarships back to full strength (which will be even more important once the new standards take effect), and improved aspects to our roster and gameplan that will eventually yield long term success.

I do think that our play calling did cost us a few wins this year, but I still maintain that the team is on the right track. Our starting unit has demonstrated quite a few improvements upon the issues of the Brandon era. Tackling is better, and our defense usually keeps us in games when our offense is able to move the ball effectively. Our punter has leg. Our kickers are better (even though that didn't take much). We have several running backs that have speed when they have running room. Our WR corps is graduating some guys, but there are some new guys that have looked good, and more new guys coming in. Our QB is fairly accurate when he has protection.

The biggest problem is that our team is 1 deep in many positions, or at least 1 deep for all intensive purposes. This takes years to fix.

Our offensive line still needs to improve.

If those two things can see some improvement, in concert with some more aggressive play calling, I really think next year will be a fun year for us.

[Siborg]

15 total seniors. 3 JC xfers, 6 walk-ons, 6 scholarship recruits

It seems we would prefer to retain more than 6 recruits through their senior year. I don't know if the walk-ons were recruited by GB or not. If so, then that improves his retention % a bit. I also don't know how many left due to the coaching switch. I recall at least 3, Vince & Tim German and Marc Larson that may fall into that category. My point is that its already difficult to switch coaches but with the APR issues and low retention %, it really put us in a hole. We are just beginning to dig our way out so I hope we give Clawson his full 5 years to rebuild this program.

JC Xfers
19 Kamar Jorden WR 6-1 203 5th Darby, Pa. / Penn Wood
1 Eugene Cooper WR 5-9 181 Sr. Mount Vernon, NY / Mount Vernon
11 Jovan Leacock DB 5-10 193 Sr. Jamaica Queens, NY / Bayside

Walk-ons
27 Jason Rice R 5-11 201 5th Dublin, Ohio / Dublin Scioto
28 Steven Dunlap WR 5-8 176 5th Dolton, IL / Hales Franciscan
34 Zach Akenberger RB 5-8 194 Sr. Bowling Green, Ohio / Bowling Green
67 Micky Wagner DL 6-0 260 5th Cleveland, Ohio / Valley Forge
68 Scott Lewis OL 6-2 302 5th Sylvania, OH / Sylvania Northview
80 Justus Jones WR 6-2 201 5th Chino Hills, Calif. / Archbishop Riordan

Recruited via scholarship.
21 Adrien Spencer DB 5-11 186 Sr. Fort Wayne, Ind. / Bishop Luers
32 Keith Morgan DB 6-0 213 Sr. Bellefontaine, Ohio / Bellfontaine
2 Ray Hutson WR 6-2 197 5th Detroit, Michigan / Detroit Urban Lutheran
3 Kevin Moore DL 6-1 265 5th East Chicago, Indiana / Portage
9 Adrian Hodges WR 5-10 186 5th Jacksonville, Florida / First Coast
61 Ben Bojicic OL 6-4 296 5th Farmington Hills, Michigan / Harrison

[Drago]

I do think there is some talent on the roster, but I haven't seen one thing to indicate our staff can consistently outcoach decent teams, especially considering Clawson has exactly two wins against D1 teams with above .500 records. All the complaining about a lack of seniors, the apr, blah blah blah is all just excuses to protect Clawson and GC.
I don't have a problem with giving Clawson one more year to see if he can get it done, but i think too many people are overreacting to finishing the season with a win against a bad opponent.

[Flipper]

I think Urban Meyer had one win here against 1A opponents that finished with above .500 records.... We didn't have a lot of Seniors...we were penalized eight scholarships...why is this so hard to accept?

[daspollak]

What the hell is out coach? When I played it was whether out not we executed. The coach made adjustments, but we still had to execute. Evaluate Clawson on this is he bringing in quality players to fit his system?