Clemson AD quietly considering Arkansas

By Marc Hudgens  |   Thursday, June 07, 2007  |  Comments( 8 )

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Dr. Terry Don Phillips has done a lot of good things since signing on as Clemson University's 10th athletic director on July 1, 2002. As far as on-field performance goes, the department had six top-25 sports teams in the 2005-06 year, including top-10 final rankings for men's soccer, golf and baseball.

Under Phillips, Clemson is the only school in the nation to win a postseason football game, postseason basketball game and a College World Series game in the same academic year. Nine of the 15 sports boasted a 100 percent graduation rate, with the football team graduating 94 percent (fourth in the nation).

Facilities have been significantly upgraded under Phillips, the most widely known of which being the football stadium's "West End Zone" project, and plans for further improvements are in the works. He is known for making good hires, notably basketball coach Oliver Purnell, who has a track record of energizing basketball programs, and is also known as a very solid fundraiser.

Although Phillips is a Texan by birth, for all intents and purposes, Arkansas is home. He played under Frank Broyles from 1966-1969 and was his graduate assistant from '70-71. His undergraduate and law degrees are from Arkansas, and he's a member of the Arkansas Bar Association. His brother Lloyd is both a state and university Hall Of Famer. It's obvious that his ties to The Natural State are both many and strong. Given his previous athletic directorships at Clemson and Oklahoma State, Phillips is far from unqualified to replace Broyles.

And Phillips' hometown of Longview, Texas, isn't all that far from Fayetteville, Ark., either.

But on the other hand, there's plasma-hot turmoil up on 'The Hill,' mostly surrounding head coach Houston Nutt. The e-mail scandal, the alleged affair, the Mustain/Malzahn departures (among others), the University Chancellor going on record as supporting the controversial Nutt -- all after going 10-2 in the regular season and winning the SEC West, thus creating very staunch SEC title expectations from now on.

Phillips will also have some big shoes to fill in replacing the legendary Broyles and enormously huge boosters to deal with, namely the Lindsays and the Waltons. With those two behemoth financiers behind them, the Razorbacks will most likely offer far more than what Clemson currently pays, which is currently $665,000 if he remains at Clemson through 2008.

Granted, Clemson's controversies (Bowden, Athletic Advisory Review Committee, the Spiller transfer scare) pale in comparison to Arkansas', so one would think Phillips would stay put and not go into that SEC hotbed. But for some, there's simply no place like home. For those of us who live hundreds or even thousands of miles from our families, we understand that. It's nothing against Clemson; he's had a successful tenure and does indeed like it there, but it's just not home.

As expected, Phillips is downplaying the situation by dismissing reports as mere speculation and stating that he hasn't been contacted by anyone from Arkansas in any official capacity. While that may be true, don't be surprised if the lure of home is secretly, and heavily, weighing on his mind.

It's not a lock that he's going to Arkansas; however, it's not a certainty that he's staying at Clemson either. No one at this point knows for sure.

Maybe not even Phillips himself.

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About Marc Hudgens

Marc Hudgens has been with RealFootball365 since 2007, covering college football, specifically Clemson and Oregon. He also writes for SouthernPigskin.com covering the ACC. He enjoys the acidic wit of Hunter S. Thompson, is a freelance graphic designer and has written several screenplays. He ...
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