Bowden’s Departure

I got the news while sitting on the tarmac in Phoenix on my way back from Vancouver. So I was a few hours behind the curve and had plenty of emails to scroll through. Can’t say I was surprised by this, only thing that caught me off guard was that it was first reported as a ‘firing’, and didn’t sit well with me. Now reading how it played out I am comfortable with this decision and excited to see Clemson move forward.

First, a little background. I didn’t grow up a Clemson fan; in the high cotton days of Danny Ford and a national championship I was more interested in Joe Theisman, John Riggins and the Fun Bunch. I had seen a few Clemson games when they played the Terps or as the local ACC game of the week. I knew Clemson was a ‘football school’, but that was about it.

My freshman year at Clemson was the last year of the Ken Hatfield era and my first road-trip was to witness a 57-0 drubbing at the hands of the Noles. Then suffered through 4 years of Tommy West and watched Clemson slip further and further into the football abyss each year.

So what does this have to do with Bowden’s departure? Well nothing really, but does give me a different point-of-view on his accomplishments at Clemson and why it was time to go.

For all the faults of Tommy Bowden, he became a victim of his own success (inevitably followed a week later with the lack of it). Clemson football was in a tailspin when he arrived in Tiger Town. Clemson had only won 3 games (vs. Furman, MD, and 1 win South Carolina) the previous season and fan base had become almost apathetic.

Bowden first season saw him go 6-6, with 3 of those losses were to teams that went undefeated in the regular season (Marshall, runner up VPI, and national champ FSU). The first Bowden Bowl was the first time I saw Death Valley live up to its name and the fans buy back into Clemson football. I was less than 2 years out of school at this point and was jealous of the students and the football they got to be a part of each Saturday.

Of course the next 8 and a half seasons followed the pattern great games and mind boggling losses. Opportunities were missed and coordinators were fired, but the cycle just kept repeating. Bowden had brought Clemson football back from obscurity, just couldn’t take them to the mountain top (or even an ACC title game) either. As expected, this rests w/ the head coach.

Not only did the Bowden years bring the fans back, but also the recruits. He pulled in kids out from under the noses of FSU, UGA, Miami, etc. And these were kids (for the large majority) that Clemson could be proud of…not the trouble makers and academic causalities that made up the team during the West years. As the recruiting classes improved, so did expectations.

Bowden reshaped Death Valley; added the West Zone, new locker rooms, new museum and a general make-over of Memorial Stadium. But, these updates depended on fund raising that also elevated expectations.

That brings us to yesterday. Bowden resigns citing concerns over the program, recruiting and the ability to meet those expectations. I guess he could have stayed until the bitter end and had a protracted contract fight, but a deal was worked out w/ the AD. It is easy to exit gracefully with $3.5 million (vs. $4 million), but he also gave a press conference which had to be brutal.

So I want to thank Coach Tommy Bowden. For bring Clemson (almost) back; for giving the fans games like the 63-17 embarrassment of Lou Holtz and the Gamecocks, the Game Day night vs. Georgia Tech and a win over #8 Tennessee in the Peach Bowl. Now when you see Death Valley full of orange that is because of work of Tommy, his staff, and his players. I wish it had worked out for you, but clearly it did not; so thanks for exiting with grace and setting the foundation for the next coach. He’ll have a lot to live up to.