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Five years ago Tigerillustrated.com conducted a round of interviews with all of Clemson's former, living head coaches spanning the states of Florida, Arkansas, Alabama and of course Upstate South Carolina.

During each stop, each former Clemson head coach - Hootie Ingram, Red Parker, Danny Ford, Ken Hatfield, Tommy West and Tommy Bowden - met with Tigerillustrated.com for multi-hour interviews.

The road trip began with a visit to Panama City Beach, Fla. where we sat down with the former two-time ACC Coach of the Year recipient, Tommy Bowden, in what was his first, exclusive interview since his departure from Clemson in October of 2008.

The multi-hour interview placed Bowden back in Upstate South Carolina one more time where he revisited his tenure as the Tigers' head coach, with Bowden recalling and detailing everything from his initial meeting with Bobby Robinson and other university officials in 1998, to year-by-year stories, and his final hours as head coach on the day of October 13, 2008.

Following a trip to the beaches of Florida would be an 11-and-a-half hour drive to the town of Benton, Ark. where an often overlooked figure in modern Clemson lore would await in Jimmy "Red" Parker, who still at 79-years old was coaching, leading the Harmony Grove High School team onto the field on Friday nights. Parker's meeting with Tigerillustrated.com would be his last extensive interview where he detailed his time at Clemson before his death last winter.

Parker, who served as the Tigers' head coach from 1973-76, is largely credited with building and recruiting a foundation of outstanding talent that would ultimately help set the stage for Clemson's longest run in the national spotlight from 1977-91. But there is much more to Parker's story, as a cancer within the program led to a tumultuous ending to his run, prompting the coach to leave the Upstate before ever selling his house.

Parker stepped back in time once more to take the chair as the Tigers' head coach and revealed many stories, including a year-by-year building of a recruiting model he believes to this day remains the best ever implemented at Clemson.

Next up on the interview docket was another Arkansas product - Ken Hatfield, who put in four seasons as the front man of Clemson's football program. The former Southwest Conference Coach of the Decade (1980s), underwent battles in his own program, but would produce a 10-2 mark in 1990 and a 9-2-1 record in 1991.

Hatfield, who was one of three head coaches Clemson was carrying on its payroll in 1994, talked in detail about his teams' high points and low points, his initial press conference where a horde of Clemson fans booed outside, to his final hours as the program's leader, where he and the administration would announce a separation following an 8-3 regular season in 1993.

One week later a trip to Tuscaloosa, Ala. was in order, as it was here where former Tiger head coach and long-time SEC administrator Hootie Ingram awaited for a lengthy interview to discuss much more than what he is largely remembered for - the university adopting the Tiger Paw as its official, trademarked logo of its athletics programs.

Ingram, who succeeded Hall of Fame head coach Frank Howard in 1970, and put in three years with the Tigers, actually placed the call to Parker later in the 1972 season to gauge the Citadel coach's interest in the job. Ingram, whose only head coaching job at the major college level came at Clemson, was faced with an opportunity to change course in his career in late 1972, and revealed why and how the opportunity came about, as well as the transition to Parker, after a meeting with Bill McLellan and Dr. R.C. Edwards.

On that same day, we would make the short trip from Tuscaloosa to Hoover, Ala. to meet with another former Clemson head coach - Tommy West, who ironically had been at Danny Ford's farm on the day Hatfield visited with Ford in the spring of 1990 for perspective and insight into the Clemson job. West, who was ushered in as the Tigers' head coach in November of 1993, produced four winning seasons, but a 3-8 ledger in 1998 would be his last in Clemson. West spoke candidly about his efforts to place the program back to its glory days of the 1980's, as well as two key regrets from 1995-96.

The final interview we conducted was a near three-hour sit-down with Danny Ford, who at the time he left the program in 1990 was ranked in the top five nationally among winningest, active head coaches. Clemson reached the pinnacle of college football under Ford, who is still the youngest head coach (33) to win a national championship on the Division I-A level. From 1981-83 the Tigers were 30-2-2, the best record in college football.

It was under Ford where Clemson emerged as the one, true oasis for serious football in the ACC. But it was here where the NCAA also uncovered a beehive of missteps stemming from the Charley Pell years of 1977-78. Ford, to this day, has a rapport with one of the NCAA investigators who came calling for an interview in 1982, though on an afternoon where the coach had previously-scheduled plans. Said Ford: "A couple of them came down from the NCAA and wanted to talk to me. I told them I was going fishing. So they ended up going fishing with me."

One more time Ford stepped back into the Tigers' head coaching chair and discussed everything from recruiting, the hiring of coaches, the immense success the program enjoyed under his watch, the NCAA, his relationship with the administration and of course the conclusion of the 1989 season where he would soon step down after receiving a termination letter from Bobby Robinson in January of 1990, a slip of paper Ford carried with him everywhere he went in the years to come.

Starting Tuesday, Tigerillustrated.com will begin releasing full, unedited transcripts of these interviews, along with additional commentary from our meetings with Clemson's former head coaches we did not publicize in 2011.

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