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Ex-Golden Tiger Clawson still part of Michigan coaching staff

College football

By John Hartsock 10 min read

When the Michigan Wolverines roll out the welcome mat for their Big Ten Conference showdown with the Penn State Nittany Lions Saturday afternoon at Michigan Stadium, it will mark a homecoming of sorts away from home for Duncansville native Garrett Clawson.

After growing up in the heart of Penn State country, where Nittany Lions football has enjoyed a religious-type following, Clawson will make his first on-the-field coaching appearance against the Lions.

"Obviously, you have two historic programs going against each other head-to-head, so that's always exciting,'' said Clawson, who graduated in 2006 from Hollidaysburg Area High School, where he earned all-state distinction as a Golden Tigers' placekicker. "Growing up right outside State College and playing against a lot of (the State College High School) guys (who went on to play at Penn State), there's a big significance geographically."

Clawson is the assistant special teams coach for the Wolverines.

"I think that for a lot of us growing up before the internet and streaming meant that I really only had local channels and local access to watch the local teams, which meant that every (fall) weekend in central Pennsylvania, Penn State was on television, so I definitely grew up watching them,'' he said.

There are a lot of parallels between this year's Penn State and Michigan teams, too. They're both under the direction of veteran head coaches who are nonetheless in their first season at the two blueblood football schools -- with Matt Campbell at the Nittany Lions' helm and Kyle Whittingham in charge at Michigan.

Both teams are also uncharacteristically struggling. After opening the Campbell era with three easy victories over outmatched non-conference opponents, Penn State has opened Big Ten Conference play with three straight losses.

Michigan, meanwhile, will carry a 3-2 record and two straight losses into Saturday's game, which means that the Wolverines' coaches and players, along with the 110, 000-plus thousand fans who flood the Big House in Ann Arbor for Michigan home games, aren't happy campers at the moment.

"It's not fun right now, what we're going through,'' Clawson, 39, said. "Nobody here is happy right now. Losing back-to-back weeks at the University of Michigan is not (a situation) that you want to find yourself in, but that's the situation for us now, and we're going to be trying to do everything that we can to fix it.''

As challenging as this season -- which included a controversial 13-12 season-opening win over Western Michigan in which time had expired on the scoreboard but the officials determined that one second remained on a separate timing angle within the replay system, allowing sophomore quarterback Bryce Underwood to heave a game-winning, Hail Mary touchdown pass to wideout J.J. Buchanan -- has been for Clawson and the Michigan program, they survived even greater turbulence late last season.

That's when then head coach Sherrone Moore was dismissed following a university investigation that uncovered credible evidence of an inappropriate romantic relationship with a female athletic department staff member.

The crisis prompted a shakeup in the ranks of the Michigan coaching staff, where only five members of the Moore regime were eventually retained.

Clawson was one of them, along with special teams coordinator Kerry Coombs, running backs coach Tony Alford, offensive analyst Fred Jackson and defensive analyst David Denham.

The five coaches worked in the Wolverines' Citrus Bowl loss to Texas last Dec. 31, when Biff Poggi -- who has since left the coaching ranks to become an analyst with the Big Ten Network -- served as Michigan's interim head coach for the bowl game.

The transition period was stressful for Clawson, but even more so for the Michigan assistant coaches who had unfairly lost their jobs.

"I would say that the vast majority of us didn't know what was going on until the news hit,'' Clawson said. "Nothing like that would have been expected. I know that watching guys have to leave their jobs or getting told that they would no longer be here, when they had done nothing wrong ... that's tough.''

The situation ultimately left Clawson grateful after he was initially very shaken.

"It could have happened to me and it's something that I don't take lightly,'' said Clawson, whose 12-year college football coaching career included previous stops at two other Football Bowl Subdivision schools -- SMU in 2023 as a special teams analyst and Old Dominion in 2022 as a special teams quality control coach.

"So I'm very thankful that I still get to be in the position that I am in at a major university like the University of Michigan,'' Clawson said.

Coombs impressed

A big factor in Clawson's retention at Michigan -- along with the fact that he has helped to develop three future National Football League players there in New York Giants' kicker Dominic Zvada, Buffalo Bills punter Tommy Doman, and Cincinnati Bengals' long snapper Will Wagner -- was the recommendation of veteran special teams coordinator Coombs, who was immediately impressed with Clawson's indefatigable work ethic.

