Where are they now?

The general fan might not care a whole lot about where former Clemson assistants end up. But if you're around the program and dealing with these guys on a daily basis, whether as a media member or whatever, you tend to be curious about their whereabouts.

So here's what a few minutes of research yielded regarding some notable names from the past:

-- David Blackwell landed at Fordham after sitting out the 2010 and 2011 seasons. Blackwell spent six seasons at Clemson before deciding to join Jim Leavitt at South Florida after Dabo Swinney took over as the Tigers' head coach. Blackwell, unfortunately, was one of the casualties of the controversy that cost Leavitt his job.

-- Rob Spence is the quarterbacks coach at Rutgers. He spent last year at Bethune-Cookman after stints at Temple and Syracuse. It's still amazing to look back at just how high this guy's stock was in 2007, when as Clemson's offensive coordinator he turned down jobs at Alabama, Tennessee and Minnesota, among others.

-- Vic Koenning is back in the ACC, this time as co-coordinator at North Carolina. He was previously at Illinois. Koenning did a good job at Clemson and probably was a bit under-appreciated. Certainly there were some legitimate criticisms of his conservative, zone-based philosophy, but all the big plays surrendered the last two years show that there's some risk in playing aggressively, too. There's a case to be made that Brent Venables is a mix of Koenning and Kevin Steele, spicing in more zone to allow his guys to play more instinctively.

-- Ron West is back with his buddy Todd Graham at Arizona State, serving as co-defensive coordinator. When he left Clemson after the 2008 season, West joined Graham at Tulsa before leaving to be on Koenning's staff at Illinois in 2010.

-- Billy Napier is at Colorado State, serving under Jim McElwain as assistant head coach and quarterbacks coach. Napier spent last year as an offensive quality control assistant at Alabama. He learned a lot and has a BCS title ring, but in this article you can tell he's stoked to be back on the field and coaching. Napier probably was in over his head as the Tigers' offensive coordinator in late 2008, 2009 and 2010, but numerous people still tell me he's one of the best recruiters anywhere. In my opinion, he's too methodical and driven to not ultimately be a success in the coaching business.

-- Chris Rumph is preparing for his second year as defensive line coach at Alabama. This was clearly a great move for Rumph, who spent five years at Clemson. He gets to learn from the master, gets paid a bunch of money, and gets to admire that BCS trophy.

-- Andre Powell is preparing for his second season at Maryland after getting fired by Swinney after the 2010 season.

A few links:

-- I don't know why, but I laughed at this passage from a story on Maryland football:

At mealtime, the South Campus Dining Room on the University of Maryland's campus is more town hall than eating space, a meeting spot abuzz with the goings-on of class, nightlife and, of course, Maryland sports.

So when an electronic "BEAT WILLIAM & MARY" countdown clock inside the dining room began ticking down the days until Sept. 1 earlier this week...

-- Are they going to have enough players to field a dang team? A 25th player leaves the team on the same day Danny O'Brien lands at Wisconsin.

-- Ron Morris says Frank Martin is the right choice for South Carolina.

-- Really interesting story on Cam Newton's development.

Carroll studied video of Newton over the winter to see how a quarterback with no experience in an NFL-style offense succeeded in a complex scheme to post the most prolific passing season ever by a rookie.

What Carroll discovered was Newton's success was the byproduct of “an extraordinarily rare athlete” playing in a varied scheme that played to his strengths. And as long as Newton stays healthy, Carroll predicts big things for him and the Panthers.

“Look out for those guys. Holy mackerel,” Carroll said at the NFC coaches breakfast. “If he can just stay out there, they're going to be a fantastic team.”

-- Mike London is helping Virginia even the score in the 757 area code traditionally owned by Virginia Tech.

-- Here's a look at declining college basketball attendance. Not a good development.

-- And a glance at Virginia Tech as it begins spring practice.

LW