The Tommy Bowden Files

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PANAMA CITY BEACH, Fla. -- In 1998, coming off a No. 8 ranking and an 11-0 regular season at Tulane, Tommy Bowden was one of the hottest names in college coaching.

Bowden, the son of legendary Florida State head coach Bobby Bowden and considered part of college football royalty, would soon find his way to Clemson to succeed Tommy West, following the Tigers' 3-8 mark, the program's worst season since 1976.

From 1999-2004 Clemson ranked dead last in the Atlantic Coast Conference in football facilities spending, yet in that span Bowden managed to take home ACC Coach of the Year honors twice. But while Bowden's staff lifted the program's recruiting, also averaging eight wins a season and dominating arch-rival South Carolina, the Tigers' drought of conference titles would continue under his watch.

In August of 2008, Clemson was billed nationally as one of college football's top 10 teams, but stumbled to a 3-3 start. Following a 12-7 defeat to Wake Forest on an ESPN-televised Thursday night matchup, the fallout began the following Monday with Bowden resigning under pressure, and then position coach-turned interim head coach Dabo Swinney firing Bowden's offensive coordinator, Rob Spence.

In May of 2011, I met with Bowden at his home in Panama City Beach, Fla. for what was his first, one-on-one, exclusive interview since his departure from Clemson on October 13, 2008. It was here where the 57-year old placed himself back in Clemson's head coaching chair one more time to revisit his nine-and-a-half seasons as the program's leader.

PUBLISHER's NOTE: When Tommy Bowden began his first season in Clemson in 1999, the Tigers had not won 10 games in a season since 1990. The Tigers had not won the Atlantic Coast Conference championship since 1991. Not only was Clemson no longer nationally relevant, but the Tigers were just coming off a 3-8 campaign, the program's worst showing since 1976.

Ultimately Bowden was able to improve the product on the field, winning nine games in 2000, 2003 and 2007. But it should be noted that for six of his nine-and-a-half seasons as Clemson's head coach, the program would rank dead last in the ACC in football facilities spending (1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004). In fact in 2004, the dressing room Bowden's team used in Death Valley was essentially the same facility Danny Ford's team had used in 1989.

Bowden sought advice from all of Clemson's former living head coaches in late 1998 upon taking the job, including Tommy West, who immediately told him to stay on Clemson's administration for a facilities push. As readers will see later in this interview, I ask Bowden what he wants to be remembered for as the Tigers' head coach. But before the coach can answer, his wife, Linda Bowden, chimes in and simply states, "He should be remembered for helping get the West Zone off the ground because they (Clemson's administration) were in no hurry to get it."

One way or another, Bowden was always fighting for his job at Clemson. And one way or another Bowden was always fighting battles on his own campus.

In the summer of 2004, I remember driving out to Bowden's home on Lake Hartwell. I was working on a feature and I wanted to see if I could locate a different side of a coach who by his own admission a year earlier had gone from the hot seat to the "fiery furnace." I didn't expect Bowden to let his guard down. I was wrong.

As we stepped out onto his dock, he pulled out a rod and reel, a rod that had his name inscribed on it. As we talked for a few moments, he looked out over the lake. I had never seen the expression he wore on his face that afternoon. For that moment, he no longer looked like a coach who was carrying the weight of the world on his shoulders.

I never saw that look again while he was head coach at Clemson.

For this interview, I met with the Bowdens at their condo in Panama City Beach, Fla. in 2011. Bowden had purchased a tract of land directly on the ocean alongside his father a number of years earlier. He told me we'd look at the house he was building on his land after the interview. And we did. As the coach stepped out onto the beach that afternoon, there it was again ... that same carefree expression I had seen on his face on Lake Hartwell back in 2004.

As time has gone by, I believe Bowden's retroactive approval rating with Clemson fans has risen. As time has gone by, I believe more people have come to realize the battles Bowden, Tommy West, Ken Hatfield and Danny Ford fought on their own campus during their tenure while an administration at Clemson was not yet aligned; in simplest terms meaning the President, the Board of Trustees, the Athletics Director and head football coach singing off of the same sheet of music.

