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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 IV of V

Ard. The program falls from nine wins in 2003 to a 6-5 season in 2004. You're not in a bowl and you opt to fire Theilen Smith, Mike O'Cain and John Lovett. You began talking with Will Muschamp when Lovett left. And you were close to getting Muschamp, as I remember it. What can you tell me about your talks with him? Did you think he was coming?

Bowden. "Yes, from talking with him on the phone. I had already gone to Terry Don, because he was going to be pretty expensive. Terry Don approved the salary. We were close but then he ended up going to Miami, to the NFL."

Ard. Was Vic Koenning your first move after it didn't work out with Muschamp?

Bowden. "Yes."

Ard. What did you think about him at the time?

Bowden. "When I hired coordinators, I wanted guys with track records. They both had that statistically. I looked up Vic and Rob their last two years and where they were ranked in the NCAA. I wanted guys with track records of calling plays and being successful."

Ard. Was Rob Spence your first choice?

Bowden. "I had followed him the last four or five years. He had always been productive with quarterbacks. I know Tommy Tuberville had brought him down and had tried to hire him the year before, so I thought I'd better get him."

Ard. Marion Hobby is hired as another defensive assistant. What were your thoughts at the time in hiring him?

Bowden. "I knew David Cutcliffe and he thought really highly of him. I did it more so on Cutcliffe's recommendation."

Ard. In talking with some people in the football office then, the word I got was that your decision to fire O'Cain was a very difficult one, arguably the hardest of your career.

Bowden. "Both of them (Lovett & O'Cain) were tough. Mike was probably the toughest. And you can put that in the article. And that's simply because he went to Clemson. And it wasn't something he did. It was that in my mind I knew I wanted to go in a different direction and do something that he didn't have a lot of background in."

Ard. You had averaged just over 17 points a game that year on offense, but the decision to fire O'Cain went beyond that. Was this in part because he was such a good guy and some of the struggles you faced on offense that year were also due to personnel, particularly up front?

Bowden. "The day that I told him, that walk that I made from my office down to his, you just can't imagine how tough that was. The door was shut and I just remember (saying to myself), 'OK, lets go. Let's do it. I have to do this.'"

Ard. We're into 2005 now. The ceremonial groundbreaking of the West Zone takes place in November of 2004, six seasons after you become head coach. There are bulldozers put outside of the west end area of Death Valley in January during official visits and you begin finalizing the 2005 class, your first top 20 haul in three years. The notables: James Davis, Antonio Clay, Thomas Austin, Barry Humphries, Chris Chancellor, Kavell Conner, Etta Etta Tawo, Tyler Grisham, Ray Ray, Phillip Merling and Rendrick Taylor.

Bowden. "It seemed like once we started pushing dirt, it was obvious that it made a huge difference.

"The picture thing ... showing photos (of the West Zone) to recruits was starting to get old. It was running out of steam. Once we started moving dirt, I think that definitely helped."

Ard. The fact that you went years showing prospects photos of your facilities initiative, yet there was no dirt pushed until 2005, this became a credibility issue for your staff in recruiting, wasn't it?

Bowden. "Oh yeah. Because other staffs used it against us in recruiting. I recruited for a long time in the SEC and it gets pretty cold-blooded. And that's who we were recruiting against. We recruited against the SEC more than we did the ACC."

Ard. James Davis had been committed to Alabama, then he takes an official visit to Clemson and switches. Any memories of recruiting him? Because he was - at that time - the back you'd been looking for since you had arrived.

Bowden. "Burton Burns did a great job with him. I just remember about him wanting to leave after he got here after a couple of days. I remember just talking with him relentlessly about that."

Ard. You're out of the spring of 2005 now, there are two new coordinators, it's Charlie Whitehurst's last year and you've got James Davis on the way who projects to play against Texas A&M in the opener. What did you feel like you could get accomplished this off-season?

Bowden. "We were certainly doing some new things offensively with a one-back, run-action pass, no-huddle type of offense. With Vic, I didn't hire him and tell him to run a 4-3 or a 3-4 or a 50 defense. I just told him I wanted results. The biggest thing was to slow down Wake Forest, which we hadn't done. And we did that immediately, as far as their productivity.

"We had also struggled running the ball and we wanted to find more ways to run the ball effectively."

Ard. You begin the season and have a very good win against #17 Texas A&M, your team beats Maryland on the road the following week and then you suffer back-to-back overtime losses to #13 Miami and Boston College before dropping a 31-27 decision at Wake. The season wraps up with Clemson winning five of its last six, including a blowout win over #17 Florida State, a five-point win over #19 South Carolina and your bowl victory over Colorado. Your team closes the year ranked #21.

Bowden. "We started the facilities, won the bowl game, beat South Carolina, recruiting was going well and it looked like our players had grasped the concepts of our new offense and defense."