The Clemson Dubcast

In her book The Devil at His Elbow: Alex Murdaugh and the Fall of a Southern Dynasty, author Valerie Bauerlein hones in on not just Mark Tinsley's central role in the fall but his full story. Away from the courtroom, Tinsley's passion is traveling to isolated regions of the world and hunting big game. He has stalked Dall sheep on the edge of the Arctic Circle, moose in the Yukon, mule deer in the rocky hills of the Mexican border and grizzlies across the remote Alaskan islands. An excerpt from the book: Tinsley raised the sight to the ram's chest and steeled himself, doing his best to ignore the ache in his hand and the throbbing in his back. Everything he had endured to reach this moment was its own reward. He took a deep breath, exhaled slightly, then held the exhalation and squeezed the trigger. A half second later, the ram fell. Tinsley stood up and hiked toward his prize. He did not feel triumphant. He felt grateful. Many trial lawyers are hunters, known in both their personal and professional lives for their willingness to draw blood. Tinsley joins The Dubcast to recount in detail his decision to take on former friend Alex Murdaugh by representing the family of Mallory Beach. Initially Murdaugh and plenty of other people in the legal profession believed Tinsley was going to be an ally to Murdaugh in the wrongful death lawsuit -- "a friendly lawsuit," as Murdaugh called it. Murdaugh soon learned otherwise, and he confronted Tinsley at an annual trial lawyer gathering on Hilton Head. "Alex saw me and he came straight across the room," Tinsley said. "He wants to know: 'What's this I've been hearing about you saying you want a pound of flesh and I'm going to have to pay?'" Tinsley's response: "If you don't think I can burn your house down, you're sorely mistaken." Playing a major role in bringing down the Murdaugh dynasty has made Tinsley a celebrity who's recognized almost everywhere he goes. But battling Murdaugh while also fighting stage four prostate cancer has made Tinsley better in ways far beyond fame and fortune. "It helped me really focus on what matters. There are so many times in life we get all wrought up in these little things that at the end of the day don't really matter: 'My daughter's room wasn't clean enough. She left her plate of food on the table,' or whatever it may be. I think the thing I got most out of it was watching the Beaches, helping them what they've gone through, and who they are in spite of what happened to them. "It made me want to be a better person. It made me want to focus on things like underage drinking and the hazards of it. If we can make the world a better place, a safer place, we ought to do so. So now I focus on things like that. I want to be a better person. I want to do good things. I want to be remembered for something other than Alex Murdaugh." Tinsley is a Clemson graduate who said he wore an orange backpack when he attended law school in Columbia. His daughter Emma is a current Clemson student studying Criminal Justice, and she plans to attend law school after graduation.

As a reporter for the Wall Street Journal, Valerie Bauerlein had a front-row seat to the most captivating murder trial since OJ Simpson. But Bauerlein did more than file dispatches to her newspaper during Alex Murdaugh's trial: She wrote the definitive narrative of not just the Murdaugh story, but the roots of the generational power the Murdaugh family wielded in Hampton County for more than a century as they made problems go away by making lies look like the truth. In The Devil at His Elbow: Alex Murdaugh and the Fall of a Southern Dynasty, Bauerlein delivers a masterpiece of reporting, organization and storytelling. Bauerlein, a national reporter who writes about small-town America and Southern politics, economics and culture, joins The Dubcast to reflect not just on her process of writing the book but also some fascinating parts of the backstory that didn't make the final edit -- including an early-1900s march on the Horseshoe in Columbia by Randolph Murdaugh Sr. to bring back football after it was banned. Bauerlein also explores some questions that remain unanswered even as Alex is in prison for the murders of his wife Maggie and son Paul: Did Alex have help in carrying out the murders? How close was Alex to averting a guilty verdict? Where is all the money he stole from people who most needed it, including the family of Gloria Satterfield? Bauerlein lives in the Raleigh area with her husband and two children. Before joining the Journal in 2005, she worked as a congressional correspondent for the News & Observer in Raleigh, a legislative reporter at The State in Columbia, and a cops reporter at the Winston-Salem Journal.

