Interesting article about Tom Clements

[HDK]

Brett Favre, Aaron Rodgers, Jordan Love's secret weapon: Packers QBs coach Tom Clements

Clements is the only person to coach Favre, Rodgers and Love. Here's what players and coaches have to say about why he has been successful.

www.espn.com

I didn't realize he had coached Favre, Rodgers, and now Love for the Packers.

And I always wondered why Notre Dame never looked at him as a potential coach in waiting.

 

[Drinking The Green Koolaid]

I was just going to post a link to the story when I saw you had already started a thread on it. Nice story on Tom. My very first bowl game at ND was watching ND beat Bama in the 1973 Sugar Bowl to win the National Championship. His pass from the end zone to TE Robin Weber to secure the win will forever be the stuff of ND legend. Clements was always a gritty player, so his success as a QB coach doesn't surprise me. Holtz had him on the ND coaching staff for a few years; wonder why other ND coaches never reached out to him. Sounds like he is very well respected. Aaron Rodgers clearly thinks very highly of him.

 

[HDK]

I was just going to post a link to the story when I saw you had already started a thread on it. Nice story on Tom. My very first bowl game at ND was watching ND beat Bama in the 1973 Sugar Bowl to win the National Championship. His pass from the end zone to TE Robin Weber to secure the win will forever be the stuff of ND legend. Clements was always a gritty player, so his success as a QB coach doesn't surprise me. Holtz had him on the ND coaching staff for a few years; wonder why other ND coaches never reached out to him. Sounds like he is very well respected. Aaron Rodgers clearly thinks very highly of him.

I still think that pass in the Sugar Bowl is the greatest single play by a Notre Dame player that I have ever seen: for the national championship with an Alabama rusher closing in.

A couple of years ago, I was watching old clips of ND teams when Clements played QB, and I was astounded at how many times after handing off, he turned up field and threw a block. Truly a different game 50 years ago.

I know Clements expressed some interest in the ND job maybe after Weis or at the same time as Weis, but I don't think he ever rose up as a viable candidate. Seems to be the kind of guy who could have been happy to work as an assistant for five years and then move up to the top spot.

 

[BGI User 1596]

Brett Favre, Aaron Rodgers, Jordan Love's secret weapon: Packers QBs coach Tom Clements

Clements is the only person to coach Favre, Rodgers and Love. Here's what players and coaches have to say about why he has been successful.

www.espn.com

I didn't realize he had coached Favre, Rodgers, and now Love for the Packers.

And I always wondered why Notre Dame never looked at him as a potential coach in waiting.

The administration thought Willingham, Davie, and Weis were superior candidates!

 

[HDK]

The administration thought Willingham, Davie, and Weis were superior candidates!

Well, to be fair, they probably were all better candidates at the time they were hired.

 

[BGI User 1596]

Well, to be fair, they probably were all better candidates at the time they were hired.

Can’t argue with the results.

 

[tkirish]

I still think that pass in the Sugar Bowl is the greatest single play by a Notre Dame player that I have ever seen: for the national championship with an Alabama rusher closing in.

A couple of years ago, I was watching old clips of ND teams when Clements played QB, and I was astounded at how many times after handing off, he turned up field and threw a block. Truly a different game 50 years ago.

I know Clements expressed some interest in the ND job maybe after Weis or at the same time as Weis, but I don't think he ever rose up as a viable candidate. Seems to be the kind of guy who could have been happy to work as an assistant for five years and then move up to the top spot.

Regarding Tom Clements. There have been many great plays in ND football lore. However , with the National Championship literally on the line in that game, Clements threw a beauty to the back up tight end. To say the “ pressure “ was on would be an understatement. I think it was 3rd an 8 from the 3. Around 2 minutes or so left. A first down seals the win. Otherwise they punt and Bama would have a chance to win. Incredible gutsy call and executed perfectly. I might add , it was anything but “ conservative “. Enough of me yapping. See link below. 100 % as clutch as it gets

 

[IrishMike409]

Regarding Tom Clements. There have been many great plays in ND football lore. However , with the National Championship literally on the line in that game, Clements threw a beauty to the back up tight end. To say the “ pressure “ was on would an understatement. I think it was 3rd an 8 from the 3. Around 2 minutes or so left. A first down seals the win. Otherwise they punt and Bama would have a chance to win. Incredible gutsy call and executed perfectly. I might add , it was anything but “ conservative “. Enough of me yapping. See link below. 100 % as clutch as it gets

View embedded media

I’ve never seen that play. Thanks for sharing.

 

[francade]

Wish we would’ve hired him back in the day. My earliest memories of ND football were Clements & demmerle & penick, etc…great memories

 

[Drinking The Green Koolaid]

Regarding Tom Clements. There have been many great plays in ND football lore. However , with the National Championship literally on the line in that game, Clements threw a beauty to the back up tight end. To say the “ pressure “ was on would an understatement. I think it was 3rd an 8 from the 3. Around 2 minutes or so left. A first down seals the win. Otherwise they punt and Bama would have a chance to win. Incredible gutsy call and executed perfectly. I might add , it was anything but “ conservative “. Enough of me yapping. See link below. 100 % as clutch as it gets

View embedded media

Thanks for posting the video.

