Rick Stockstill

Former longtime Clemson assistant coach Rick Stockstill joins the podcast to reflect on life after 18 years as Middle Tennessee State's head coach.

Stockstill was fired in late November, and he says his main objective now is trying to find jobs for the staffers who worked for him. 

Stockstill is full of stories from working under the likes of Danny Ford, Tommy Bowden, Lou Holtz and Steve Spurrier.

His reluctant decision to leave Clemson in 2003, for the offensive coordinator job at East Carolina, might have been the most important coaching departure in Clemson history:

Tommy Bowden filled the vacancy by hiring Dabo Swinney, who'd been out of coaching for two years and was well on his way to being successful in commercial real estate.

After a year at East Carolina, Stockstill left to work for Lou Holtz at South Carolina. He said coaching and recruiting for the Gamecocks was strange initially because he spent so many years competing against them.

"When we were at Clemson I would throw the football with my son Brent, and I'd give him signals for which route to run," Stockstill said.

The signal for a go route was Stockstill tapping his head, and the name of the play was "Gamecock Killer" in reference to Rod Gardner's legendary catch of Woody Dantzler's desperation pass in a 2000 victory over South Carolina.

"When we went to South Carolina, Brent was asking me why. I told him this is part of the profession, and we'll have to come up with some new signals."

Stockstill's first of two seasons in Columbia was 2004, which ended in the infamous brawl against the Gamecocks at Death Valley.

He remembers standing on the South Carolina sideline before the game and watching Gamecock players run to the east end zone to greet Clemson as it ran down the hill.

Stockstill turned to a South Carolina staffer and said: "These boys don't know what they just did."

Clemson dominated the game and won 29-7 in Lou Holtz's last game as coach.

Stockstill said he hopes join a college staff as an analyst.