As a coordinator who has been around the block -- with coaching stints under venerable college head coaches Urban Meyer at Ohio State, and Brian Kelly and Butch Jones at the University of Cincinnati, along with a stint with the NFL's Tennessee Titans -- Coombs knows the real deal in coaching when he sees it, and he admires Clawson's professionalism and dedication to his craft.

"He works very hard, he's in early, stays late, he gets jobs done, and for a young guy in this profession, he does an awful lot,'' Coombs said of Clawson.

Coombs was hired late last season by Moore right before the scandal broke and Moore was fired, so Clawson didn't have a lot of time to prove himself to Coombs, but he succeeded in doing so.

"I didn't know him when I got here and he earned (retaining) the job through his work in the Citrus Bowl, because that was his evaluation period,'' Coombs said. "He worked very hard then and he continues to work very hard. His hometown area should be proud of him.''

Coombs said that another thing in Clawson's favor is that Clawson has always been a kicking/punting specialist, both as a player -- where he was a former Division I kicker at Temple University -- and as a coach.

Coombs himself was a defensive back during his playing career and started his long coaching career as a defensive backs coach before transitioning to special teams instruction.

"I think that the difference that he brings to the table is that he was a specialist himself, which is not common in the coaching world,'' Coombs said. "Most of those guys end up doing private coaching. But because he has a specialist's background, I think that's an advantage for him when you're dealing with kickers, punters and snappers, so, as a special teams coordinator, I try to take advantage of his expertise as much as I can.''

Along with possessing a keen knowledge of the X's and O's involved in his profession, Clawson also possesses an equally keen emotional intelligence that allows him to relate well to his players on a personal level.

Sophomore punter Cam Brown, a native of Australia who transferred to Michigan after spending last season at UNLV, is averaging 43.3 yards on his 24 punts this season, and has pinned opponents inside their 20-yard line 11 times this season with his punts.

"He knows about the pressure that comes with kicking and punting,'' Brown said. "He's a great person to talk to, because he knows the position that you're in as a player, and he can understand what you're going through.

"I think that's been the biggest help that he's given me,'' Brown said. "And of course, it's good having him around to talk to about technique and other things. He knows all the ins and outs of what the punting job entails, and the kicking position as well. I've been really happy that he is on our staff.''

The Whittingham regime

Whittingham, 66, signed a five-year, $41 million contract to become the head coach at Michigan last Dec. 26, after a stellar 21-year head coaching career at the University of Utah, where he became that program's all-time career leader in coaching wins, compiling a 177-88 record.

Whittingham, like Coombs, had served as a long-time assistant coach under Meyers, who had a previous head coaching stint at Utah before eventually coming to Ohio State.

Whittingham's brother, Freddie, is the tight ends coach at Michigan, while Whittingham's son, Alex, is a linebackers coach with the Wolverines.

Clawson had high praise for Kyle Whittingham.

"I think that, first and foremost, he's a brilliant man, and he's also a family man,'' Clawson said. "He has brought stability to a program that needed it during its most dire times. What is awesome about Coach Whit is that you see him working out with the players, and you can tell that he loves the game of football.

"But he also has balance in his life,'' added Clawson. "You can see that in him as a father, and as a grandfather. Family and football kind of go hand-in-hand with him. He has been great to work with, and he and the rest of his staff members who came here with him from Utah are all great men, great husbands, and great fathers.''

Clawson said that his own family -- which includes his parents Alan and Linda, who both still live in Blair County -- has been an integral part of his success, as has his Christian faith.

Clawson said that eventually becoming a husband and father himself, as well as ascending to a special teams coordinator position at some venue, are at the top of his personal goals list.

For right now, however, helping the Wolverines get what has been a topsy-turvy season back on the right track is a top-shelf priority. After losing a heartbreaker at home to Iowa in the final seconds, Michigan was defeated at Minnesota two weeks ago before the Wolverines had a bye week last week.

Michigan hopes to start its comeback journey this Saturday when Penn State visits The Big House.

"Penn State has always had athletes, and I don't believe that their team this year is any different,'' Clawson said. "But I think that (for) any program under new guidance, it's a lot about trying to work week to week and trying to put all of the pieces together.

"On any given Saturday, college football has become a sport that when the best team shows up and they're ready to play and they get off to a fast start, they've got a really good chance of winning,'' Clawson added. "We've got all the right pieces. It's just been a matter of taking care of the little things and cutting down on mistakes. I think we're a very tough football team.''

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