For the first time in 156 years, Clemson University has brought the Will of Thomas Green Clemson back to campus. "Not having the Will here would be like the United States not knowing where the Constitution was, or knowing where it was but not having access to it every day -- the original document," says university historian Otis Pickett. "And now Clemson -- our Constitution, our founding document -- is home in our archives. We can look at it. We can study it. We can look at all the little details of it. We can see all the little important provenance of that document that helps us better understand how to be Clemson." Pickett rejoins The Clemson Dubcast to articulate his dream of having that document on display for everyone to be able to view "and to say: That's the document that started this whole thing." "We are working on a Clemson History Museum," Pickett said. "We would tell the Thomas Green Clemson story. We would tell the military story. Then we have all this amazing stuff from Harvey Gantt and desegregation and the RC Edwards administration; we're going to have a whole room dedicated to just that. A whole room dedicated to the history of the Tiger paw. "I want this to be a part of the game-day experience: Bring folks up to the museum, get something to drink, sit on the porch and reconnect with other alumni. And bring your children so they can see all this history. Because we're more than just athletics. That's a huge part of our identity, but there's so much more. I want folks to experience that and see that in a tangible manner. And that will familiarize our alumni base with all of our history. So when something comes out that we haven't heard before, it's not as shocking. "That's my vision. That's my dream." Pickett also shares the story of how his and his wife's life changed over the 16 months that their daughter Sadie Margaret lived before passing in June of 2017. To contribute to the Clemson History Museum, go to the following web site: https://iamatiger.clemson.edu/giving/historic-properties

Mike Noonan doesn't sugarcoat where he thinks college athletics is headed. "Buckle up and hold on tight, because we're going to go through a hurricane," he said. Noonan, who has led Clemson to two national titles in men's soccer, is privy to major changes taking shape in the college game. "We've made about five different attempts to become a two-semester sport, and modernize the sport, but we have hit roadblocks in the NCAA bureaucracy every time," he said. "So with all the changes going on with college athletics, and there's been a number of changes in the governing body at U.S. Soccer ... we re-engaged in conversations with them. "There was a pilot program put forward, similar to the College Football Playoff. We're not leaving the NCAA, but we would play over two semesters and there'd be a national tournament sponsored by U.S. Soccer at the end of the spring portion of our season. The national governing body would pay for the championship, and we would be able to progress our game in a way that we haven't been able to." Noonan said athletics directors have been in "great discussions" with U.S. Soccer about adopting the pilot program for the 2026-27 year. He said there are different championship models that feature 36 teams, 48 teams and even 72 teams. "We all feel favorable that it's going to happen. It will be a big change." Noonan also shares how, a few years into his Clemson tenure, he significantly changed his recruiting model. "When we got here we were in a position where we had to just look for talent. And talent without character is a recipe for disaster." Noonan consulted a familiar name as he constructed his new model: One Dabo Swinney. Swinney's advice to Noonan: It's not what works everywhere; it's what works at Clemson. "That flipped a switch for me," Noonan said. "We came up with 10 recruiting criteria and decided we were going to recruit to them. And any player that we were going to let come into our program was going to have to tick seven of those criteria."

As college athletics enters the revenue-sharing model, Patrick Sapp has a different perspective than most because: 1) He played in the NFL; 2) His son Josh is currently being paid to play at Clemson. Josh, preparing for his third year with the Tigers, certainly didn't command the major price tag earned by some of the team's elite weapons including Cade Klubnik, Antonio Williams and Peter Woods. But there were actual negotiations and he is making an actual cut of the revenue share. "Going through the negotiating process and conversations with Josh was very interesting," Patrick said. "It truly reminded me of the NFL contractual conversations that my agent and I went through when I played for San Diego and Arizona. "What's the player's value? What has he contributed? What do the coaches feel like a player can contribute in the future? All those things go into what a player demands from the university, or from the internal collectives. And that is truly how those numbers are reached. "The other influence on this whole thing is other school are now interested in your players. So for people who say 'This is all crazy,' schools are now coming after your starters. It's not as much about kids being angry over playing time. It's now a case of, you have to protect your starters all 12 months of the year." Sapp says he does have some concerns over what gobs of money can do the minds of young men who are still in their formative years and expected to attend classes and make progress toward graduation. "Fortunately my son has me. And we are definitely taking care of his money the right way. He's definitely with a financial planner, accountant and all those surrounding things. And we're not doing it just to manage it for him; we're doing it to educate him along the way so he truly understands it. He and I talk about what's important and not important about how you spend your money, so that he can have those good habits early in life. "Unfortunately all kids don't have that situation. So then it's up to the coaches and the support staff and all those people to wrap their arms around those young men who are in those situations so they don't do crazy things with the money they have. "And I explained it as simple as this to my son: 'This is the only time in your life where you will make a significant amount of money with no financial responsibility. So given that, the money you make in college should triple by the time you leave. Because you have no expenses. This is the only time in your life that you will have that, so let's get a head start on life.' That's where our conversation started." Sapp also gives his thoughts and insights on the fundamental defensive flaws in 2024 that led Dabo Swinney to fire Wes Goodwin and bring in Tom Allen from Penn State.

