How Tavien ended up at Clemson, from his mothers perspective:
“It goes back to 2010 when I worked the Shrine Bowl banquet. I really didn't think a lot about it at the time because I didn't know a lot about football,” Mcelrath told TigerNet. “I had little kids and I didn't have time for football. A lot of my co-workers knew about the sport and knew about the head coaches, I didn't know much. So they gave me the head table to work that night. I met Coach Spurrier, and I thought it was interesting that people were lining up for his autograph and asking him to sign things. I just didn't know who he was. I was pouring his tea and giving him his rolls, and I said, 'Oh, so you're a football coach?' He said, 'Yes ma'am I am.' And I said, 'I think my son is going to play football for you one day.' And he was like, 'Uh-huh. That is every young boy's dream, to play college football.' And I was like, ok, wow. So I thought he was really kind of rude. “
Undeterred, Mcelrath kept doing her job and moved on to the next person.
“I went on to the next person, which was Coach Swinney,” she said. “Everybody was telling me that he was the new coach at Clemson and how he was such a nice guy, and he was right from the moment I met him. I asked him if he liked sweet tea, and then I asked him how he was doing. He told me he was doing well. And then he gave me a pat on the back. And then I told him, 'My son is in the seventh grade and he is pretty good in football. He is going to play football for you one day.' Coach Swinney said, 'Bring him on! We would love to have him.' And I said, ok, he is going to play football for you. And now he is.”
The difference between the two coaches – and how they treated a server at a banquet – was stark.
“To me, Coach Swinney was a lot friendlier and he was nicer to me. And he actually entertained the idea about my son playing football for him,” Mcelrath said. “And Coach Spurrier just kind of brushed me off like Tavien wouldn't be good enough. It kind of made me upset.”
According to Mcelrath, Swinney apparently didn’t forget the encounter.
“On my first visit to Clemson and the campus, Coach Swinney actually told Tavien as a joke that your momma told me you were coming,” she said. “We all laughed about that. Tavien asked me on the way home if Coach Swinney remembered that. I told him I didn't know, but he said he did.”
http://www.tigernet.com/story/footba...ions-top-14419
I guess it pays to not be a pompous ass to folks.
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