The Clemson Dubcast

In a mere three years, Terrence Oglesby has established himself as a successful college basketball broadcaster and analyst.

It's taken lots of hustle and networking, but most of all Oglesby's continued upward trajectory is a tribute to his smooth style and his strong command of the game.

Oglesby's duties consist of: Analyst for Charlotte Hornets home games; ESPN; FOX; NBA TV; The Field of 68; and CBS Sports Network.

Just this past week he was in Milwaukee broadcasting a game Monday night, and by the next afternoon he was driving from Atlanta to Clemson to work his alma mater's game against Eastern Kentucky.

The former sharpshooter for Oliver Purnell spent several years living in Clemson, but last fall he moved his family to Greenville so he could be closer to the airport.

Oglesby gives his thoughts on the current state of Clemson basketball under Brad Brownell.

He's convinced that Brownell is going to lead the Tigers to sustained prominence as Brownell continues to take advantage of the transfer portal and maintaining the relationships with major donors that are necessary to pay for high-end talent in the NIL era.

Earlier this week, Dabo Swinney wished a happy 80th Birthday to his mother and shared some details of her positively remarkable life story.

Five years ago, Tigerillustrated.com sat down with Carol and she told the story in full.

A small excerpt:

At some point my mother noticed there was something different about how polio had affected me, compared to others. It left me weakened from my waist up and affected my upper body, but not my legs. If polio affected your legs you had no strength or use of them, never growing and never developing any muscles. These people were in big, heavy braces just dragging themselves around. Some were on crutches that held their arms up. At the time I thought: “You know, I’m so thankful.” It was better for your arms to be affected by polio than your legs.

I couldn’t raise my arms. I couldn’t use them. I couldn’t use my hands. So at first I was put into body braces that came around my body, under my arms so they could help keep my arms up. And still to this day, you can see the tremors in my hands and the atrophy. That’s what polio did to me. So I wore those braces until they would have to be changed, and then I would get a new brace. And that went on and on and on.

My upper body was so weak that I developed a bad case of scoliosis, a severe curving of the spine. Because the polio attacked my muscles, I was temporarily paralyzed. And it was drawing me way over to my left side. My body was curved so badly that had I not had corrective surgery and braces, I would have remained curved over had I lived. That’s when my mother realized something was wrong, really wrong. Even with the braces, she would take the braces off just to bathe me and put them back on. But my body would still flop to the left. So my mom took me back to the Crippled Children’s Clinic and Hospital in Birmingham. My body had to be encased as I continued to grow so it would remain straight until I was old enough to have surgery.

I was put in a full body cast and spent 14 months in it. At the time I had long hair; my mother had let it grow out into a long ponytail. And the day they were going to put me in that body cast, they had to cut my ponytail off and basically shave my head. I was almost 9 years old, and I thought that was the most terrifying thing for them to do. My mom wasn’t there; they wouldn’t allow her to be there with me. She did ask them to save my ponytail. So they did, and they put it into a plastic bag and they gave it to her and she kept it for years.

Today we present the audio from that 2019 conversation with Carol.

And we join her son in wishing her a happy 80th birthday.

On May 3, WYFF News 4 Sports Director Marc Whiteman shared this on social media:

Been pretty low key on social media and at work lately, and I’m ready to share some news.

In 2006, Patricia Watkins thought her son was going to play college football for the Florida Gators.

She had never even heard of Clemson when CJ Spiller traveled for a visit there that changed his life, and their lives.

Last week, Watkins was a part of Spiller's entourage on the field at Death Valley when he was inducted into Clemson's Ring of Honor.

It brought tears to her eyes because the first thing she thought of was when CJ tried to join a youth football team as a 6-year-old and was told he was too young (he spent that season as the water boy instead).

CJ bawled his eyes out that day when told he couldn't play. He was crying again last Saturday, but they were tears of joy and gratitude.

Watkins joins The Dubcast to reflect on the journey since Spiller's recruitment when she first heard the name Dabo Swinney.

Swinney, then the receivers coach, was the key figure in convincing Spiller that Clemson was the place for him.

And then a year later, Swinney was again the catalyst in convincing Spiller to remain at Clemson after he'd made up his mind he was going back home and transferring to Florida to join Urban Meyer, Tim Tebow and Percy Harvin.

The mother of the most important recruit in Clemson football history opens up about her story, and their story.

David Hale of ESPN has a fascinating, tumultuous relationship with Dabo Swinney dating back nine years when Swinney's nuclear response to a Hale question about "Clemsoning" went viral.

