Carlson: Why OSU defensive line coach Joe Bob Clements is worthy of defensive coordinator job
Jenni CarlsonOklahoman
STILLWATER — Joe Bob Clements surveyed the scene from the far end of Oklahoma State’s indoor football facility.
Dressed in khakis and an orange pullover like the rest of the Cowboy coaches, he watched as players posed for the team's annual end-of-season photos. They wore uniforms, posed by height, then went by position.
Clements joined in when it was time for his defensive line, his head high, his shoulders back.
Clements’ obvious pride is understandable — along with fellow defensive line coach Greg Richmond, Clements has built one of the best defensive lines in college football and flipped a position that was once a year-in, year-out struggle for the Cowboys into its greatest strength.
He has recruited and developed, molded and maximized.
Sounds like a guy who’s ready to be the defensive coordinator.
As OSU readies for the Fiesta Bowl against Notre Dame, we don’t yet know who will call plays for the defense there, much less in the future. Jim Knowles is gone after four years leading the defense, and even though Ohio State said he didn’t need to start work in Columbus until after the Fiesta Bowl, Mike Gundy cut Knowles loose early anyway.
Here’s guessing the Cowboy head coach wanted to test drive a defensive play caller in the bowl game.
Gundy has said he won’t decide who that will be until the team is arrives in the desert, but Clements and cornerbacks coach Tim Duffie are likely at the top of the list. Duffie, like Clements, is in his ninth season in Stillwater, so they are the most seasoned, most marinated in the OSU ways. Either would be a solid option.
Still, it’s hard to ignore Clements’ overall body of work.
When he arrived at OSU in 2013 after stints at Kansas State, San Diego State, Kansas, then a return to K-State, the Cowboys’ defensive line was an annual source of consternation. It wasn’t awful, but its success often came down to one or two players. Guys like Jamie Blatnick or Richetti Jones or Calvin Barnett or James Castleman. If they could do something individually spectacular, OSU would get a sack or a quarterback hurry or a tackle for loss.
Those types of plays made by a defensive lineman felt like the exception instead of an expectation.
But Clements changed that.
The trajectory wasn’t always linear. In his first season, for example, the Cowboys’ sack total was stagnant. They got 25 sacks in the first year with Clements, the same number they had the year before.
But every season since, the Cowboys have never had fewer than 28 sacks, and three times, they’ve gone over 39 sacks.
Their high-water mark under Clements came this season. OSU has a whopping 55 sacks, the best in the nation.
Dive into the numbers, and you’ll see how Clements has changed things. The Cowboys have five defensive linemen this season who have three or more sacks. Collin Oliver leads the way with 11.5 sacks, followed by Brock Martin with 7.0. But Tyler Lacy (3.5 sacks), Israel Antwine (3.0) and Brendon Evers (3.0) have gotten to the quarterback, too.
The OSU defensive line now has not only depth but also depth of talent, lots of guys who can make plays.
That has made the Cowboys' defensive transformation possible. Sure, Knowles was a huge part of that, too, but what the defensive line can do has been a game changer. It can occupy blockers so linebackers don't have to work as hard to make tackles. It can hurry passes so the secondary doesn't have to cover as long.
Credit Clements for building the defensive line to this point.
“He’s awesome,” Cowboy defensive end Kody Walterscheid said. “He’s taught me a lot as far as being a defensive lineman. He’s great, and I really appreciate that guy.”
Truth be told, part of the strength of OSU’s defense, and frankly the program as a whole, has been the continuity of coaches. While Clements and Duffie are in their ninth years in Stillwater, safeties coach Dan Hammerschmidt is in his seventh, Richmond in his fifth.
Knowles was actually the short-timer, only in his fourth season with the Cowboys.
“Continuity is important, right?” Gundy said. “I mean, it is for Oklahoma State, let’s put it that way. … When Jim left, they were able to go in the room and divvy up responsibilities and know what to do.”
Cowboy safety Jason Taylor II said, “Other schools, they probably don’t have that, and maybe if they lose a defensive coordinator, they kind of start from scratch.”
The Cowboys won’t be starting from scratch for the Fiesta Bowl, and if Gundy promotes from within and picks an assistant to take over as defensive coordinator, OSU won’t have to start over next season either. It has assistants who know how to run this defense. It has candidates to take over the coordinator duties.
But none has shown more and done more with his position than Clements.
Earlier this month, Gundy outlined what he was looking for in his next defensive coordinator.
“Smart, hardworking and loyal — those three things,” Gundy said.
Joe Bob Clements is all those things, not because someone has said it but because he has shown it.
