Mickey Conn Brings Leadership in Partnership with New Clemson DC Wesley Goodwin

With Brent Venables gone, Mickey Conn steps into new role to help Clemson defense keep on ticking.

Jason Priester/All Clemson

Mickey Conn knows something about leadership.

The Clemson co-defensive coordinator spent 16 years as a successful head coach at Grayson High School in Georgia. He's spent the last six seasons on Dabo Swinney's staff, including the last three years as the safeties coach and the special teams coordinator in 2021. 

Conn said leading is one of the best assets he brings to the program. It appears Swinney agrees as he's tasked Conn with helping new defensive coordinator Wes Goodwin transition from an off-the-field analyst role to an assistant coach who now has to deal with a variety of people and tasks. 

"I’ve been coaching 24 years," Conn said. "I’ve been a 16-year head coach, so I’ve seen all kinds of different personalities when it comes to players. I think I can help Wes with leading a group of players. And then, frankly, I’ve been at the head of people, coaches and older people that are within that realm. So I’m going to be able to help Wes and lead through that, too, whether it’s setting up practice schedules or assigning different duties for guys to do. We’re going to work really well together.”

It's a match Clemson's head coach is bullish on and not something that took him long to decide. How it works will determine if the Tigers can keep a strong defensive tradition going that was left behind by Brent Venables, who left the DC position for the head coaching job at Oklahoma. 

Conn pointed out that while Venables is gone, the rest of the defensive coaching staff remained intact, and Goodwin shifts into the linebacker coach position Venables held. That continuity means assistants Todd Bates, Lemanski Hall and Mike Reed will have a say and duties when it comes to the game plan. 

"I'll continue to coach the safeties but (Goodwin) and I are going to do the defense together," Conn said. "He'll call the plays and I'll be up in the box. I'll be relaying formations, personnel. I'll be giving him ideas and things like that but ultimately he's going to call the plays. But we're going to lead together. We've got a great staff and we've all got a piece of it."

The Clemson defensive coaches get their first shot at proving they can get the job done without Venables when the No. 19 Tigers take on Iowa State in the Dec. 29 Cheez-It Bowl in Orlando, who FanDuel Sportsbook has the moneyline offered at -110. And the plan is to very much keep what's worked this year going for a Clemson defense that's ranked in the top-10 nationally in yards allowed per game. 

"I think right now, going into the bowl game, we need to stay right now as close to the same as we can," Conn said. "We're the Clemson defense and we need to keep doing the things that we've been doing. Attacking, being aggressive and doing those things. Not looking to change but looking to continue to get better." 

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