This is Tommy Bowden, in his own words.

This is his story.

Part I of V

Ard. Tommy it's good to see you again, and it's good to be back in the state of Florida. We've got a lot to talk about, so let's get started.

You were at Tulane in 1997 and 1998. In 1998 your team finished No. 8 and was 11-0 in the regular season. Meanwhile at Clemson, it was suffering through its worst season since 1976. Whether it was through word in the college coaching community or other channels, do you remember when you began to hear rumblings in 1998 that the Clemson job was going to come open?

Bowden. "When you follow college football, which I had all those years, common sense can tell you sometimes who's going to have trouble. Even when I was 8-0 and 9-0 and they were sitting there with two wins, I knew that was a potential possibility. I had enjoyed Tulane but I was wanting to go up to another level."

Ard. Do you remember when you were first contacted about the Clemson job?

Bowden. "Oh yeah. I remember where I was. Bobby Robinson called. Linda and I were having lunch at P.F. Changs with a couple who had flown down from West Virginia to see us play Houston."

Ard. What did he say when he called you?

Bowden. "I don't remember specifically but I think it was something along the lines of, 'Would you be interested if we were to make a change?'"

Ard. What was your reaction when he called you?

Bowden. "Oh yeah. I remember when I took that job I said there were about seven or eight on my wish list and they were on there. Alabama, Auburn, North Carolina, Tennessee, Georgia, Clemson, LSU and Florida."

You have to be awful lucky to get one of those jobs where you're having success somewhere and then all of a sudden one of those jobs comes open. That's like with Rich (Rodriguez) right now. He's going to be marketable. But is there going to be a good job come open?"

Ard. November 18, 1998, the university announces that Tommy West will not be back as head coach. At that point were you in pretty good communication with Robinson about the job? Was it afterwards? When did things heat up?

Bowden. "After they beat South Carolina, I met with them that Monday or Tuesday. They flew down to meet with me. I met with South Carolina first, the day after the Clemson - South Carolina game. I met with (Mike) McGee."

Ard. Who flew down to meet with you in New Orleans?

Bowden. "Bobby Robinson, Bill D'Andrea, Robert Ricketts, Cecil Huey and Dwight Rainey. I picked them up at the airport and drove them to our house in New Orleans."

Ard. I want to go back to McGee for a second. What was that like, meeting with him and talking about the South Carolina job?

Bowden. "When I met with him, it was just us, as opposed to a committee of guys. The meeting itself was like it was with others. I had been in meetings like that before with Kentucky, Ole Miss, several other schools."

Ard. But you knew more about the Clemson job than the program at South Carolina, correct?

Bowden. "Well, I was more interested in the Clemson job than I was in the South Carolina job."

Ard. Why?

Bowden. "When I was at Duke, I just liked that environment. To me, if I couldn't coach in the SEC, Clemson was the closest to it. They just had a lot of tradition."

Ard. You tour the campus, including the stadium and football facilities, before you agree to take the job. What were you thinking at this point?

Bowden. "The facilities, I felt, needed to be changed. They weren't very good, obviously. There were metal lockers like you'd see in high school. But I felt you could change those things. I felt they would upgrade those things. The stadium was the largest in the ACC and I felt that was the major recruiting tool."

Ard. Did you talk with West before you took the job?

Bowden. "No, but I did talk with him after I took the job. I met with him at Pixie and Bill's. I invited him to lunch. I called all the former head coaches."

Ard. Why was it important to you to contact all the former, living Clemson head coaches?

Bowden. "I wanted their perspective. I wanted to turn over every stone. I wanted to be successful. I wanted Clemson to be my last coaching stop. I really did. I felt like I needed to get some of their experience, their advice, the pros and cons and their opinions on the best way to be successful there."

