In 2012, Tyler Venables and his brother Jake moved to a strange and different new world when they left Norman for Clemson upon their father becoming the Tigers' defensive coordinator.
A decade later, Tyler's sisters are going through the exact same experience in Norman after leaving the place they knew as home when Brent Venables went back to Oklahoma to be head coach.
Tyler, a junior safety for Clemson, reflects on the devastating 24-hour period in 2011 that ended up playing a major role in Brent leaving his comfort zone in Norman and doing something completely new and different with Dabo Swinney.
Tyler was only 10 at the time when Oklahoma linebacker Austin Box and Brent's brother Kirk died within a day of each other. He was too young to grasp the magnitude of it in the moment, but as an adult he still has trouble holding it together as he reflects on that immensely difficult period for his father and the family.
After Brent left for Oklahoma last December, Tyler surprised everyone and maybe even himself when he opted to remain at Clemson. He stayed because of his love for Swinney and his attachment to the holistic culture he has built over the years.
When Brent turned down the Auburn job in 2020, Tyler thought that sealed his future.
"I thought at the time: 'He's going to retire as a defensive coordinator,'" he said.
A year later, Lincoln Riley shocked the college football world by leaving for Southern Cal. And soon thereafter, Tyler's father was presented with the opportunity of a lifetime.

Tyler Venables

Telling the stories behind the stories of Clemson football and beyond.

Sports

Dr. Otis Pickett brings not just a wealth of educational distinction to his role as the historian for Clemson University, but also a wealth of life experience.
He grew up in Mount Pleasant spending time with his grandfather, a small-town medical family practitioner on Pitt Street in the Old Village.
Many of his grandfather's patients were African-Americans descendants of the Gullah people.
"He treated each one of his patients with dignity, honor and respect," Pickett said. "It didn't matter if it was the governor or a poor man who meandered aimlessly up and down Pitt Street."
In the mid-1990s Pickett and his mother began attending Trinity Baptist Church and were often the only whites who attended. With the encouragement of Rev. Herman Robinson, Pickett pursued pastoral ministry.
He is now a decorated author, historian and religious scholar. He has been known to officiate weddings of former students.
In present times, Pickett can be seen at many Clemson sporting events. He returned to his alma mater in 2022 after accepting his dream job as the third Clemson historian in the university's history (and the first Clemson alum to serve in that capacity).
Pickett's predecessor, Paul Anderson, now serves as Clemson's Director of Football Academics and Freshman Transition. Anderson joined the football program in 2021 after more than two decades at Clemson as a decorated educator and historian.
A significant part of Pickett's mission is introducing and framing the public conversation on Clemson's past, which includes difficult and complicated topics on race.
"We've got to interpret it and talk about it," he said. "I get Clemson. I love Clemson, and I don't think there's a bigger Clemson sports fan than I am. I go to everything, and I've been pulling for Clemson since I was 2.
"I love Clemson. But I'm also like: 'Hey, there's this history that may be difficult. But it also, I think, makes Clemson more interesting. I want to walk through that history. I want people to understand it.' ... We're simply talking about what people have been talking about for 200 and 300 years, which is this concept of race. And in the South that's a big concept and something that shapes our entire culture. And at Clemson it has shaped our culture in a lot of ways."
Pickett previously served in the School of Education at the University of Mississippi preparing Social Studies teachers, the Director of Social Studies Education Programs at Mississippi College, and Associate Professor of History in the Department of History at Mississippi College.
Pickett played a role in the state of Mississippi adopting a new state flag that retired the 1894 flag and its Confederate battle emblem.
Pickett is also the co-founder and co-director of the Prison to College Pipeline Program, the first program in the state of Mississippi to offer tuition free, credit bearing college courses to incarcerated students.
Pickett's grandfather, Robert Alexander Westbrook, graduated in the Class of 1950. His great grandfather, Albert Hayne McMeekin, was in the Class of 1918.
Pickett and his wife Julie (Class of 2002) live in Clemson and have three children: Martha Jane, Otis, Jr. and Thomas.  
He met his future wife on her 21st birthday at the Esso Club.

