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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 II of V

Ard. You've got your staff assembled now and we're into 1999 with the signing of your first recruiting class. Let's talk about the notables. Brian Mance, who was your highest-rated prospect (6.0), Willie Simmons, who got the most pub from the class, Bernard Rambert, Rodney Thomas, Khaleed Vaughn, Rodney Feaster and Kevin Youngblood.

Bowden. "Brian Mance wasn't going to visit us at all. Brad got on him and helped us a lot there. He might have been the biggest signee. I remember Willie because Florida State was kind of recruiting him. They were playing around with him a little bit. Vaughn wasn't highly recruited and Youngblood wasn't highly recruited, but we felt they were both good players."

Ard. What about just the experience as a head coach selling Clemson for the first time?

Bowden. "The first thing I did, I remember sitting in the staff room after making Stockstill recruiting coordinator. The first thing we did was get information from the other staff. And we had some, but we got a lot of information from the previous staff. They didn't try to keep anything from us or hide or burn anything. We knew our offensive style was going to change, so our needs were going to change.

"I remember my first recruiting trip was at Hargrave Military. We put Andy Johnston on the road at that time because we were short-handed. And he had been a tennis coach."

Ard. You're into your first spring now, so at this point you're about to find out a lot about your personnel. What were your initial impressions? Did this look like a 3-8 team?

Bowden. "Our off-season program which began at 5:30 in the morning was pretty intense. We got a feel for our team going into the spring. It gave us an indication of the speed and athleticism we had.

"We had lost all five offensive line starters. T.J. Watkins wasn't very big, Will Merritt was 230 pounds, Kyle Young was 250, so he wasn't big. John McDermott was a 6-foot-6 tackle, but he got in trouble. I remember getting a phone call on him not too long after I got there. I think it was around 2 or 3 in the morning and he was in there backed up against the wall at the police station. I was mad. Then we had the tackle (Akil Smith) who would have trouble with drugs and would leave.

"We had six or seven guys drafted the previous April, so we had some holes to fill.

"I think overall it was about what I thought it might be. I was coming from Tulane where anything would have looked better, because they were a mid-major and they weren't a physically impressive team. Clemson looked more physically impressive.

"Defensively I thought we were pretty talented. I felt like the talent was adequate enough for us to have a good team."

Ard. Your first spring on the booster circuit, there were record crowds reported. How did that make you feel?

Bowden. "We were coming off an undefeated season, so the timing was good to create some momentum. That enhanced some of the enthusiasm. I just remember never feeling uncomfortable. I've been public speaking for a long time. Any time someone new comes in there is renewed enthusiasm. I'd go on a speaking circuit at Tulane and there would be 25 or 30 there. So it was a different environment."

Ard. Was it here where you got your first indication of the passion people at Clemson have for their football program?

Bowden. "I knew about that when I was at Duke, but you get more hands on once you meet with people face to face and sign autographs. It's a more in-depth experience."

Ard. The season arrives and you ultimately draw the only three undefeated teams in the nation this fall - Marshall, Virginia Tech and Florida State. Clemson opens with Marshall, which finished with a No. 8 ranking and you drop a close game in your debut. Before we talk about your season, tell me what you were thinking when you got off the bus and stood atop The Hill for the first time as the head coach as you looked out at the stadium just prior to kickoff.

Bowden. "It's very unique. It's kind of hard to explain because I had been in the other Death Valley, I'd been at Legion Field, I'd been at The Swamp. As far as being in a big-time college football environment, I had experienced that. But the scenario of being on The Hill and looking down on the playing field with the fans on the right and left, it's hard to explain what that's like. I'd never experienced anything like that. You're so used to going directly to the field after you spend time with your team in the locker room. But at Clemson, you do that and then get on a bus and I'm in a police car and you're waiting."

Ard. But you've told me before you don't eat a lot on game day because you're so nervous. I'm assuming that day had to rank near the top.

Bowden. "Yeah, but because of my background I was prepared for that, mentally. Not eating well, that's just the way I am before a game. All you're really thinking up there at that moment is, 'There's a lot of people here. I better win this game.'"

Ard. The loss in your debut didn't look quite as bad at the end of the year when Marshall was 12-0 and ranked eighth in the country, but once it was over, and you had not been successful in your opener, how did you feel?

Bowden. "Oh, I felt terrible. At Clemson, you should beat Marshall, I don't care how good they are. I just thought we'd win the game."

Ard. You play #19 UVA the following week and blow them out for your first win. How important was that one?

Bowden. "It's always good to win because any time you come in as a new coach and the longer you go without winning, the harder it is for your players to buy in to what you're doing. The quicker you can get that monkey off your back, the better. To do it in the second game against a pretty good team was good. It was a boost for morale. It's a huge motivational factor when you can win early."

Ard. You'd go on to play #1 Florida State and your father in what was the first ever father-and-son matchup. There's 86,000+ fans in Death Valley, the largest ever, Tim Bourret is ambushed with media credential requests, the fire marshall is having a heart attack because of the crowd and so on. You have over a 10-point lead at halftime but lose by a field goal. What do you remember about that game?

Bowden."I wasn't surprised with the attention because it was two high profile programs and one high profile coach. I think Tim told me we had to do most of the media requests in advance. I had done interviews for the game the week before game week, so that was unusual.

"I remember we had about a third-and-two on the right hash. I had a fake field goal where the guy would have walked in. We would have beaten them with it. Rich and I were discussing back and forth what we were going to do. I wanted to run a sweep to the field. I was going to have the guy flip the ball over the head. Well, with a right-footed kicker, you'd have to flip it over where he could run to his right. But you have to be on the left hash or the left middle. I needed to get the ball over there. Rich wanted to run more power. I said, 'Let's run a sweep to the left. It'll work. The guy will walk in.' We finally ended up running more power and it was a long yard and a half. Had we beaten them, they probably wouldn't have won the national championship."

Ard. Clemson faces an 0-10 South Carolina team in Columbia and the game is a bit closer than a lot of people felt it would be going in. Did you realize at that point how important the rivalry is?

Bowden. "You never realize the significance of that game until you lose one. I won my first couple before I lost in 2001. We had to win to get to a bowl game. We had to win and they didn't want to finish 0-11. But it was big, of course. We didn't have too many rivalries at Tulane."

Ard. You take home ACC Coach of the Year, you face a 10-win Mississippi State team in the bowl, your team has almost double the yardage, but you commit a half-dozen turnovers and lose the game. Was this one of your teams' more frustrating outings under your watch?

Bowden. "It was, but we were in our first year. We had gone from three to six wins. We had accomplished a lot, so I felt like we had done some things over the course of the season that showed we had made some strides and regained some credibility back."

Ard. Numbers were tight for your staff in the following recruiting class. Some notables: Yusef Kelly, Donnell Washington, Todd McClinton, John Leake, Cedric Johnson, Derrick Hamilton and Derrick Brantley.

Bowden. "I really don't remember much about that class. I remember us double-teaming Michael Boulware up in a hotel room. Me and Brad just went after him. We lost five pounds apiece recruiting that kid. He had a good visit and we about had him, but he ended up going to Florida State. Leake, that came down to us and Oklahoma. He had really good senior film. Rich got on him because of Todd Graham, if I'm not mistaken."