Former Tennessee offensive coordinator Dave Clawson will be named coach at Bowling Green. The Toledo Blade said a news conference is scheduled for today.
Clawson, 41, was with the Vols one season and was not retained by new coach Lane Kiffin. He was hired by former coach Phillip Fulmer after four season as coach of Richmond.
The offense that the Vols (5-7) used this season looked little like the wide-open, multiple-formation attack Clawson talked about last January when he was hired to replace David Cutcliffe.
Gregg Brandon was fired at Bowling Green last week after a 6-6 season. In six seasons as coach of the Falcons, Brandon went 44-30 overall and 31-17 in the Mid-American Conference.
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Comments » 161
bhorton#213253 writes:
Best of luck to you Dave
bobbarbilly writes:
I hope he is a better bowling coach.
The_Mayor writes:
This is great news. I wish Coach Clawson and his family only the best.
vtvol#210290 writes:
Now he can coach back under the radar again. Some folks just thrive out of the spotlight.
utmdm writes:
Sincerely wish Clawson and his family the best.
Ironcity writes:
Good luck coach
CalPoly_Vol_Fan writes:
I will laugh out loud if he turns BG into a BCS-buster. He and Fulmer deserved at least one more year to implement the new system.
Good luck Coach Clawson.
Moaninglikeheck writes:
He'll have success at Bowling Green. That's a program that will give him time to recruit for his system. We'll be regretting losing him in time.
eb502us#225637 writes:
Wish him well, but he won't be missed.
andy112382#209793 writes:
I too wish Clawson good luck.
I might be tempted to agree with your thought about needing one more year at first glance, but the fact the offense seemingly got WORSE as the year went on (with the exception of at least the kentucky game, after the 1st qtr) something was seriously lacking, and it was more than merely installing a new system.
ClayMolder (Inactive) writes:
his plan was doomed from the beginning. fulmer was still the man. he's the loser. i wish clawson the best. drop phil off in lexington on the way.
TNPilgrim writes:
He will probably do well at BG. He was in a no-win situation here, and was foolish for being talked into leaving Richmond.
vtvol#210290 writes:
Winning in the MAC is not as "life or death" important as coaching in the SEC. I'm sure they'll be willing to give him the ten years he needs to get his team on track.
tmccurrie writes:
I agree with you 100% CalPoly_Vol_Fan and I will surely be joining you laughing out loud. Anyone who knows football can tell you that it takes more that one season of implementing a new coaching staff, not to mention a new offensive scheme, to be successful. I personally feel that one more season and we would have been able to reap the fruit of Clawson's labor. But we will never know...why? Because Hamilton was to much of a coward. He did not stand behind Phil.
cjraney writes:
Good luck Coach Clawson.
Go4Two writes:
Was betting this post would appear. Sad
BillVol writes:
Good luck, Dave. Sorry you had to go through the Fulmer soap opera. Maybe, somehow, some of the General and our great Tennessee tradition will help you in your new position.
tyla0404 writes:
I dont know about any of you, but I am pretty shocked that Bowling Green, which is a Division 1A team in the MAC, would hire him as their coach after the putrid offense Tennessee had this year. With that said, I wish him luck.
chrisw2967 writes:
I hope it all works out for him.
yeavols#228407 writes:
Good luck Clawson..and take your Ech-E-Sketch play book with you...Sorry about that...but let's face it...with what we saw, and you don't have to be a rocket scientist to figure it out..it just plain sucked..
yeavols#228407 writes:
really? I will be watching
yeavols#228407 writes:
That's their problem now...Best wishes
southernson writes:
Go Bowling Green, good luck ,God bless
yeavols#228407 writes:
Ok now that is pretty funny
posivol writes:
clawson w/ boyd/giles oku ect,,he would have had us on top within 2 years.one year without your hand picked players?
hammy screwed him as well as us.
boyd/giles/allen/teague/petty gone and the list grows daily.
oh wait we did get king and after he attends j.c. we may get to re recruit him as well.
i sure dont see the 5 star recruits beating down our door to play for pretty boy.