Here is a link to a great story on "The Pass":

Robin Weber Caught a Piece of Fighting Irish History • Fighting Irish Preview

Tom Clements refers to it as “the pass”, but Robin Weber calls it “the catch”. Whatever your perspective, if you are a Notre Dame fan you know that Robin Weber played a critical role in the Irish winning the 1973 National Championship.

fightingirishpreview.com

Weber was pretty much a blocking TE and many don't know that was the very first pass Weber caught that entire season. What a catch it was. According to the linked article, Weber said he had never caught a pass all year from Clements, not even in practice or warm ups. What?! That is pretty incredible.

I was also amused by the article's description of ND's practices for the Sugar Bowl. Because of snow in South Bend, the team practiced in the Joyce Center in stocking feet, going half speed. It truly was a different game back then.

 

[HDK]

Thanks for posting the video.

Here is a link to a great story on "The Pass":

Robin Weber Caught a Piece of Fighting Irish History • Fighting Irish Preview

Tom Clements refers to it as “the pass”, but Robin Weber calls it “the catch”. Whatever your perspective, if you are a Notre Dame fan you know that Robin Weber played a critical role in the Irish winning the 1973 National Championship.

fightingirishpreview.com

Weber was pretty much a blocking TE and many don't know that was the very first pass Weber caught that entire season. What a catch it was. According to the linked article, Weber said he had never caught a pass all year from Clements, not even in practice or warm ups. What?! That is pretty incredible.

I was also amused by the article's description of ND's practices for the Sugar Bowl. Because of snow in South Bend, the team practiced in the Joyce Center in stocking feet, going half speed. It truly was a different game back then.

I remember a story about Ara ordering flashy gold Astro Turf shoes for that game, but the order got screwed up, and ND ended up borrowing a boatload of shoes from Tulane.

 

[Moher]

Brett Favre, Aaron Rodgers, Jordan Love's secret weapon: Packers QBs coach Tom Clements

Clements is the only person to coach Favre, Rodgers and Love. Here's what players and coaches have to say about why he has been successful.

www.espn.com

I didn't realize he had coached Favre, Rodgers, and now Love for the Packers.

And I always wondered why Notre Dame never looked at him as a potential coach in waiting.

Tom was also a very good basketball player. I believe he was offered by North Carolina. His team routinely won the Bookstore Basketball Championship.

 

[burmafrd1943]

Well, to be fair, they probably were all better candidates at the time they were hired.

Willingham had some success at a comparatively tough academic school so I could see that
But what had Davie done?
And Weis?
Compared to Clements experience at that time.

 

[eshupe]

Brett Favre, Aaron Rodgers, Jordan Love's secret weapon: Packers QBs coach Tom Clements

Clements is the only person to coach Favre, Rodgers and Love. Here's what players and coaches have to say about why he has been successful.

www.espn.com

I didn't realize he had coached Favre, Rodgers, and now Love for the Packers.

And I always wondered why Notre Dame never looked at him as a potential coach in waiting.

Seems like the kind of guy you would want as an offensive analyst

Brett Favre, Aaron Rodgers, Jordan Love's secret weapon: Packers QBs coach Tom Clements

Clements is the only person to coach Favre, Rodgers and Love. Here's what players and coaches have to say about why he has been successful.

www.espn.com

I didn't realize he had coached Favre, Rodgers, and now Love for the Packers.

And I always wondered why Notre Dame never looked at him as a potential coach in waiting.

Seems like the kind of guy you would want as an offensive analyst once he’s done at GB.

 

[tbonesays]

Seems like the kind of guy you would want as an offensive analyst

Seems like the kind of guy you would want as an offensive analyst once he’s done at GB.

It says he's a love coach...

 

[HDK]

Willingham had some success at a comparatively tough academic school so I could see that
But what had Davie done?
And Weis?
Compared to Clements experience at that time.

Well, I think Davie had 9 or 10 years as a DC and some time as an acting head coach.

I misread something about Clements' experience and see that he had lots of NFL experience in the '90s.

Don't get me wrong, I would have loved to have seen him get a shot at ND. My initial response was in response to poster 1596, whose seems to have a snarky anti-ND response to every post.

 

[burmafrd1943]

Well, I think Davie had 9 or 10 years as a DC and some time as an acting head coach.

I misread something about Clements' experience and see that he had lots of NFL experience in the '90s.

Don't get me wrong, I would have loved to have seen him get a shot at ND. My initial response was in response to poster 1596, whose seems to have a snarky anti-ND response to every post.

Yeah he is very consistently a joke