The Clemson Dubcast

As not just the former president of Clemson University, but the former chairman of the ACC's Council of Presidents, Jim Barker had a front-row seat to many of the major conference realignment movements of the past.

That institutional knowledge gives him some interesting and poignant perspective of the current shifts taking place -- and the possibly existential crisis facing the ACC.

Two years ago, in the midst of Texas and Oklahoma announcing their departure for the SEC, Barker said he hoped the ACC would make a big, bold move. His idea at the time was merging with the Pac-12 to form the "American Coast Conference."

That never happened. And Barker now finds himself gravely concerned for not just the ACC but entire enterprise of college athletics.

"I think we need to blow the whole thing up and start from scratch," he said. "But I don't know how we do that because there's no leader to do it."

Barker served as Clemson's president from 1999 to 2013.

We present the final two installments of our interviews with Clemson's assistant coaches.

Kyle Richardson is entering his second season as the Tigers' tight ends coach and passing-game coordinator. Even after losing Davis Allen, he has high hopes for a group that includes Jake Briningstool, Sage Ennis and Josh Sapp.

Mickey Conn is in charge of a safety group that brings back a wealth of experience from last season. Conn is confident that the talent and seasoning on the back end will produce much better results this season after the Tigers were routinely beaten over the top last season.

Clemson begins its season at Duke on Labor Day night.

Clemson's assistant coaches recently visited with the media for an extended period.

We present the uncut audio from the sessions with Mike Reed and Lemanski Hall.

Reed is preparing for his 11th season as Clemson's cornerbacks coach, and is a valuable member of the Tigers' recruiting staff.

Hall has worked for Dabo Swinney for eight seasons and welcomes back Xavier Thomas and Justin Mascoll at defensive end.

Clemson's defense is trying to atone for an inconsistent 2022 season and become a dominant group in 2023.

The Tigers start August camp on Friday.

Clemson assistant coaches Nick Eason and C.J. Spiller sit down for extended interviews to discuss the 2023 season.

Eason, in his second year as defensive tackles coach, oversees a loaded position group that includes freshman phenom Peter Woods. The interior defensive line was also bolstered by the return of Tyler Davis and Ruke Orhorhoro after both seriously considered going to the NFL.

Spiller is preparing for his third season as running backs coach, and in Will Shipley and Phil Mafah he has potentially the top running back tandem in college football.

We present the uncut audio from this week's media sessions featuring Clemson's coaches.

Thomas Austin, preparing for his second season in charge of the Tigers' offensive line, reflects on the quest for depth up front after the line had very little of it the past two seasons.

Austin also shares what's different under new offensive coordinator Garrett Riley, who is committed to running the ball after posting an even mix of run and pass last season at TCU.

Tyler Grisham has faced some heat from fans in the midst of underperforming at the receiver position the past two seasons.

He seems convinced that Clemson will be much better on this outside this season, so much that he predicts the Tigers will use more 10 personnel (four receivers) than they have in years.

Grisham and Austin both played on the 2008 Clemson team that witnessed the midseason firing of Tommy Bowden, the promotion of Dabo Swinney from receivers coach to interim head coach, to Swinney securing the job and putting Clemson on a course to greatness not many people envisioned when he took over.

We present the uncut audio from Wes Goodwin and Garrett Riley visiting with the Clemson media earlier this week.

Goodwin shares what it was like to be thrown into the defensive coordinator fire with no previous play-calling experience.

He said the 2022 season provided sobering and difficult lessons that make him better entering his second season in charge of the defense that Brent Venables left in December of 2021.

Riley reveals how much he's fallen in love with Upstate South Carolina after leaving TCU to join Dabo Swinney.

This is Riley's second new job in as many years; last year at this time he was still getting used to his new position at TCU after two years at SMU.

K'Von Wallace is back in Clemson this summer training. 

He says most players don't go back to their alma maters to work out. But his love of Clemson, coupled with the resources the football program makes available to its former players now in the NFL, makes it a no-brainer to come back home.

Wallace, who is preparing for his fourth season with the Philadelphia Eagles, reflects on the differences between the college and professional game.

He also goes back to his difficult upbringing, part of which was spent living with his mother in public housing in Richmond as gunfire and drugs were common outside the home.

Wallace wore the same pair of shoes from eighth grade to 11th grade. Each year he’d take two brushes and a cup full of soapy water and wash the shoes to keep them fresh.

Wallace's Clemson career didn't get off to the best start. He said he was a loner, and had there been a transfer portal at the time he was a freshman (2016) he probably would've considered going elsewhere.

He ended up winning two national championships and going to four consecutive playoffs before he was selected in the fourth round of the 2020 NFL Draft.

He now looks back at his college career as the time he grew into a man, and he treasures his relationship with Dabo Swinney.

It’s been a busy summer for Brad Brownell, who’s preparing for his 14th season at Clemson.

He and assistant Billy Donlon pulled off the coup of landing Syracuse guard Joe Girard out of the transfer portal.

Then Brownell waited anxiously as a fully-healthy P.J. Hall turned the heads of NBA scouts who were evaluating him during various combines and workouts.

Hall recently elected to return to Clemson for the 2023-24 season, and his pairing with Girard gives Clemson the ACC’s top two returning scorers in conference play from last season.

Even amid the still-lingering pain of narrowly – and controversially -- missing out on the NCAA Tournament, and despite the loss of vital program figurehead Hunter Tyson, there is optimism for further high achievement this season. Justified optimism that the Tigers can successfully resolve unfinished business and put their imprint on March Madness.

Brownell recently sat down in his office for a lengthy interview with Tigerillustrated.com to reflect on a number of important topics surrounding his program.

This is the full audio of that conversation.

Melanie Hall, mother of Clemson star basketball player P.J. Hall, joins the podcast to tell the story of her son as he grew up in a family of high-level athletes.

Melanie, who played college basketball at College of Charleston, reflects on the recruiting process that ended with her son choosing Brad Brownell and the Tigers.

At one point during his childhood PJ had his room decked out in all things Gamecock. Years later he found himself in love with everything Clemson had to offer.

Hall recently pulled his name out of consideration for the NBA Draft to return for his final season at Clemson. His mother said it just would've felt incomplete had he not returned for another season and anther year of college life before earning his degree.

Hall is fully healthy for the first time in a long time, and he has his mind set on better days after a difficult year that included not just a return from two surgeries last offseason, but the death of a close family friend.

In March, Clemson assistant coach Nick Eason shared his life story in full for the first time when he sat down with Tigerillustrated.com for three-plus hours.

The six-part series was published in April and featured an almost breathtaking series of life struggles Eason has fought and overcome -- from overt racism as a high-schooler in his hometown of Lyons, Ga., to watching teammate and friend Brandon Rouse die of a heart attack at Clemson, to almost losing his own life when as a Pittsburgh Steeler he was hospitalized for weeks with complications from a ruptured appendix.

Over the last week we've presented Parts 1 and 2 of the conversation. Today we present the third and final part.