It's been a surreal week for The Post and Courier's Jon Blau, who reacquainted himself with Tom Allen after covering Allen when he was Indiana's head coach. Before Blau left Bloomington for Upstate South Carolina in 2021, he was presented with an Indiana football helmet signed by Allen. Now Blau considers possession of the helmet a conflict of interest and is considering auctioning it off. Blau has plenty of stories and insight into Allen for fans curious about the coach's backstory and what makes him tick. Eric Mac Lain rejoins the podcast to give his take on Dabo Swinney's recent big move and what it means for the overall state of the program. Also, what does Mac Lain think about the state of college football as it moves quickly toward the revenue-share model? Once upon a time, Mac Lain was stoked to get free swag from the Orange Bowl after repeat appearances there. Now, Clemson's highest-paid assistant coach (Allen at $1.9 million) isn't making as much as the quarterback. "I'm just mad I came along too early to get some of that money," Mac Lain said.

Beth Hoole was a total stranger to the Clemson-South Carolina rivalry when she moved from Fargo to Greenville in 2022 to be the sports director at FOX Carolina News. "I've never experienced anything like this rivalry, and it's so much fun. When people say sports are so much different in the South, it's so true. It's wild how passionate and upset people can get about the other side." Hoole has fully immersed herself in all aspects of the job, and now she's specializing in helping tell the stories behind Clemson athletics as part of her station's formal relationship with the school. Once upon a time, Hoole was the first female sports director in the history of North Dakota. It was not well received, as she got nasty emails telling her she should be working in the kitchen and had no business covering sports. A Nebraska grad, Hoole has learned to be comfortable in her own skin as she explores the deeper layers of the backgrounds of players and coaches. And her regular access to Dabo Swinney and Brad Brownell has given her a fascinating window into how the two coaches operate behind the scenes. Hoole also recounts getting roasted (in a playful way) by Mike Krzyzewski when he learned she is from the Chicago suburbs.

In Part 2 of our Best of 2024 podcast, we revisit some of the more memorable excerpts from our interviews over the past year: -- Thomas Austin, on what it's like to deal with being fired by Dabo Swinney. In 2008, Austin was an offensive lineman on the team that helped Swinney secure the head-coaching job with a victory over South Carolina. Swinney even rode on Austin's shoulders to midfield that day to shake the hand of Steve Spurrier. -- Otis Pickett, on returning to his alma mater from Mississippi to be the historian of Clemson University. 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. -- Cliff Ellis, former Clemson basketball coach, shares numerous stories about his musical career. Had he not chosen coaching, Ellis could've easily spent his life as a professional musician. In the mid-1960s, his group The Villagers was a sensation and even recorded at the legendary Fame Studios in Muscle Shoals, Ala. Ellis remembers joining Roy Orbison on stage at a sold-out concert in Dothan, Ala. "If you can perform in front of people with Roy Orbison behind you, you're going to be OK going up against Dean Smith and Mike Krzyzewski," he said. -- Tommy West looks back to a totally different time for Clemson football in the 1990s when the Tigers didn't have any facilities to speak of and were so behind on that front that he once tried to stage an August practice at a local livestock arena.