Otis Pickett

Brad Brownell visited with the media this week for the first time since his team's stirring run to the Elite Eight -- a run that was closely preceded by a brutal ACC Tournament loss to Boston College that had people screaming for his head.
Brownell kept the receipts and brought some of them to a press conference where he said he deserves more credit for the long-term work that went into the Tigers' postseason spectacle.
"I'm doing a ton of fundraising, folks, and I have been for 14 years," he said. "One of the reasons we were in the Elite Eight is because of all the fundraising, friend-raising, whatever you want to call it, for 14 years. It's one of the reasons we have a facility that's much nicer than it was. It's filling those premium seats. It doesn't just happen with NIL. It happens with improving your facilities. It happens with donor retention. It happens with getting folks to buy into your program enough that when (NIL) was new that our people were involved and engaged to be able to support the guys on our team to be ready for this opportunity when it did show up. We were there to meet it. 
 
"I do deserve a lot of credit for that. A lot. Because it's been a 14-year journey. And had we had a different coach, or a newer young coach at the time, it wouldn't have happened. There would have been no chance. 
 
"So that's obviously been a little bit of a sort spot of mine at times. Because I think that's gone not as noticed as I would like. And obviously it's vital. In college basketball right now, NIL is a major factor."
 
We present the full audio from Brownell's press conference, which lasted more than 45 minutes.

Brad Brownell

As part of Tigerillustrated.com's lengthy 25th anniversary series uncovering untold stories over that stretch of time, we continue with a glimpse back at the transformative days of 2008.
Two days after a dominant victory over South Carolina that sealed the removal of the interim tag from his title, Dabo Swinney was introduced at a press conference on the third floor of the West End Zone facility.
This is the uncut digital audio from that press conference, provided by Jeff Kallin and Matt Glenn of the Clemson Athletics Department.
Terry Don Phillips drew an ovation toward the end of the press conference when he said: 
"I say with great confidence that Dabo Swinney is going to become one of the great coaches in America."

Dabo Retrospective, Part 2

As part of Tigerillustrated.com's extensive unearthing of the history that led to Dabo Swinney becoming the figure who would transform not just a football program but an entire community, we take a glimpse back to the two-month period in 2008 when everything changed.
We present the audio from some key moments during that timeline:
-- The introduction of Swinney as interim coach on Oct. 13, 2008, when Tommy Bowden suggested a change to AD Terry Don Phillips and Phillips shocked many by elevating a receivers coach who had no head-coaching or coordinating experience;
-- The coach's show that followed his first victory in charge, an exhilarating and vital triumph at Boston College that snapped a three-game losing streak to the Eagles;
-- The press conference that followed a convincing victory over rival South Carolina, which sealed the removal of the interim title. Swinney, on what it was like to hear the crowd chanting his name as the final seconds ticked off: "I felt like Britney Spears."
-- The news coverage that accompanied the press conference two days later to announce his hiring.

A Dabo Swinney retrospective

Patrick Sapp played football at Clemson, and now he's watching his 19-year-old son Josh play football at Clemson.
What makes it most special is Patrick's 7-year-old son Miles gets to watch it all as the family makes memories of a lifetime.
Sapp rejoins The Dubcast to talk about his six years on the football staff at Greenville High School, and why he chose to give it up after last season.
Sapp's role as a television personality is going to increase moving forward as he contributes to FOX Carolina in various ways.
Sapp also keeps close tabs on Clemson football, and he was in attendance when Trent Pearman stole the show at last week's spring game.
Sapp believes Cade Klubnik will maintain his hold on the starting role, but he said Pearman's performance does make things more interesting in the Tigers' quarterback room.
He also gives high marks to Dabo Swinney's hire of Matt Luke and Chris Rumph, who have brought more energy and fire to the program.
"We've got to get back to the basics and the grind," he said. "We've got to be tougher. We've got to be better. We've got to be stronger. We've got to be more disciplined, and we've got to play with an attitude. I think that was the emphasis for the hires. ... You bring in guys who have the experience, who have the confidence, who have the moxie to walk out every day and challenge their players, challenge the attitude of the team. 
 
"If you watch them practice, you can see that Nick Eason, Coach Rumph and coach Luke are his attitude guys. Those are the guys who are setting the attitude and the tone for everybody. I think Coach Swinney understood he needed that on his staff."

Tyler Venables

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