THE WEST ZONE message board | SHOP NOW: DEALS on CLEMSON apparel

On January 21, 1990, three days after Clemson's administration ran off national championship head coach Danny Ford, former Arkansas head coach Ken Hatfield was ushered in as the program's front man, following talks with Max Lennon, Bobby Robinson and Nick Lomax in a Memphis, Tenn. hotel.

Hatfield took over a program that was under NCAA investigation and would subsequently be placed on probation just four months after his arrival.

The former Southwest Conference Coach of the Decade also found himself greeted by the fallout in a fan base that was deeply divided following Ford's departure, wounds that would not heal during his four-year run as head coach, with some Clemson boosters contacting prospective student-athletes to encourage them to sign elsewhere.

Hatfield, the last head coach to post a 10-win season and win a conference championship at Clemson until 2011, would see his run come to an abrupt end following an 8-3 ledger in 1993 and a 32-13-1 mark overall, after a meeting with members of Clemson's administration in Robinson's home less than 24 hours following the regular season finale in Columbia.

In late May I sat down with Hatfield for an exclusive, one-on-one interview, where he placed himself back in Clemson, South Carolina as the program's head football coach one more time.

PUBLISHER'S NOTE: Five years ago when I began working on this project, the first person I contacted was longtime Clemson sports information director Tim Bourret, also known by many as a walking Clemson encyclopedia. When I told Mr. Bourret what I was trying to do, I remember him telling me that the coach who'd give me the most pushback was Ken Hatfield. And sure enough, such was the case.

It was very obvious to me in a nanosecond that Ken Hatfield didn't want any part of this series. He didn't want to be interviewed. He didn't want to talk. Up until that time in May of 2011, I had never had anyone deny an interview to me. Hatfield was the first. I remember calling him and telling him what I wanted to do. We spoke briefly, he declined. I asked again and he declined, simply telling me to "have a good day" before ending the call.

I reached him again to ask him to reconsider. I then told him that I had already interviewed Hootie Ingram, Red Parker, Tommy West and Tommy Bowden. I told him as we would release the series, we would get peppered with questions on where the Ken Hatfield interview was. I told him we would have to disclose publicly that we made attempts to reach him but he declined to be interviewed.

Again, no dice. He wasn't interested.

He said to me, "I don't think you understand how difficult a time this was for me and my family."

I knew what he was referring to, of course. Here was a guy who had immense success as Arkansas' head coach in the 1980's. He'd had success at Air Force. He came to Clemson after being told by Clemson's administration they were so eager to clean up the program's image that they were willing to shut down the football program for two years.

Essentially, as soon as Mr. Hatfield and his wife stepped off the plane on January 21, 1990, they were greeted with a chorus of boos. And the boos in Clemson, South Carolina never stopped for Ken Hatfield.

No other head coach in Clemson history inherited a team that was talented enough to compete for the national championship from day one. But no other head coach in Clemson history had to fight more battles on his own campus than Ken Hatfield. Boosters were routinely writing letters to prospects, begging them not to sign with the Tigers. They were angry at Danny Ford's departure. They were angry at the manner in which Ford was removed. Their feeling was it was best to just blow up the joint and start over fresh. Division was so bad in the Clemson fan base that four years later in the spring of 1994, Clemson head coach Tommy West chided a number of boosters for their incessant public trashing of Ken Hatfield, who had nothing to do with Ford's dismissal. West was frustrated with the venom and negativity displayed by so many Clemson people who were willing to go to great lengths to get Ford back in the head coaching chair, no matter what.

Hatfield was oblivious to what he was getting into. In fact he didn't know how toxic the environment was in Clemson until he and his wife were up in the air in a plane en route from Arkansas.

Many years later the prevailing sentiment from Clemson fans - at least from an on-the-field perspective - is that Ken Hatfield did quite well in Clemson until he ran out of Danny Ford's players. In four years he signed just one top 20 recruiting class.

This interview would not have happened had it not been for Mr. Bourret. After I was denied an interview twice, Mr. Hatfield contacted Bourret to basically check me out. Mr. Bourret knew how we did business at Tigerillustrated.com, he knew we'd be fair and a couple of days later on a Sunday night I got an email from Mr. Hatfield that read, 'If you still want to do the interview and ask me those questions, I will do it.'

I was shocked, but I didn't ask why. I was grateful. I simply said thanks and then pushing the envelope a notch, I asked if I could drive out to Arkansas to see him, but Mr. Hatfield wasn't interested. An in-person interview is always much better because it's harder for people to say no to you if you're standing in front of them. But Mr. Hatfield didn't want to meet in-person and as it turned out was the only former head coach in this series who agreed to talk only by phone. Nevertheless, we were indeed able to get a window of perspective and additional clarity into Clemson's football program from 1990-1993.