We go back through the interview files to excerpt the most memorable sequences from our 2024 podcast interviews. Today in Part 1: -- Brad Scott and son Jeff Scott, on being out of the football business. Also, their insider recollections of various high-stakes recruitments including Sammy Watkins, Mike Bellamy and others; -- Mike Noonan, who brought Clemson two national soccer titles in three years. Noonan shares his family's fascinating backstory, and the unlikely path he and his wife took to Clemson; -- Billy Donlon, an assistant under Brad Brownell, on his life in basketball that includes formative years in the shadow of the Chicago Bulls dynasty. -- Thad Turnipseed, looking back on all the things that came together for Dabo Swinney's program to ascend to almost unimaginable heights. Part 2 comes Dec. 31st.

Cade Klubnik's return to Austin to face former high school rival Quinn Ewers is one of the more compelling stories of the inaugural 12-team playoff. The story has fascinating roots, and with that in mind we revisit two interviews we conducted years ago to learn more about Klubnik's background: -- With Klubnik in December of 2021, days before he was to fly to Clemson to begin life as a Tiger; -- With Klubnik's high school coach, Todd Dodge, in December of 2022 as Klubnik was set to take over as Clemson's starting quarterback. The most remarkable part of Klubnik's journey to Clemson is that he stuck with the Tigers even when they didn't offer him. He had to wait until Ty Simpson decided between Clemson and Alabama before that offer came. And meanwhile, Steve Sarkisian at Texas and Jimbo Fisher at Texas A&M had already offered him. Dodge decided to retire after Klubnik led Westlake High School to a third consecutive state title as a senior. After two years out of the game, Dodge returned to the football field last offseason when he took over at Lovejoy High in Lucas, Texas.

B.T. Potter has known current Clemson kicker Nolan Hauser since Hauser was in middle school. Potter, who kicked for the Tigers from 2018 to 2022, was in Bank of America Stadium when Hauser drilled the 56-yard field goal that put Clemson in Austin for Saturday's first-round playoff game against Texas. Potter says Hauser has a confidence that he lacked as a freshman and had to learn over time. What's it like to be on special teams when the rest of the team is grinding away through physically demanding practices? What's it like to get reamed by Dabo Swinney on national television, as Potter did in 2021 after missing two short field goals he should've made in a close game against Florida State? What's it like to get cut from an NFL team and wonder if your football career is done? Potter, who recently signed with the Michigan Panthers of the United Football League, has a lot going on right now including preparing for a wedding. He shares his story here.

Thirteen days ago, Roy Philpott got the assignment of his dreams from ESPN: South Carolina at Clemson, Nov. 30. Philpott, a Clemson graduate who spent many years in the area working in various media capacities covering the Tigers, joins The Dubcast to reflect on a wild afternoon at Death Valley and what it meant for both teams. There were so many twists and turns late in the game that Philpott walked away from the stadium asking himself if he did justice to the game, its stakes, and the extraordinary show put on by Gamecock freshman LaNorris Sellers. Philpott spent quite a lot of time with Dabo Swinney and a few other staff members the day before the game. What were his takeaways? What does he think about Swinney's ability to adapt to a rapidly changing collegiate model enough to get Clemson back to the top of the mountain? Philpott's normally busy schedule is about to get even crazier with the overlap of college football and college basketball. He still lives in the Upstate and has no desire to leave.

A year ago on this podcast, Ellis Johnson correctly foreshadowed a Clemson victory in Columbia because in his mind the Tigers were just better. Now he has no idea how to predict Saturday's Top 15 showdown in Death Valley. "I think it's a dead-even game," he said. Johnson has been on both sides of this rivalry, in the mid-1990s at Clemson under Tommy West and as Steve Spurrier's defensive coordinator in Columbia from 2008 to 2011 (and as an analyst under Will Muschamp from 2016-18). Johnson is a closer observer of Clemson now because is son Charlie is a walk-on for the Tigers. Ellis' routine during the season is traveling to Clemson and watching every Tuesday practice. In addition to sizing up this rivalry matchup, Johnson gives his thought on the tumultuous state of college athletics as the model transitions from amateurism to NIL to the full-on revenue sharing to come starting in the summer of 2025. "The NCAA has created a mess," he said. "Letting the top level of college football get too far out of hand is going to seriously damage the overall college football scene. And when that damage happens, it's always the kids that get affected by it."

