Put-up or shut-up time for Clemson’s Bowden

By Chris Preston  |   Thursday, June 05, 2008  |  Comments( 16 )

Clemson Tigers
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For Detroit Lions fans, it's likely Wayne Fontes still haunts their dreams. You remember Fontes, the cherubic yet perennially perplexed-looking head coach allowed to prowl the Lions' sideline for nearly a decade (1988-1996) despite fans repeatedly calling for his job and countless premature eulogies by the national media. But Fontes kept his job because he had that uncanny knack for coaxing his sometimes mega-talented team (headlined by the amazing Barry Sanders) into just enough wins to convince Detroit's upper brass to keep bringing him back for one more season. Clemson coach Tommy Bowden possesses that Fontesian talent for survival, with the ability to guide his Tigers to a big win or two when his job absolutely depends upon it.

But Clemson athletic director Terry Don Phillips may not be able to keep the famously rabid Tigers football fans at bay much longer.

Year in and year out, the Tigers are among the preseason favorites to win the ACC title, yet such a trophy has eluded them in Junior Bowden's nine years on the job. While the Tigers have yet to endure a losing record in Bowden’s nine seasons, they have also failed to reach the 10-win plateau. Adding salt to the wound has been the fact that the Tigers have gotten off to several promising starts - winning their first eight games in 2000, beginning 7-1 in 2006 and 8-2 just last season - only to founder down the stretch. Clemson fans and alums old enough to remember the Tigers' lone national championship season in 1981 have likely grown tired of settling for trips to the Music City and Peach Bowl and of being shut out of the first three championship games in the expanded ACC. Son of a college football legend or not, sooner or later Tommy's going to have to deliver Clemson fans the real goods, not just late-December bowl game scraps.

So here we are again, less than three months from Clemson’s Aug. 30 home opener versus fellow ex-powerhouse Alabama, and Athlon Sports has already tabbed the Tigers as the 10th-best team in the nation in its preseason rankings. It isn’t the first lofty preseason or even midseason ranking bestowed on the Tigers in the Bowden era; the tricky part has been staying there. With 15 of 22 starters returning, including a 1,000-yard rusher (James Davis), a 1,000-yard receiver (Aaron Kelly), and last season’s ACC passing efficiency champ, quarterback Cullen Harper, Tommy Boy is out of excuses. If the 2008 Tigers fail to live up to or exceed the preseason hype by at least reaching the ACC title game and qualifying for a New Year’s Day Bowl, Bowden is toast.

After all, even a death-defying tight-rope walker like Fontes finally faced the guillotine. Regardless of whose son he is, if Tommy Bowden does not produce this season he will fade into the same oblivion Fontes has occupied for more than a decade.
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CommentsComments: 16  |  Sign Up  View all comments
No.1
RazzMaTazz		11:05 AM
06/05/2008
Bowden won't be fired, even if he goes 6-6. Clemson's athletic director just foolishly negotiated a contract (running through ...
No.2
HML		05:24 PM
06/05/2008
Good write-up, Chris. Hard to disagree with what should happen should Clemson flop again (of which there is a high likelihood). ...
No.3
cdr4tigers		07:28 PM
06/05/2008
Well, the 2 posts above are pretty much the vocal minority here in TigerTown. Razz is a poster I know from thetigernet website ...
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