Ghost of Bowden cost Clemson momentum against Seminoles

By Marc Hudgens  |   Sunday, November 09, 2008  |  Comments( 3 )

 Clemson Tigers
The Clemson Tigers will take chances like never before. Interim coach Dabo Swinney has made that clear since taking over earlier this season for the departed Tommy Bowden, who served as their skipper for almost a decade. That's understandably refreshing to fans, who grew tired of Bowden’s ultraconservative attack. Swinney also stated awhile back ...
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CommentsComments: 3
 No.1
NB		 12:57 PM
11/12/2008
While I agree with Spawn that Dabo has been given a bad hand of cards to deal with, I also believe after seeing three games under his leadership that one thing is quite apparent: He is a more "animated" version of Tommy Bowden. He has more spirit, more inspiration, and seems more excitable than TB, but all in all, team plays the same way, and the same results are exacted after the final quarter is done. "Clemson needs CHANGE, not more of the same", as President-Elect Obama put it. The entire house needs to be cleaned out, and new blood needs to come in. As hard as it may sound, major college coaches are judged on their won-lost records, and how many conference titles or major bowls you get to: not how many kids they graduate, or how excited the players get. It is a brutal reality. Ask Coach Fulmer at Tennesee. Yes, Dabo Swinney is doing all that he can, but what he has inside is not enough to get Clemson Football to the BCS and perennial Top Ten program level. This is truly what Terry Don Phillips really wants, and he knows it. Hire a coach who is proven and who can get you there.
Biil Cowher can get you there. Coach Fulmer can get you there. Even Tommy Tuberville can get you there. Thjese are PROVEN coaches. Any Johnny-come-lately won't get you status as one of the elite college programs in the USA. You have to hire the best. Look at Alabama. They were willing to pay Nick Saban, and in two years, they are on the verge of winning a National Title, (and they just might the way things look right now). Even Jimmy Johnson would do. TDP has to look for men who have been there, and done that (won championships). All the names (assistants)that have been hurled around are unproven. Muschamp: Texas has a horrible defense. They give up an average of 25-plus points a game.
Venables: terrible defense at Okla. If the QB wasn't so good and the offense scoring so much, the would have 3 losses right now. Neither one these should be considered, let alone interviewed. Kiffin: lost at Oakland too often, and has no head coaching experience in Div. I. He should be disqualified. Bobby Johnson: he has done nothing at Vandy but made them play a little tougher. No SEC Title, no-go. Tuberville will be available at the end of the season in my opinion, and Clemson would be smart to look at him. He and Fulmer have been there, and they teach physical and mental toughness in their players, the ONE ingredient that has been Clemson's biggest weakness for the last decade.
 No.2
RazzMaTazz		 04:01 PM
11/16/2008
Tuberville might be OK. But if he's so great, why have his teams been so weak lately and why is he on the hot seat? I think it's fair to say that he's being out coached in the SEC. He's good. But not great. And I think he's on the decline. I'd rather see Kiffin. He won at USC. Al Davis micromanaged Kiffin and wouldn't let Kiffin draft who he wanted. Davis never gave him a chance to win at Oakland. Cowher and JJ are pipe dreams.

We shoulda hired Butch Davis or Steve Spurrier when we had the chance. Sadly, our AD, in his impeccable judgment, gave Tommy Bowden two extensions. So I don't have a high confidence level.
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