Scott Hamilton is a media survivor. He prefers to call himself a cockroach. Whatever the name, his current title is sports columnist for The Post and Courier newspaper and he's utterly thrilled to hold this position as the only newspaper sports columnist left in the Palmetto State. "I feel like I'm 28 years old again," he said. "It's so exciting." Hamilton joins the podcast to reflect on a career that has included newspapers, magazines, television, radio, and sales for a minor-league baseball team. And to think: He went to college to become a history teacher. Hamilton shares insight into his daily routine, the state of newspapers, and the current state of college football. And yes, he's totally geeked about this week's South Carolina-Clemson showdown in Death Valley.

In a mere three years, Terrence Oglesby has established himself as a successful college basketball broadcaster and analyst. It's taken lots of hustle and networking, but most of all Oglesby's continued upward trajectory is a tribute to his smooth style and his strong command of the game. Oglesby's duties consist of: Analyst for Charlotte Hornets home games; ESPN; FOX; NBA TV; The Field of 68; and CBS Sports Network. Just this past week he was in Milwaukee broadcasting a game Monday night, and by the next afternoon he was driving from Atlanta to Clemson to work his alma mater's game against Eastern Kentucky. The former sharpshooter for Oliver Purnell spent several years living in Clemson, but last fall he moved his family to Greenville so he could be closer to the airport. Oglesby gives his thoughts on the current state of Clemson basketball under Brad Brownell. He's convinced that Brownell is going to lead the Tigers to sustained prominence as Brownell continues to take advantage of the transfer portal and maintaining the relationships with major donors that are necessary to pay for high-end talent in the NIL era.

Earlier this week, Dabo Swinney wished a happy 80th Birthday to his mother and shared some details of her positively remarkable life story. Five years ago, Tigerillustrated.com sat down with Carol and she told the story in full. A small excerpt: At some point my mother noticed there was something different about how polio had affected me, compared to others. It left me weakened from my waist up and affected my upper body, but not my legs. If polio affected your legs you had no strength or use of them, never growing and never developing any muscles. These people were in big, heavy braces just dragging themselves around. Some were on crutches that held their arms up. At the time I thought: “You know, I’m so thankful.” It was better for your arms to be affected by polio than your legs. I couldn’t raise my arms. I couldn’t use them. I couldn’t use my hands. So at first I was put into body braces that came around my body, under my arms so they could help keep my arms up. And still to this day, you can see the tremors in my hands and the atrophy. That’s what polio did to me. So I wore those braces until they would have to be changed, and then I would get a new brace. And that went on and on and on. My upper body was so weak that I developed a bad case of scoliosis, a severe curving of the spine. Because the polio attacked my muscles, I was temporarily paralyzed. And it was drawing me way over to my left side. My body was curved so badly that had I not had corrective surgery and braces, I would have remained curved over had I lived. That’s when my mother realized something was wrong, really wrong. Even with the braces, she would take the braces off just to bathe me and put them back on. But my body would still flop to the left. So my mom took me back to the Crippled Children’s Clinic and Hospital in Birmingham. My body had to be encased as I continued to grow so it would remain straight until I was old enough to have surgery. I was put in a full body cast and spent 14 months in it. At the time I had long hair; my mother had let it grow out into a long ponytail. And the day they were going to put me in that body cast, they had to cut my ponytail off and basically shave my head. I was almost 9 years old, and I thought that was the most terrifying thing for them to do. My mom wasn’t there; they wouldn’t allow her to be there with me. She did ask them to save my ponytail. So they did, and they put it into a plastic bag and they gave it to her and she kept it for years. Today we present the audio from that 2019 conversation with Carol. And we join her son in wishing her a happy 80th birthday.

