The Tommy Bowden review—a final salute

By Marc Hudgens  |   Wednesday, October 15, 2008  |  Comments( 4 )

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Facilities improvements. Nationally ranked recruiting classes. Regularly beating South Carolina and Florida State. Academic progress. Responsible players with high character.

Those are among the many good things former Clemson head coach Tommy Bowden accomplished during his nine-plus seasons in Tigertown. You can’t deny the utmost importance of these things after what Bowden inherited from predecessor Tommy West.

Was Clemson a total, undeniable wreck of a program before Bowden? To many, yes. But not really. There were three losing seasons during the Ken Hatfield/West administrations, so things were clearly worse then than they are today. But there were also several bowl appearances and, ironically, the Tigers’ last ACC title. It wasn’t like Clemson was a total ACC doormat of the Duke variety, nor did it have a team whose players were constantly in legal trouble (i.e., Miami, Nebraska and Colorado). But make no mistake, that decade was a very dark time in Clemson after the unceremonious ouster of Tigers legend Danny Ford, arguably the greatest coach in school history. Post-Ford times were bleak, and in his first season in 1999 Bowden slowly began to restore order and lead Clemson out of the cave.

But an ACC championship was the No. 1 expectation from Day 1, and it appeared Bowden was well on his way toward that goal during the 2000 season. That year, the team went 9-2 in the regular season and reached as high as No. 4 in the nation before losing three of its last four games. Expectations rocketed from there.

As the inexplicable stumbles and inconsistencies multiplied (2003 through 2007), expectations continued rising even higher. With that, fan unrest grew. It came to a head this season; after all, Clemson was anointed the ACC’s preseason champ only to end the first half of this campaign at 3-3 (1-2 in the conference). By this time, fans weren’t mad as much as they were simply done with Clemson; and when fans are done with you, you’re history. And history was made this past Monday.

At some point, results have to count for something. Athletic director Terry Don Phillips said as much this past Monday, the day of Bowden's ouster.

"[Bowden's] got a very good record and has done a lot of great things, but when you get into Year 9 or 10 or 11 and you haven't won a title, it becomes a credibility issue," stated Phillips.

It was clear an ACC shot was all but mathematically eliminated, and had Clemson kept Bowden beyond this season, both the coach and athletic department would have lost credibility. Clemson would have eventually lost more fans and perhaps recruits. It got to the point where keeping Bowden would have done more damage than good for Clemson’s reputation and Bowden gave the university no choice but to pull the trigger.

Bowden’s legacy is a mixed bag. The academic progress and graduation rates by these great young men were negated by his inability to beat truly good teams. The facilities and recruiting improvements were tempered by the lack of award winners and increased NFL success for his alumni. Beating up on the Seminoles and Gamecocks were mitigated by the lack of an ACC title.

“Terry Don approached me this morning and we both agreed that this is probably the best solution for the program at this time,” Bowden said.

Very true. The coach pulled Clemson out of a mucky ditch, but it was indeed time to move on down the road.
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About Marc Hudgens

Marc Hudgens has been with RealFootball365 since 2007, covering college football, specifically Clemson and Oregon. He also writes for SouthernPigskin.com covering the ACC. He enjoys the acidic wit of Hunter S. Thompson, is a freelance graphic designer and has written several screenplays. He ...
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