With that said I don't get the appeal of Clemson? I can see the appeal of West Virginia....or even the appeal of Colorado, Oregon, or Michigan over Minnesota. But Clemson? Really? Underachieving, not a great history, a bigger rebuilding project than we are right now, a weak conference.....the only thing I can see is that it was the only warm weather place that offered him? Does anyone have insight to his actual reasons?
OK....Clemson fan here. I wanted to come over here and read up on McNeal some, but I have to respond to this post.
Underachieving? Guilty as charged on that one. Still, we've only had one losing season in 15 years, and that was 10 years ago. Even while underachieving, we've finished in the top 25 4 out of the last 8 years. You've finished in the top 25
twice in the last 40 years.
Not a great history? If you're talking recent history, then Clemson and pretty much everyone else crushes the Gophers. I know MN won a bunch of titles back in WW2, but you haven't done anything in almost 50 years. Since you last won a conference title (in 1967), we've won a national title and eight conference titles. We've also
won more bowl games than you've even appeared in. We've finished in the top 25
16 times in the last 30 years (or a little more than once every other year for 30 years), while you've finished in the top 25 twice in the last 40 years.
a bigger rebuilding project than we are right now? What???? How did you come up with that one? Clemson doesn't need to "rebuild" at all. We're working on a top 25 class right now despite canning our coach midseason (already have 7 four star recruits committed), and we had four classes in a row before this that Rivals ranked #17 or better. We both had the same record this year, and we fired our coach while you extended yours. That should tell you about the "rebuilding process". We've finished in the top 25 3 out of the last 5 years, and we started this season ranked in the top ten before our coach was fired. Not sure why you think we're in any kind of rebuilding process like you. We've had two first round picks in the last three years, and Merling last year was the first pick of the second round due to a hernia injury. We'll probably have 5 or 6 kids drafted this year. We also spent $70 million on our facilities in an addition to our stadium. The groundbreaking on that project correlated with that first top 17 class I mentioned. We now have some of the finest facilities in the entire Southeast to go with a stadium known all around the country. Again, we just had a season where we fired our coach, and we still landed in the Gator Bowl.
a weak conference? Come on, man. Do you really think anyone in the Big Ten should be throwing stones at another conference? The ACC is no worse than any other conference besides the Big 12 and the SEC. The Big Ten has been a national laughingstock as a conference for a little while now.
the only thing I can see is that it was the only warm weather place that offered him? Dude, have you seen our campus or the stadium we play at? People all around the country give up the love for our stadium and our traditions (The Rock, The Hill). Death Valley is routinely voted one of the best college football environments in the entire country. Google a list of the top 25 or top 20 or top 10 college football venues, and you'll see us listed pretty much every time. I know you're excited about TCF stadium, but that place is a joke compared to Death Valley, and your fanbase hasn't been excited about college football in 50 years. You can't even begin to compare the two environments, and that extends to the campus in general. Clemson is a true blue college town. I'm not saying the U of M isn't a cool place, but it's never been called a college town.
By the way, Clemson is graduating a WR who just broke the ACC record for career receptions. We've had a WR on the first or second team postseason all-conference list for 5 straight years, and we've had 4 receivers drafted in that time. I'm not saying we're any kind of powerhouse, but it's easy to convince kids that the WR position is a productive position in our offense.
Just wanted to respond to your comments. I generally like to see the Gophers do well.