On May 3, WYFF News 4 Sports Director Marc Whiteman shared this on social media: Been pretty low key on social media and at work lately, and I’m ready to share some news. Liam Finn Whiteman was born at just 28 weeks old last weekend at 3 lbs and 12 ounces. Earlier in the week, Mary and I were rushed to the hospital under the threat of preterm labor, and a little less than 72 hours later, Liam was here. We didn’t have his name picked out. We thought we had more time. But as it became apparent that he was coming, sooner than expected, we realized it was always Liam. In Irish, Liam points to a “strong-willed warrior.” In Hebrew, a “determined guardian.” We knew whatever was coming, he’d need to be both of those things. He is already so much more. We’re anxious to get our little guy home from the NICU, and are so confident in the incredible team of doctors, nurses and caregivers at Prisma looking after him. Progress isn’t always linear, but we’re incredibly encouraged by his growth so far. He’s a tough little nugget. Mary and I already love him so much more than we could even fathom, and are so eager to watch him get a little bit bigger, stronger and healthier each and every day. We’re so thankful for the village we have around us. Our family, friends and incredible co-workers have picked us up and looked after us as we grapple with each day. They’ve dropped what they were doing, rearranged their lives, and come to our side. We’re looking forward to repaying that kindness in the future, and showering our baby boy with all the love in the universe when he comes home. After 67 days in the hospital, Liam finally came home in late summer. He is now more than sixth months old. Marc joins the podcast to share their story.

In 2006, Patricia Watkins thought her son was going to play college football for the Florida Gators. She had never even heard of Clemson when CJ Spiller traveled for a visit there that changed his life, and their lives. Last week, Watkins was a part of Spiller's entourage on the field at Death Valley when he was inducted into Clemson's Ring of Honor. It brought tears to her eyes because the first thing she thought of was when CJ tried to join a youth football team as a 6-year-old and was told he was too young (he spent that season as the water boy instead). CJ bawled his eyes out that day when told he couldn't play. He was crying again last Saturday, but they were tears of joy and gratitude. Watkins joins The Dubcast to reflect on the journey since Spiller's recruitment when she first heard the name Dabo Swinney. Swinney, then the receivers coach, was the key figure in convincing Spiller that Clemson was the place for him. And then a year later, Swinney was again the catalyst in convincing Spiller to remain at Clemson after he'd made up his mind he was going back home and transferring to Florida to join Urban Meyer, Tim Tebow and Percy Harvin. The mother of the most important recruit in Clemson football history opens up about her story, and their story.

David Hale of ESPN has a fascinating, tumultuous relationship with Dabo Swinney dating back nine years when Swinney's nuclear response to a Hale question about "Clemsoning" went viral. Hale joins the podcast to share what that relationship has been like in recent years as he communicates with Swinney both in press conferences and in more informal settings. In a transformative time for college athletics, Hale has visited with numerous athletics directors to try to get a sense of how they might adjust to the advent of revenue sharing with athletes. Is it naive to think a more regulated, policed NIL is actually going to work? And what of the ACC as its profile falls even further behind in the shadow of an expanded SEC and Big Ten? What's the best move for Clemson and Florida State? Stay in the ACC in exchange for more money and a reduced Grant of Rights agreement? Or continue fighting like hell to get out because they can't afford falling into obscurity over the next 5-6 seasons? Lots of questions and few concrete answers. But Hale possesses a smarter and more informed grasp of the big picture than most anyone out there.

Mickey Plyler, a Clemson-area sports-radio institution, rejoins The Dubcast to talk football ... and the current political-football fiasco taking place in Clemson. Plyler turns the tables on the interview and asks his own questions about: -- Seneca Journal publisher Jerry Edwards using shady tactics to try to influence the Clemson mayoral and city-council elections; -- The publisher joining forces with a current Clemson mayoral candidate (and sitting council member) to fabricate a gender war between the men and women on Clemson's city council, in addition to alleging that the mayor and other council members pocketed money from developers; -- The idea that growth has been bad for Clemson, and criticisms that said growth has turned Clemson "into another Atlanta, Chicago or Detroit" as some in the anti-development faction have alleged. In the second half of the interview, we try to wrap our arms around how quickly the perception of Clemson football changed over the past two games after a debilitating loss at Georgia was (incorrectly) said to inflict long-range repercussions. Plyler also shares some deeply personal and meaningful revelations he experienced recently when he observed his 5-year-old son experiencing the wonder of a Clemson game at Death Valley.