2 weeks after the saban hire,alabama already had a top 10 class,wheres our big splash hammy promised?
dump boyd and petty,didnt this clown promise to honor all commitments.well at least the first lie he told is out of the way.maybe ole davis was on to something after all.
good luck coach clawson,you deserved better than this zoo.
yeavols#228407 writes:
It doesnt take more than one season to line up correctly on the line of scimmage does it? It doesnt take more than one season to block correctly does it? It doesn't take more than one season to throw the ball down the field correctly does it? This dung about giving a new scheme 2 years to develop is _______ .
MidTennVol writes:
I don't believe we ever saw Clawson's offense. I'm very happy this classy guy landed on his feet so quickly.
BillVol writes:
Wow, we have some real Einsteins here. Clawson was vetoed on almost everything he tried to do -- from personnel to play selection. To in any way blame him for this season's offensive woes is dead wrong.
mike_d writes:
I think from what has happend to him in the last year, he got a good deal out of it. I hope it works out. Im sure it will at least have alot of us watching to see how Bowling Green does in the next couple years.
DC_Vol writes:
Clawson had an offense that ranked 114th out 119 schools. You do not let any offensive coordinator with those kind of stats stick around for a second year. Especially after the success Cutcliffe had with most of the same players a year ago. Unbelieveable, Clawson produces the worst Tennessee offense in 50 years and people want to give him another season.
Couchdummy writes:
Good news! Wishing him the best of luck toward revitalizing his career.
tnbigg writes:
Good luck coach. Sorry you weren't allowed to use your system here...the way you like to use it...
shipperman#280095 writes:
Get over it, Fulmer had been given plenty of chances. And as the article pretty much said, Clawson didn't get to run his offense anyway
Good luck Coach Clawson
shipperman#280095 writes:
For titles in 10 years. The one constant was your fat buddy
shipperman#280095 writes:
Duke, i agree with you. I think Clawson will succeed. I think Lane will do well here and I think Clawson will be successful at BG. He is a much better coach than he is given credit for and I would have been ok if he had been given the UT job
tlc429#392720 writes:
Calpoly what are you smoking? During the UCLA game they flashed a shot of him up in the booth and he had the deer in headlights look with his mouth hanging wide open. I knew then he wasn't fit to be a coach in Division 1A football and the rest of the season proved me right. Bobbarbilly, that's exactly what I thought I read the first time I spied the story and my sentiments exactly. I hope he's better at coaching bowling than football. Don't go away mad.......just go AWAY! Clean house Lane from top to bottom!! Nice win last night Ladies.
Go Vols!
volnknox writes:
coach clawson good luck! Sorry, that phil blocked you 3 out 4 on your play calling, Sorry we didn't really get to see what you had.
VOLinDAWGland writes:
I think justice has been served to Clawson. I'm not sure a second year at the disfunctional place that this program had become under Fulmer's leadership would have been significantly better. Fulmer had his day in the sun, but his limitations were ultimately exposed as the SEC competition and coaching quality increased. Best of luck to Fulmer in the next chapter of his life/career and best of luck to Clawson at BG and best of luck to Kiffin as our new HC.
I thought Clawson handled this nightmare in an amazingly classy and mature way. He uprooted his family to come to what turned out to be an impossible mess and now he has to move them again...tough business.
nbt44 writes:
Good luck Clawson! If Fat Phil had allowed you to run the offense the way you wanted, we might have had a better season. No...fat Phil wanted to keep running the same old tired plays and keep playing upper classmen even though they were obviously not the best atheletes.
Anyone notice that other teams want Chavis, Clawson has just landed a head coaching gig, but NO ONE wants Fat Phil?
I heard Jimmy Hyams (a constant Fulmer cheerleader over the years) on the radio say, "Phil will be very picky about where he coaches in the future. He may be so picky that he won't coach again".
LMFAO! Yeah right Jimmy. That must be the excuse for no other school wanting to hire a bitter crappy coach.
No...Phixable Phil will hang around here, milking as much money from UT as he can, while trying to make as big of a stink as possible. Thank God he was finally fired!
Phil... GO AWAY!
VOLinDAWGland writes:
"clawson w/ boyd/giles oku ect,,he would have had us on top within 2 years..."
Perhaps, but he would have had to overcome Fulmer's control to hire and build an actual functioning staff with chemistry.
"hammy screwed him as well as us."
If the team had finished 6-6 or 7-5 and showed improvement and had generated fan excitement than I'd agree with you. This year's massive failure and the obvious apathy with the fans forced Hamilton to do the most reasonable thing which was to make a change.