So without any further ado, this is Ken Hatfield, in his own words.

This is his story.

PART II

Ard. This stretch we're about to get into, December of 1992 - January of 1993, was this when you began to feel some added pressure or some uncertainty going forward?

Hatfield. "I really wasn't worried about the future at this point. I wasn't panicking. As soon as the season was over, I was focused on analyzing what we had done good and what we had done bad. I had to make some changes on the staff because Ron Dickerson had left to take the head coaching job at Temple. That's when I hired Bobby Johnson. We just had to make some changes and move on. And I wanted to focus on the right things and move on. I couldn't really control what everyone was thinking. You just have to do your job, coach your players and recruit the best you can, then get ready for the spring and get ready for the season.

"I know that we spent a lot of time talking to players who were coming back. I thought they responded with a good spring. After you lose and end the way that we ended the (1992) season, you can't wait to get back out and play the next game."

Ard. What type of an assistant coach was Bobby Johnson?

Hatfield. "Great. He was tremendous. He was a Clemson man all the way. He worked hard and proved to be the kind of person I had hoped he would be. It was a great coup for us to get Bobby. He could really sell Clemson."

Ard. You also hire a wide receivers coach, Theo Young and your new offensive coordinator was Whitey Jordan, who is well known for his ties to Clemson and of course the run he had under Bobby Collins as SMU's offensive coordinator from 1982-86. Talk about those additions.

Hatfield. "Theo had played tight end for me at Arkansas. I knew him and knew what type of player he was, what type of coach he was. He always worked hard. And I got good recommendations on him as well.

"Whitey came to us after coaching some at North Carolina. He was a Clemson man also. I think he thought this was a good time in his career to get back to Clemson. He had a wealth of coaching experience."

Ard. I want to talk about your 1993 recruiting class for a moment, because there are some big names here, despite the 5-6 showing on the field in the fall. It was a recruiting class ranked 24th nationally. The notables: Ed Altman of Waycross, Ga., Jim Bundren of Wilmington, DE, Alphonso Collins of Thomson, Ga., Rudy Currie of Cleveland, OH, Chris Franklin of Bamberg, Lamont Hall out of Clover, Amel Jackson from Marietta, Ga., Glenn Rountree of Suffolk, Va., Raymond White of Clinton, Mond Wilson of Tupelo, MS and Antwuan Wyatt of Daytona Beach, Fla.

Hatfield. "I thought it was another good class, once again. And I thought it was a credit to Clemson and the strength of the support we had, plus our coaches were so positive. When guys came on their visits, we put them with players they were going to be with the next several years. Players are the best salesmen anyway. If players believe you care for them, if they believe in your program, they'll recruit and they'll want good recruits to be with them in the years to come.

"We had gone through a down year so there was a chance for some of them to get early playing time. We needed help right now in some areas, so there was some early opportunities for playing time."

Ard. There are 44 lettermen back for your 1993 team, 12 starters returning. How did you feel about this group?

Hatfield. (Pausing) "Unsure and uneasy."

Ard. Why?

Hatfield. "We didn't have a settled situation at quarterback. We had a lot of good, young offensive linemen, but we didn't have the big, dominant line we had been used to.

"I just felt like we were still trying to figure out what we wanted to do offensively. Patrick Sapp was a 240-pound quarterback who was more of a thrower than a runner. Maybe we asked him to run more than he was comfortable with, because that wasn't his forte."

Ard. We're out of the spring of 1993 now. At this stage, did you have any indication or feeling internally that this would be your last season?

Hatfield. "No."

Ard. We're into the 1993 season now and you open up with a close win over UNLV, then take to the road to face No. 1-ranked Florida State, a team that would go on to win the national championship that year. Clemson suffers a 57-0 loss in Tallahassee, Fla. You would still rebound to have a good year in the win-loss column, but how did you feel initially after your team took that kind of hit?

Hatfield. "We were able to start off the season at 4-1, but losing to FSU was a setback, no question about that. They beat the dog out of us down there. But I knew at that time that maybe we needed a quarterback that could be another runner for us. After that loss, we came in and put the wishbone in for our short-yardage and goal line game, because we felt that gave us a better chance to move the ball in those situations.

"We took Dexter McCleon off of defense and moved him to quarterback. And he had played quarterback in high school."

Ard. I want to talk about a game you'd play in week six - Wake Forest at home. They finish up 2-9, but you drop a 20-16 decision to Wake in Death Valley in front of an 'announced' crowd of just over 60,000, though there may have been just under 40,000 in the stands. What do you remember about this game?

