Spence in limbo

Some of you probably don't really care about what Rob Spence is up to these days.

Dabo Swinney's first act upon taking the interim job in October of 2008 was to tell Spence to pack his bags, and a lot of folks deemed the riddance a good and necessary thing.

I'm certainly not going to argue with that notion, because Spence just didn't seem equipped to handle that job at a place like this. But it's been hard not to have some curiosity about has career trajectory since he left.

Syracuse's Doug Marrone hired him as offensive coordinator, and that lasted a season.

Then he ended up at Temple as wide receivers coach.

Owls head coach Al Golden recently took the job at Miami, and it doesn't sound as if he's too eager to bring Spence along.

This was the news from Miami yesterday:

As expected, former Temple defensive coordinator Mark D'Onofrio will follow Golden to UM along with defensive line coach Jethro Franklin and defensive backs coach Paul Williams.

There's not much news about Spence out there, but it sounds as if he's continuing to recruit for Temple. Maybe if he helps hold things together up there, the new coach will see fit to keep him on staff.

Things can take such crazy turns in the coaching business. These guys are making more money than ever thought possible, but they seldom have any time to enjoy it beyond the few hours that follow a big win. And they all are in this business knowing that it can all be swiped away in an instant.

Spence was known as an emerging star when Tommy Bowden hired him away from Toledo in 2005. He was well respected in the industry, and it certainly seemed he was the cure for the Tigers' offensive ills that were so prevalent in 2004.

During his time at Clemson, he was pursued by Minnesota. By Alabama. By Tennessee. And maybe some others that didn't become public.

And now he's fighting to hold on to his job as a position coach at Temple.

Speaking of former Clemson assistants, at last check David Blackwell did not have a job and was living in Hilton Head with his family. He spent one season at South Florida before the Jim Leavitt fiasco happened and Skip Holtz was hired as a replacement. Holtz did not retain him, and Blackwell has been looking for a job ever since.

This is the dark side of the coaching industry, the part that makes coaches feel like they deserve every penny of the fat contracts they're getting when their teams are successful.

Spence and Blackwell know the feeling of being treated like royalty at a big-time program, the feeling of depositing big checks and living in big houses.

Now they're experiencing the other side of it, the part that isn't written about nearly as often. The chilling reality of not knowing where their next paycheck will come from, or not getting one at all.

As we approach Christmas, thoughts and prayers go out to the Spence and Blackwell families, and countless others like them.

Certainly times like this are not why they got into this crazy, cut-throat profession.

LW