Context: Roof was an analyst for Clemson. Probably sat down with Venables and had donuts and coffee at 5:30 in the morning going over tape. Had lunch at the training table and talked double-dog A-gap blitzes with a Cover-2 look rotating to Cover-3 at the snap*. Families had dinner and Ted and Brent talked about their sons playing CFB, and the wives connected about how it's so hard to be a mom watching their kids slam their heads into each other at full speed. Ted shares a story about the BlackWatch D and how those experiences shaped his life. Everyone hugs when the Roofs head home.
Venables named HC.
Who on earth should he hire to be his DC?
Venables is responsible for *all* of it - the hiring and the performance. As Hopper once said ... "when you're in charge, it's *always* your fault."
* I was watching Syracuse-Clemson a few years ago with a friend and had a cool swami moment (I just got lucky). One of the knocks on Venables is he tries to do too much with his defenses, sometimes getting too cute. So Syracuse is down a TD in the 4th and it's 3rd and 18. I look at my friend and say, "Venables is gonna do something dumb, like show Cover-2 and rotate to Cover-3 after the snap. Just play quarters, make him throw it short, and then tackle the receiver." Sure enough, they show Cover-2 and rotate to Cover-3 at the snap. But Babers called 4-verts ... boom! Touchdown ... The announcers were like, "What is Clemson doing? It's 3rd and 18!!!" My friend looks at me and I just shrug like a know-it-all, even though it was one of those "Surely you're joking Mr. Feynman" moments.