Is Dabo Swinney the Second Coming of Danny Ford?

By clemsoncannon  |   Friday, July 24, 2009  |  Comments( 0 )

Clemson Tigers
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For nearly 20 years the Clemson faithful have been waiting (at times impatiently) for a savior to come and rescue the once mighty Tiger football program from the pits of mediocrity and underachievement in which it has languished since the departure of Danny Ford from the sidelines of Death Valley.

Coach Ford is an icon of Clemson sports who built an impressive coaching legacy while at Clemson. His .760 winning percentage is the highest of any Clemson coach in the last 69 years except for Charley Pell who lasted only 2 seasons before leaving for Florida. His 11 year coaching tenure is the 2nd longest behind the great Frank Howard. During his time on the sideline Clemson regularly won the ACC and not only appeared in major bowl games but actually won them. He won 5 ACC titles as head coach and had a 6-2 record in bowl games.

Yes, Clemson fans have been waiting 2 decades for a coach to come along who is worthy to fill those considerable coaching shoes. Ken Hatfield posted a 32-13-1 mark in four seasons as Ford’s successor and he was the last coach to lead them to an ACC title, although many (myself included) would argue that he did most of that with Ford’s players. But let’s be honest, Hatfield was the proverbial dead man walking the moment he stepped onto the campus. Nothing short of a national championship would have endeared him to the fans (and I’m not sure even that would have been enough). Many fans were excited about the possibilities that Ford protégé Tommy West presented. But his 31-28 mark in 6 seasons showed that he was not quite ready for prime time. Then came Tommy Bowden. He lasted 10 seasons and posted a respectable yet unspectacular 72-45 record. But the constant underachieving and mid-season implosions were maddening. Year after year he fielded teams loaded with talent that fell flat on their face at some point during the season only to rally at the end of the year and limp into a mid to low tier bowl game which they usually lost. The team was 3-5 in bowl games during his tenure in such scintillating venues as the Humanitarian, Champs Sports and Music City bowls. It is time for the vicious cycle of underachieving to end. Fans want a coach who will deliver ACC titles and BCS bowl bids. Is Dabo Swinney the man that can do it? Upon closer examination there are many parallels to be drawn between Coach Swinney and the legendary Coach Ford.

Coach Ford and Coach Swinney both played their college ball at Alabama earning Masters degrees in the process. Both coaches got their start in coaching with the Crimson Tide and served as assistants at Clemson before being elevated to head coach. Both coaches were highly respected assistants with no head coaching experience when Clemson named them head coach. Both coaches are known as plain spoken coaches with a superior work ethic and an uncanny ability to relate to their players. Give Coach Swinney credit for not only recruiting CJ Spiller out of Florida, but for convincing him to stay for his senior year when he may very well have been a 1st round draft choice this year.

After Frank Howard retired following the 1969 season Clemson went through 3 coaches before Danny Ford took over. I don’t think there are many people out there who fondly reminisce about the tenures of Hootie Ingram (12-21 in 3 seasons) or Red Parker (17-25-2 in 4 seasons). Charley Pell posted an 18-4-1 mark in 2 seasons but left for Florida following the 1978 season leaving Coach Ford to take over for the infamous Gator Bowl game against Woody Hayes and the Ohio State Buckeyes that signaled the beginning of the Danny Ford era. Pell

Clemson has now endured three more underachieving, if not downright forgettable, coaches in Hatfield, West and Bowden. If the pattern holds up Clemson football may be on the verge of it's next great coaching legacy in Dabo Swinney. So it is with great excitement that we look forward to the beginning of the 2009 campaign and what we hope will be a return to national prominence for this once proud football program. Because hope is one thing that is never in short supply for the Clemson faithful.
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