SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. – The mystery continues with the Cowboys defense and who or which two will step in for departed defensive coordinator Jim Knowles. Knowles left back on the week after the Cowboys lost to Baylor in the Big 12 Championship Game to become the highest paid coordinator on either side of the ball in the history of Ohio State University. The next day when I stopped by the football offices there was Joe Bob Clements having just come off the road recruiting watching video of Notre Dame and making an informal declaration that he would like to become the next defensive coordinator.
Head coach Mike Gundy has delayed his announcement about who will call the defense in the PlayStation Fiesta Bowl. He said that much to the media on Monday in a Zoom conference. He said he was leaning toward using two coaches to call the defense, one on the front end and one calling the coverage in the secondary. It spoke volumes that Clements was the coach that accompanied six Oklahoma State defenders in the Tuesday Oklahoma State defensive Zoom conference for the media.
“Coach Gundy is going to have to address on who's calling and how we're actually going to do that,” Clements said being humble. “But I can tell you, to this point, it's been a collective effort as far as the game planning. At the end of the day, whoever's mouth that the call comes out of it's just a byproduct of the collective effort the staff has put in as far as getting ready for the game.”
The veteran coach in his ninth season with the Cowboys coaching defensive line has prepared himself for this from the time he was a walk-on defensive end at Kansas State through his time as an assistant at Kansas State, Kansas, San Diego State, and in Stillwater.
“Well, it's just like all of us when we grew up, we play the what-if game -- what if this? What if that? I've been calling defenses in my head since probably as a player,” Clements explained. “We'd go in as a group of players on Thursday night to study the upcoming opponent, and each player would make a call. And then so you kind of play the what-if game and you execute what your responsibilities were in that call. And then when I got into coaching, even as a graduate assistant, it's just a what-if game. What would you call in this situation or what do you think of the call that was made, et cetera?”
The players have confidence in Clements and the other assistant coaches. They’ve noticed a difference in practice, but some of the difference is good.
“Everything has gone smoothly. I mean, haven't missed a step, really,” defensive end Brock Martin answered in addressing the changes in defensive practices. “Coach [Joe Bob] Clements has kind of stepped into the play-calling role and he just kind of lets the position coaches coach his players. And assignment-wise, Coach Clements doesn't really get out of -- he's a D-line coach. That's what he does. That's what he knows. He knows all the other positions, too, but he is going to leave it to the guys that that's their specific job. He's not going to overreach his responsibilities and try to do something that he doesn't need to.”
On the Notre Dame side, offensive coordinator Tommie Rees has seen all the games, but admits there is a missing piece, and X-factor when you don’t know who will be calling the plays. How aggressive do they get and most important what do they call on third downs.
“The unknown of the coordinator spot, when you have 13 games, that's the only thing you have to look back on,” Notre Dame offensive coordinator Tommie Rees. “And as a coach on a staff, I was in a similar situation a couple of years ago. You have an opportunity to call it after being a position coach. You are not going to deviate too much from who you are for the players, right? You don't want to start putting too much different in there, because you want your players to still be able to go out and execute at a high level. So, when we look at it, we want to make sure that we are preparing for what they have shown and their tendencies.”
Like I said, I think it will be Joe Bob Clements and either Tim Duffie or Dan Hammerschmidt. Can two coaches call? Sure. West Virginia did it in 2020 with some success. It’s been done many times.
The answers we see on Saturday will go a long way toward the answer of who Mike Gundy will hire for the next defensive coordinator. Will he promote from within or will he go outside. Check the final score and the numbers on points, yards, third down conversions by the Irish and turnovers, sacks, and tackles for loss by the Pokes. The answer likely comes from within.
