Wes Goodwin brings a little bit of Dick LeBeau, little bit of his own flavor to Clemson’s Defense

Tigers' new defensive coordinator reminds Nick Eason of his former DC

Ken Ruinard / USA TODAY NETWORK

CLEMSON, S.C. — Dick LeBeau is considered one of the greatest defensive minds the game of football has ever seen.

In his 44 years as a defensive assistant, and later as a defensive coordinator, LeBeau’s defenses were always among the best in the NFL. He was responsible for inventing the zone blitz scheme the game enjoys today.

His 2008 Pittsburgh defense, when he was the Steelers’ defensive coordinator, is considered one of the best defenses in the history of the NFL. Clemson’s new defensive tackles coach, Nick Eason, was a defensive tackle on that Super Bowl winning team in Pittsburgh.

Eason said the key to LeBeau’s success was how he listened to what his players and coaches were telling him. He always welcomed input from others because his goal was to put his players in the best position to be productive.

Though he has only been coaching with Wes Goodwin for seven months, Eason sees a lot of LeBeau’s influence in Clemson’s new defensive coordinator.

“He studies the game. He knows the game. I love working with him,” Eason said Tuesday, as part of Dabo Swinney’s Annual Media Outing at the Allen Reeves Football Complex in Clemson. “He reminds me of Dick LeBeau, who was my defensive coordinator when I was with the Steelers. And who I worked for when I was coaching the Tennessee Titans. He is going to put our guys in position to make plays. I am truly excited about it.”

Goodwin looked good calling plays in last year’s Cheez-It Bowl victory over Iowa State, a game in which the Tigers held the Cyclones to 13 points and 270 total yards.

However, even Goodwin will admit, a Cheez-It Bowl victory over Iowa State does not compare to a Hall of Famer like Dick LeBeau.

“Holy Smokes! Well, hopefully, I can last in this profession like seventy years like him, but I consider him one of the greatest defensive minds,” Goodwin said when he heard about Eason’s comparison. “Obviously, he invented fire zones and all the great defenses he has coached. Hopefully, I live up to that one day.”

Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney thinks he can.

“Wes is a guy that I have watched, literally, from day one, and we always say bloom where you are planted. Wes truly bloomed where he was planted. He has been amazing,” Swinney said. “From the day he got here working with Kevin Steele, to transitioning to Brent (Venables), to going to the NFL, to coming back, to now running (the defense), it does not matter. You cannot give Wes enough. He just has a high IQ for the game and a really unbelievable second-to-none work ethic.”

Swinney says Goodwin is one of the most prepared people he has ever worked with, and that is saying something considering his mentor is former Alabama head coach Gene Stallings, his position coach was Woody McCorvey, who is now his right-hand man at Clemson and Venables was his old defensive coordinator.

“It was an easy decision to hire Wes Goodwin because he earned it. He deserved it and he has demonstrated that he was ready for it,” Clemson’s head coach said. “This is not from what I have seen last year or the year before. This goes all the way back to when I first met him. This goes back to the end of ’08.”

As for the Dick LeBeau comparison as a player caller, Clemson fans will probably recognize some of the blitz concepts the Tigers will use this coming season. When Goodwin worked on Bruce Arians staff at Arizona, some of the coaches came with him from Pittsburgh with Arians, and with them came some of LeBeau’s concepts.

“We implemented a lot of that stuff when I was at Arizona,” Goodwin said. “Obviously, I have kept a lot of those concepts in my back pocket, as well. We will see how it influences us this year.”

Eason cannot wait for Goodwin to show the world how good he is as a play caller and coach. He said if people are judging him off his height and saying he does not look like a football coach, they are going to be in for a surprise.

“I am not going to be surprised with the way our defense is going to look. I think Wes is going to bring his own taste and flavor to this defense,” Eason said. “I am really excited about some of the things he is going to do.”