Hale joins the podcast to share what that relationship has been like in recent years as he communicates with Swinney both in press conferences and in more informal settings.

In a transformative time for college athletics, Hale has visited with numerous athletics directors to try to get a sense of how they might adjust to the advent of revenue sharing with athletes.

Is it naive to think a more regulated, policed NIL is actually going to work?

And what of the ACC as its profile falls even further behind in the shadow of an expanded SEC and Big Ten?

What's the best move for Clemson and Florida State? Stay in the ACC in exchange for more money and a reduced Grant of Rights agreement?

Or continue fighting like hell to get out because they can't afford falling into obscurity over the next 5-6 seasons?

Lots of questions and few concrete answers.

But Hale possesses a smarter and more informed grasp of the big picture than most anyone out there.

Mickey Plyler, a Clemson-area sports-radio institution, rejoins The Dubcast to talk football ... and the current political-football fiasco taking place in Clemson.

Plyler turns the tables on the interview and asks his own questions about:

-- Seneca Journal publisher Jerry Edwards using shady tactics to try to influence the Clemson mayoral and city-council elections;

-- The publisher joining forces with a current Clemson mayoral candidate (and sitting council member) to fabricate a gender war between the men and women on Clemson's city council, in addition to alleging that the mayor and other council members pocketed money from developers;

-- The idea that growth has been bad for Clemson, and criticisms that said growth has turned Clemson "into another Atlanta, Chicago or Detroit" as some in the anti-development faction have alleged.

In the second half of the interview, we try to wrap our arms around how quickly the perception of Clemson football changed over the past two games after a debilitating loss at Georgia was (incorrectly) said to inflict long-range repercussions.

Plyler also shares some deeply personal and meaningful revelations he experienced recently when he observed his 5-year-old son experiencing the wonder of a Clemson game at Death Valley.

Earlier this summer we sat down with Brad Brownell for an interview that lasted more than two hours.

The full Q&A was published at Tigerillustrated.com in June.

Last week was Part 1, and now we present Part 2 of a conversation that touched on a number of topics including Clemson's stirring run to the Elite Eight in last season's NCAA Tournament.

Earlier this summer we sat down with Brad Brownell for an interview that lasted more than two hours.

The full Q&A was published at Tigerillustrated.com in June.

We now present the full audio of that conversation that touched on a number of topics including Clemson's stirring run to the Elite Eight in last season's NCAA Tournament.

Part 2 of the interview will be published next week.

Three years ago, Jon Blau left Bloomington, Ind., and found himself in a strange new world of big-time college football after he took over as the Clemson beat writer for The Post and Courier of Charleston.

Jon has fashioned a reputation as an excellent storyteller during his stint, uncovering angles and depth that others don't see.

He joins the podcast to reflect on his job and how he does it, including the balance between spending too much and too little time on social media.

With Clemson opening the 2024 season against Georgia, Jon says this game and this season is a critical juncture for Dabo Swinney's program as it tries to get back to breathing elite air after a three-year absence.

Brad Scott has retired from football and is now back in Clemson enjoying the grandad and golf life.

Jeff Scott is fully immersed in his custom homebuilding business and out of football for a second consecutive season.

In other words, father and son have time to sit back and tell stories from their decades in college football that included epic runs at Clemson and Florida State.

Brad remembers going out to dinner with Dabo Swinney in Clemson when Swinney was interviewing with Tommy Bowden for a job coaching receivers in the spring of 2003.

When Swinney landed a blockbuster recruiting class in 2011 after a 6-7 season, Brad was the major figure in the signings of Sammy Watkins, Martavis Bryant and Mike Bellamy.

He remembers the NCAA coming to campus to ask him questions after people wondered how Clemson could sign so many high-profile players after a disappointing season.

Brad also shares a story from 1986 when he was on Bobby Bowden's staff at FSU and Bowden called.

"Brad, I'm going to Alabama and taking you with me," Bobby told him over the phone.

Bowden ended up backing out of the job after accepting it.

Jeff shares a recollection from 1998, three days after South Carolina fired his father as head coach. Tommy Bowden had taken over at Clemson and offered Brad a spot as tight ends coach. Brad took the job, and soon thereafter Jeff was wearing a Clemson cap when he ran into former Gamecock quarterback Steve Taneyhill.

Taneyhill thought Jeff was just bitter and wearing the hat out of spite.

"Steve," Jeff told him. "We're really going to Clemson. My dad just got a job coaching tight ends."