Clemson Football: The Perfect College Football Playoff Committee

Jim Grobe

One of the things I did when I first started brainstorming about this perfect committee was to see if there was anyone from the current committee that I would consider keeping. The name that jumped out to me was Jim Grobe.

Grobe's name is probably most recognizable to fans who have watched the ACC for several years. He was the head coach of the Wake Forest Demon Deacons from 2001 – 2013. He also led the Ohio Bobcats for six seasons.

Grobe’s claim to fame is winning the Atlantic Coast Conference with the Deacons in 2006 and taking them to the Orange Bowl.

If you weren’t old enough to be a college football fan at that time, let me put that in perspective for you. Before 2006, Wake Forest had only had four winning football seasons since 1989.

Wake Forest is one of the smallest schools in the nation to play Power football. They have high academic standards. It isn’t easy to keep a program like Wake competitive, much less good enough to win the conference. That is a point that can often be lost in the woods right now because Dave Clawson has done almost as good of a job keeping Wake relevant, winning an Atlantic Division title in 2021.

Grobe is not a big personality. He isn’t going to challenge Manning or Pate for charisma or camera time. He is very smart and at the end of the day a very good football coach. I have a lot of respect for him.

Other names that received due consideration were Mack Brown, Rece Davis, Tim Tebow, Bob Stoops, Urban Meyer, Jimmy Johnson, Verne Lundquist and Barry Alvarez.