Steamed Korn

(Photo courtesy of thestate.com)

Fairly startling article on a number of levels in this piece by the (Spartanburg) Herald-Journal, which profiles Willy Korn's comeback from a disastrous time at Clemson.

The article was a hot topic on the TI message board, with people debating whether this is a case of sour grapes or a case of a legitimate beef by Korn and his father, Lary Korn.

First of all, there is a fundamental journalistic flaw in this article that cannot be ignored. Somehow the reporter and editors at the Herald-Journal never saw fit to give the folks at Clemson a call to get their side of the story.

Apparently. I say "apparently" because maybe they did try to contact Clemson and simply did not say so in the story. But the protocol for such a situation is for a news outlet to say: "Such-and-such did not respond to phone calls and e-mails seeking comment." Given the absence of such a passage in this article, it's reasonable to assume that the calls were never made. And that's just an epic failure.

And you can say it's an epic failure without taking a side in this matter. Maybe the Korn family does have a legitimate beef with Clemson's medical staff; I have no idea. But gulping down one side of a story hook, line and sinker without attempting to give the other side an opportunity to refute is a colossal mistake.

No doubt there's still some strong bitterness between the Korn side and a lot of folks on the Clemson side. Lary Korn and Dabo Swinney did not exactly part on amicable terms when Swinney (correctly) cast his lot with Kyle Parker, and Lary Korn takes a pretty obvious shot with this quote:

Larry Korn remembers thinking despite the promise of an open competition that the decision had already been made when, while watching Parker play for Clemson on TV in the College World Series, the announcers shared that Swinney had said Parker had a stronger arm than three-quarters of the quarterbacks in the NFL.

"There is an infatuation with velocity that a lot of young coaches have a hard time getting past," Korn's father said.

Another eye-opening quote from Lary Korn refers to Willy's transfer to Marshall, a move that apparently was facilitated by Kevin Steele. Korn's stint as a quarterback with the Thundering Herd was short-lived; once coaches saw him throw, they asked him to move to defensive back.

"Steele was the only guy at Clemson who ever helped Willy with anything. Willy had impressed him in practice."

When the Korns reflect on the 2008 season, their recollection is that they knew something was seriously wrong with Korn's shoulder while Clemson was downplaying it. Willy says now that he was embarrassed to be seen throwing the football because of his shoulder.

"It got to the point where I couldn't throw the ball 15 yards. I couldn't throw a spiral. It was bad. I remember there was a day when Coach Swinney invited students to come out and watch a practice and I didn't want to throw the ball in front of them. It was embarrassing. I didn't want to give people more reason to say I was terrible."

This is interesting, because at the time Korn wasn't letting on that he was hurt. I remember watching him struggle to throw a simple out route against Duke late in the 2008 season when Cullen Harper was on the shelf because of surgery. He looked awful, and I asked him after the game how much his shoulder was hurting him.

"It's not hurting at all," he said. "I'm 100 percent."

That assessment was impossible to believe at the time, and maybe Korn was just going with the party line. Or maybe he was reluctant to divulge the extent of his pain because he didn't want opponents going after his shoulder and making it worse.

But if it's a big enough deal, if the pain is that debilitating, a player needs to stick up for himself and his health by saying he cannot and will not play.

Another passage on the 2008 season:

Korn had surgery to repair the damage after Clemson's regular-season finale against South Carolina, a 31-14 win on Nov. 29. Within a few weeks, he was allowed to return to practice as Clemson prepared for the Gator Bowl.

"Looking back, I shouldn't have pushed it then," Korn said. "At the time, I wanted to compete and felt like I couldn't risk falling further behind. I wanted to show everyone that I was fine, that I was healthy, that I was going to be ready to be the starter next season. I should have taken my time and rehabbed the right way. But I tried to compete and push through and I developed some really bad habits."

Willy seems to accept some of the blame for being too eager to get back, but his dad seems to put the blame squarely on the coaching staff.

"They rushed him back immediately to back up Harper just for the purpose of the Gator Bowl," he said. "You ask a kid like Willy if he can play, and he's going to say yes. It doesn't matter how he's feeling if you leave it up to him. He went back after the surgery and, basically, no one took care of him. He found a way to propel the ball forward and it looked awful."

Surely Swinney and other folks at Clemson have a side of the story that differs from the accounts of the Korns. And, as evidenced most recently last week in his spirited defense of Clemson in its rivalry with South Carolina, Swinney isn't exactly shy about defending himself and his program.

Too bad the newspaper didn't provide him or anyone else with that opportunity.

LW