Ard. How awkward was it meeting with Tommy West, or was it?

Bowden. "You know, it wasn't awkward for me and I don't think it was for him. He seemed very receptive. We had a nice talk."

Ard. Your father was rolling at Florida State at this point. He was obviously familiar with the ACC and Clemson. When you were involved with Clemson, what was his advice for you?

Bowden. "Well he thought it was a good job. But he, Hatfield, the guys (former Clemson head coaches) knew it was a tough job, too. And it is."

Ard. Why do you think it's a tough job?

Bowden. "I think sometimes expectations are a little unrealistic. Just look at the history. Frank Howard was the head coach there from 1939 to 1969, and then from 1970 to 1999, there were seven other head coaches. That's one head coach every four years or so. That's a pretty good indication when there's that much turnover. The only one that left was Charley Pell. The others were eventually asked to leave, if I'm not mistaken."

Ard. I want to talk about Frank Howard for a moment. Because meeting Howard was your first ever Clemson experience or recollection of Clemson. I believe you said at one time he had a rather "lively vocabulary."

Bowden. "Oh yeah, it was very colorful. I was the starting wide receiver at West Virginia and we were getting ready for the Peach Bowl. We needed somewhere warmer than West Virginia, so we stayed in Clemson for several days. I remember walking from the locker room to the practice fields. We had stayed over there at the old Holiday Inn. My father had asked coach Howard to come talk to the team. He was not a speaker who was politically correct. He was colorful in speaking about the different cultures on the team."

Ard. When you coached at Duke in the 1980's, what were your impressions of the Clemson football program?

Bowden. "I went to Duke in 1983 and Clemson had recently won the national championship. So my impressions were good. Then you come down and play them after playing in Chapel Hill, Wake, Duke, College Park and Virginia; it was just a completely different environment. And that stood out to me. After I left the ACC, I spent 11 years in the SEC and Clemson was a similar environment.

"When I was at Duke, we just didn't draw well. When we'd play Clemson there, there were more Clemson fans in the stands than there were Duke fans. And then one of the last years, Clemson bought our home game. I think the four years I was there, we played three times at Clemson."

Ard. One of your initial moves - and you appeared to deliberate about this very little - was to hire Brad Scott, who had just spent five years recruiting against Clemson as South Carolina's head coach. This is a move that came with mixed reviews because of where he had just coached. Talk about his hiring, your thought process there and how that eventually came about.

Bowden. "First of all, I had called him when he got let go because I was good friends with him. We just got to talking and I remember him telling me, 'I think I'm going to stay in coaching.'

"I had been really, really familiar with Brad. You know, one of the keys in coaching is recruiting, having the best players. And I knew of his track record. He had a track record as a really good recruiter. And I had always liked him, his personality, his temperament and his recruiting skills. I liked the way he handled things, I liked the way he handled his players. So I talked to him about being on my staff."

Ard. I want to talk about your initial staff. You hire Brad, you retain Reggie Herring and Rick Stockstill from West's staff, you also hire Jack Hines, Rodney Allison, Thielen Smith, Ron West, Burton Burns and Rich Rodriguez. Before we talk about your first staff, I want to ask, did you offer any other West assistants?

Bowden. "No, but I'll tell you what, he had a good staff. Mac McWhorter, Rich Bisaccia, John Latina … those are the ones I knew. I knew Mac because I had coached with him at Alabama, and that was hard, but Ron West was with me at Tulane and we had just gone undefeated, plus Ron was a Clemson guy and a good recruiter. But there's a bunch of those guys I would have retained."

Ard. Would you have given the offensive coordinator job to Rodney Allison had Rodriguez been given the head coaching job at Tulane?

Bowden. "No. I don't know what I would have done. I was sort of mingling. When I left, Rich was going to get the (Tulane) job. I knew what I wanted to run. When I came, that was the one position on my staff I didn't have settled in my mind. I was going to take some more time to think about it."