"boyd/giles/allen/teague/petty gone and the list grows daily...i sure dont see the 5 star recruits beating down our door to play for pretty boy."
Let's let the recruitment process play out before drawing any conclusions.
"2 weeks after the saban hire,alabama already had a top 10 class,wheres our big splash hammy promised?"
Bama had an outstanding HS class that year and the year following. 'Bama was past due to move up.
"dump boyd and petty,didnt this clown promise to honor all commitments..."
Kiffin told them they would be honored but wouldn't be a fit for his system, their choice. I call that honesty.
"good luck coach clawson..."
Agreed
indianacurly writes:
their 2007 class was ranked 10th by rivals and 22nd by scout. he was hired jan 3rd. on jan 17th, he did not already have a top 10 class. at that point, he had 9 commitments. in the 2 weeks before signing day, he picked up 14 more. when you make things up to prove certain points, you lose credibility on all of the them.
Realist writes:
The only resume Clausen has as a head coach were teo Div. 1AA teams. He had a lousy record of 58W-49L! Yes, both teams had a turn atound. But the leagues do not even compare to a freshman SEC league! Tennessee was too big of a step. The MAC is more his style. I said this after he was hired by TN. I am definitely unsure about Kif! But I will take Kiffen's resume with USC anyday! He is proven in real college football instead of a sub level!
proudveteran writes:
UTC did not have money, plain and simple. Bowling Green will pay probably three times as much as UTC.
MidTennVol writes:
Miller, I would tend to agree with that assessment. Just imagine if Fulmer had brought him in back in 2006 instead of Cutcliffe.
But I doubt that Fulmer would have ever really let Clawson be Clawson, i.e. truly be an OC and run the offense his way.
We're definitely going to be hearing more about Dave Clawson. I watched every single one of his press conferences and he is one smart, reasonable football coach who is also great with the media.
Good luck, Coach Clawson.
beartn#223846 writes:
He should do pretty well. Everywhere he has been, until Tennessee, his offfense struggled in year one and played very well in year 2. Of course, there was no year 2 here. I'm glad he got the job. He took a risk moving to Knoxville, so it's nice that he got another job.
MidTennVol writes:
Realist, do some homework and you might bump up against this reality: based on what each have done, Dave Clawson is far more qualified to be a head coach than Lane Kiffin. There's no contest at all.
Waldorf writes:
He just got caught up in the perfect storm here. I was hoping Kiffin might keep him around.
Too bad Fulmer didn't have him a competent QB in place when Clawson got here. And that he also hired the worst offensive line coach in the history of college football.
By the way Fulmorons, where's Fulmer going to be coaching next season since he got screwed over so bad and he's such a great coach?
Good luck Coach Clawson. Wish you the best.
jimr07 writes:
good to have your expert opinion.
THEKIDWI writes:
"Cotton, i'm shocked..."
All this Clawson love is disturbing. Where was it during the season? I was down there for Vandy and UK and it was a chorus of jabs from the stands regarding the D2 plays that are called.
"Hey Coach C, run a double reverse for 30 yards." And the UK game, it took us until the third quarter to throw a pass down field and whatdaya know, Moore for a 60 some yard TD....
His offense stunk from day one and it was clear the players never grasped it. While this team didn't have the star power it used to, you have to put some of it on coaching.
And you'll never get me to agree that this strong side/weak side flip flopping of lineman garbage (instead of RT, LT, RG, LG) is good for anybody.
He was a fool to leave Richmond knowing that Fulmer was on the hot seat and then try to install this offense.
My second favorite teams each weekend where whoever played Florida and Notre Dame...I can now add whoever plays Bowling Green to the list.
Volumni writes:
For all those geniuses wanting pining for a second year of Clawson, and those who take him off the hook saying Fulmer vetoed him, let it go!! They're both gone (Fulmer still sucking at the teat of the best thing he'll ever see)! One more year would have only served to convert a few more of you to the side of Common Sense. Fulmer ran this program aground, and with bad decisions like Clawson's high school offense, expedited his departure. There are plenty of good football coaches and minds out there.
Clawson was interviewing for jobs in mid-season. That show you how much he was into it? Shrek left him high and dry for sure, but we ran Clawson's offense as part of the pageantry and poetry that was UT Football this year. I am glad they're both gone.
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