Travels with Terry Don

CLEMSON — Terry Don Phillips hopes to hire a head football coach before he accumulates enough frequent flyer miles for a round trip to Mars.

But the Clemson athletic director knows transition isn't for wimps.

It calls for long trips to interview known candidates. Detroit for Lane Kiffin, deepest Oklahoma for Sooners defensive coordinator Brent Venables. Virginia Tech defensive coordinator Bud Foster is on deck.

Potential candidates. Texas defensive coordinator Will Muschamp? Vanderbilt head coach Bobby Johnson?

And an interim head coach.

"Dabo Swinney definitely is still a candidate," Phillips said Saturday of the 38-year-old former wide receivers coach he personally picked to replace the dismissed Tommy Bowden. "I told him he would be given an opportunity and I know he wants to make the most of it."

A 31-7 rout of Duke went over well with a homecoming crowd but Swinney probably has to defeat

South Carolina in two weeks and fare well Saturday at Virginia to stay in the mix.

Meanwhile, the business of Clemson football recruiting is recruiting the future face of the program.

Phillips said not to make too much about finding the perfect fit.

"For instance, I was an Arkansas guy when I moved on to Virginia Tech and I fit in there just fine for a long time," Phillips said.

Oliver Purnell, without ties to South Carolina, has adjusted quite nicely at Clemson's basketball coach.

"Well, exactly," Phillips said.

So Kiffin, 33, probably makes a lot more sense than you think despite being a "West Coast guy" who has been head coach of the Oakland Raiders and recruiting coordinator at Southern California.

'Jerry Don'

There is talk about Texas Tech head coach Mike Leach not fitting because, among other reasons, he is a Mormon. Did you forget he worked at Valdosta State and Kentucky?

The post-Bowden era started with a Dabo debut loss to Georgia Tech on Oct. 18. That Death Valley day got Phillips unwanted publicity when former Heisman Trophy winner Andre Ware, in Clemson as an ESPN analyst, criticized Phillips for "micro-managing" Swinney. The blast came after cameras showed Phillips on the sideline apparently yelling at Swinney in the fourth quarter.

Phillips issued an official statement, explaining he always comes to the sideline in the second half and was not playing puppeteer.

He shook his head Saturday and smiled.

"I had a talk with Andre Ware," Phillips said. "I said, 'Do you have any idea what I've had to put up with since that comment?' "

E-mails and phone calls poured in. A man from Minnesota called the likeable Phillips an unprintable name. Swinney joked about working for "Jerry Don," a playful jab at infamously intrusive Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones.

New flight plan

The search goes on.

Though only assistant coaches and unemployed coaches have drawn official interest so far, Phillips indicated "standing head coaches" also are under consideration.

"The protocol is you wait until a head coach's (regular) season is over and then officially ask permission," Phillips said.

Phillips, as usual Saturday, saw the late stages of a Clemson football game from the sideline. At about the 35-yard line nearest the Tigers' locker room. He watched with temporary content, though there is one coach search adjustment in store.

Clemson's official university plane, purple and orange and adorned with tiger paws, was a little obvious idling in Oklahoma.

Phillips didn't realize how modern online technology allows people to track flights to places like Detroit.

"I'm flying commercial from now on," he said with another grin.

And where will Terry Don Phillips sit on those commercial flights?

In coach, of course.

Reach Gene Sapakoff at gsapakoff@postandcourier.com or 937-5593.