Ramone Foster blasting the "Clawfense"

#51
#51
Clawson thought he had Fulmer's support. He thought he had time. Neither turned out to be true.
 
#52
#52
The Clawfence was never the problem. Fulmers level of talent was not the problem either. But when Fulmer hired Dave Clawson. Everything we knew about him worked before he was and hired here and after fired here. The issue was Fulmer brought him in and wanted him to run our power I formation. If you have a coordinator who runs a particular offense you have to take your thumb off him and let him do his thing. If Fulmer trusted Clawson the way he trusted David Cucliffe the season would have been drastically different.
 
  • Like
Reactions: lukeneyland
#53
#53
Hard to argue with what Clawsen has done at Wake. That said, I didn’t have to look this up because it is burned into my brain… Crompton threw the ball 42 times @ UCLA. Crompton should have never ever attempted more 30 attempts a game let alone 40+. What a terrible year that was.
Clawson also went 3-9 in his first 2 years at Wake. And has only finished above .500 twice until this year. Point being, his offense is difficult to learn. It takes time. Something he didn’t have at UT in one year. Pointing to what he’s doing now, has no bearing on what he did here in one short season…which was to produce a gosh awful offense.
 
#55
#55
Meh. I hope someone gets better at their profession after 13 years......
I was always under the impression that HoH and AD Hamilton had more input in the hiring of Clawson as O.C. to institute the spread offense. Then when it didn't work with drop back personnel, they had everyone fired after year 1. Then went right back to drop back personnel in 2009 after Fulmer's staff had Taj Boyd and Bryce Petty committed as the qb's of the future to run the spread. You really can't make this stuff up.
 
#57
#57
Clawson was hired because of his innovative offense. Fulmer realized that the days of ground and pound were waining as evidenced by the success of Urban Meyer and Chip Kelly. Clawson had an innovative offense, but at previous schools where Clawson was hired, it was year 2 under that offense before it "clicked". Fulmer tried to keep some of his offense in place to mitigate the expected transition issues. Due to the impatience of fans and the stupidity of AD Hamilton, Fulmer was fired and 15 years in the wilderness ensued. BTW, before the Clawson hire, Fulmer was running essentially the same offense as Saban. Saban didn't change offensive philosophy until Hurts became his QB. In that respect, Fulmer was more than 8 years ahead of Saban. Had we stuck with him, we most certainly would not have had the $hit-show we have experienced over the last 15 years. Fulmer haters are idiots.

Sounds like you need to keep a towel handy.
 
#58
#58
It’s rumored Tennessee may play Wake in Gator Bowl if Wake loses. If true, Heupel should put Fulmer in charge of defense for that game. He completely shut down Clawson in 2008......
 
#59
#59
On 1045 right now. Forgot how much NFL talent on that 08 team. Foster never forgot it.
It was bad, but Clawson has went on to have a nice career with solid to great offenses most years. I'd imagine Fulmer played a part but who knows.
 
#60
#60
From ALL indications, Fulmer was a micro-manager (sort of like cornbread). Clawson didn't magically grow a brain in 13 years and learn how to coach. If CPF had left him alone, he may have hung onto his job for another 3-4 years. CPF's Natty is a absolute "perfect storm" in his favor when you consider the talent he had, coaching ineptitudes in the SEC, playing Miss St in the SECCG and playing Fla State (with a 3rd string QB) for the Natty? Wow. The football gods must have really loved him.[/QUOTE
I have literally never heard this before. Everything that hear is that Fulmer got lazy - what indication have you heard that he was a micro manager?
 
#64
#64
Yeah . . . Clawson's offense has worked pretty much everywhere else. I think he probably was the victim of Fulmer not wanting to completely let go of the old offense and a QB room that was flat out awful.
Clawsen’s offense can’t be installed in one season. It usually takes a year to fully grasp.
 
#65
#65
Wasn't the whole issue that Fulmer was trying to hold on to the old school offense and somewhat handcuffed Clawson. Micro-managing at its worst given hindsight
He hired an innovative OC and you think he was wanting to run an old school offense? Think about that. All you Fulmer haters are just stupid.
 
#66
#66
“That flipping olinemen was absolutely insane. I don't know how anybody thought that would be a good idea.”

Forgive my ignorance, but isn’t that what happens every college football Saturday across the country? Don’t we cross-train guards and centers to sometimes play tackle and guard and vice versa? Isn’t this type of cross-training on the offensive line common these days? Isn’t it often based on needs and matchups, injuries, etc?
 
Last edited:
#67
#67
Wasn't the whole issue that Fulmer was trying to hold on to the old school offense and somewhat handcuffed Clawson. Micro-managing at its worst given hindsight

that absolutely did not happen. I talked with Dave when he was here.

QBs went to Fulmer in early October and asked him to take over the offense and he refused.

It was too complicated to implement in a year. Check his history everywhere he has been. He stated on the front end, a room full of fans and the coaching staff, be two years to get players to perfect.
 
  • Like
Reactions: DuckInAPen
#68
#68
Yes, I thought Fulmer should have simply hired another play-caller and kept our offense as is. Another play-caller would have brought different tendencies.

he wanted to hire Mike BeBord and Scott Loeffler to OC and QB coach. Hamilton would not give him the funds. Why he ended up with Clawson..
 
  • Like
Reactions: DuckInAPen
#70
#70
That doesn’t mean that what happened 13 years ago doesn’t hold any validity. 13 years ago that offense was maybe the worst I’ve seen as a tennessee fan. Whether that was Clawsons fault, Fulmer, the players or a combination of the three…it was terrible. So I can see why he would feel like this. And who is to say that Clawson hasn’t completely revamped his offense or if he is even calling the plays.
If I remember correctly, Dave was hired to run his offense at UT but Fulmer wouldn't let him have full control of the plays. It was never going to work unless he was calling his plays. In the end, Dave got the last laugh
 
#71
#71
The Clawfence was never the problem. Fulmers level of talent was not the problem either. But when Fulmer hired Dave Clawson. Everything we knew about him worked before he was and hired here and after fired here. The issue was Fulmer brought him in and wanted him to run our power I formation. If you have a coordinator who runs a particular offense you have to take your thumb off him and let him do his thing. If Fulmer trusted Clawson the way he trusted David Cucliffe the season would have been drastically different.

Tennessee did not run the Cutcliffe offense. They ran Clawson's offense. I bet Foster never indicated otherwise on the radio this morning..
 
  • Like
Reactions: DuckInAPen
#72
#72
Personally don't believe the O line in particular had any respect whatsoever for Clawson based on some things I heard a few times during pregames a few times that season.

I don't know that lack of respect was the issue as much as the OL struggle to learn the offense. They just needed more time. Did they get frustrated? certainly they did. Players hate losing as much as coaches and when they have trouble learning what to do to execute, it gets bad. and it did.
 
Advertisement



Back
Top