November 30, 2004

Clemson coordinators fired

I'd been hearing rumblings of post-season coaching changes after the 1-4 start for the Tigers earlier this season but I was just surprised (because of O'Cain's name being tied to the ECU job) to hear that Mickey Plyler has reported (via Tigernet) that Clemson Offensive Coordinator Mike O'Cain and Defensive Coordinator John Lovett are not being retained.

Roy Philpott of CUTigers.com reports that the two coaches were informed of the decision this morning in a meeting with Head Coach Tommy Bowden.

Tiger Illustrated reports that Lovett and O'Cain were shocked, that a 3rd member of the coaching staff has been fired and that linebackers coach David Blackwell will move up to defensive coordinator.

O'Cain was previously mentioned as a candidate for head coach at East Carolina.

UPDATE: Mickey Plyler just began discussing this news on his radio show on WCCP and said that there will be no official announcement until possibly Monday. Plyler also said that when he was checking his sources on the news earlier today he discovered that the coaches involved didn't even know the news yet when asked about it. I'm having reception problems right now with WCCP but it can also be found on the internet at WCCPfm.com.