Hatfield. (Pausing) "That's the game that probably had the greatest impact on my career (at Clemson). That's the one that disappointed a lot of people and soured a lot of people in the whole program. We didn't feel that we should be losing to them at that time."

Ard. It wasn't too long after this game where Phil Kornblut reported on his statewide radio show something to the effect of - and I'm paraphrasing, "I'm not saying where I got it from, I'm not saying how I know it, but I can tell you Ken Hatfield will not be the head football coach at Clemson next year.

"Do you remember that report?

Hatfield. "Oh yeah."

Ard. You always tried to be positive, publicly, but privately what did you think at this time, as rumors began to swirl about your future?

Hatfield. "I think it was this game when everyone at Clemson had made up their minds. Looking back, I think things were set in motion for the rest of the year. But I didn't know that at the time.

"I wasn't going to change anyone's mind. All I could do is go on to coach the team. I didn't expect my players to quit. We just had to continue to give our best effort. We played hard and focused on what we had control over."

Ard. But as a coach, as a professional, when the rumors began to pick up steam, how much of a distraction was this for you, personally?

Hatfield. "None whatsoever. None, or else I wouldn't have been able to focus.

"We were 4-2 at this point and after that game we changed offenses. We went to the wishbone full time. We needed to do something completely different offensively."

Ard. You pitch two shutouts in the ensuing weeks, a 27-0 win over East Tennessee State and a 29-0 home win over Maryland, then you drop a 24-0 game to #16 UNC on the road. Your team closes out with a 23-14 win over #18 UVA and a 16-13 victory over South Carolina in Columbia.

Hatfield. "I think we turned the ball over two or three times at North Carolina. We're down 10-0 at the half at South Carolina but come back and win and finish up on a high note at 8-3. And we needed that. We needed to close on a positive note. We won that game, then got the bowl bid to Atlanta and the team went on to win that game.

"But ... overall, it wasn't good enough for what they felt like they needed to have at that time."

Ard. You defeat South Carolina on November 20 in what would be your last game as Clemson's head coach. How long after that win did you begin corresponding with Bobby Robinson about the future?

Hatfield. "The next morning I sat down with him."

Ard. So that's Sunday, November 21. It is announced Wednesday, November 24, that you are no longer the head coach. Step me through what transpired between your meeting with Robinson on the 21st and the press conference on the 24th.

Hatfield. "We met again Monday morning at Bobby Robinson's house, myself, Max Lennon and Nick Lomax."

Ard. Before that meeting ever began that Monday morning, did you have a pretty good indication that you probably weren't going to be back?

Hatfield. "Oh yeah. I don't think there was any doubt that they wanted to go in a different direction.

"You can fire anybody. You don't have to have a reason. I was certainly not going to resign."

Ard. It is announced at the press conference on the 24th that this move wasn't a termination, it wasn't a resignation, but it was a "separation." How did you reach this agreement at that meeting on the 21st?

Hatfield. "In visiting with them we went back and analyzed the season, we talked about our expectations for the future and it was - overall - a very candid discussion about the future of the program.

"We were 8-3, we had good players coming back, good kids. Our kids were graduating. I felt like we had done everything we said we'd do when we got there. We were still able to attract good talent and recruit. But they wanted something different. I felt it was obvious we needed to have a mutual separation."

Ard. The day arrives and there's a press conference where all this is announced. Some head coaches are not at these press conferences, but you opt to attend yours. Why?

Hatfield. "I wanted to be there. I had some things I wanted to say."

Ard. One of the things you said that day that stands out was, "My wife and I leave behind much disappointment in the so-called fans who didn't support the team and the people at the university who worked hard against us."

Hatfield. "I don't care who the coach is, if you are a true fan, you will be there to support your football team. Let me ask you this; if you had an adopted son and he was at a little league baseball game and struck out, would you quit going to watch him? Obviously not. Whomever the coach is that recruits the players, if they're going to play on that field and represent the school and you are a fan of that school, then you ought to support them.

"I was disappointed at some who stayed away and tried to make a statement. You can voice your opinion in different ways. That's not what those players deserved. If your team is playing on Saturdays, if those are your players, and there aren't that many Saturdays in the year where they play, then you should be there to support them. Recruits have to know that you'll be there to support your team, win or lose. If you only support them when you win, then other people will use that against you in recruiting. That's something I felt I needed to get across.

"Look at Nebraska all those years. They've sold out for the last 40 years. They continued to sell out even when they had Bill Callahan. You do that and you get a reputation for being supportive in the good and the bad times. That's all I was trying to say. If you want to be known as a program that will support and stand behind its players and you care about them, that's what you look for."

Ard. You said you left behind a lot of disappointment, but you also felt you accomplished some things during your tenure there. What do you feel like stands out the most, looking back?