Tommy Bowden can only blame himself

2008-10-14T17:27:25-04:00

2008-10-13T15:24:43-04:00

2008-10-13T15:27:55-04:00

2008-10-14T17:27:25-04:00

Texjun99

Houston 583660

71 He should have stayed at Tulane where 7-5 and 8-4 seasons are great years! 3051628

2008-10-14T16:49:26-04:00

Go Tide

Decatur 472996

70 first clemson needs to get players with higher character and better work ethic that was horrible the way they talked about tommy bowden it seems to me it is the players fault they are losing 3051096

2008-10-14T11:25:22-04:00

http://img.fannation.com/upload/user_profile/image/556/559/thumb/AL.jpg 541 AL

Crimson02

557039

69 Makes you wonder if an SEC coach would be tired of the competition and go to Clemson where they would excell in recruiting and and not be hammered by the fans on eight and nine win seasons. 3045956

2008-10-14T10:35:35-04:00

http://img.fannation.com/upload/user_profile/image/345/08/thumb/tigerpaw.jpg 168

KardiacKid

34612

68 NO BOBBY JOHNSON!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 3045305

2008-10-13T21:33:39-04:00

http://img.fannation.com/upload/user_profile/image/496/661/thumb/ines-sainz3.jpg 29

GA247

497101

Pretty stupid move when you are going to wind up paying him 4 mil more! The blame is always put on the coach. Anybody ever think that maybe this QB wasn't as good as everybody thought? Wake beat them by the skin on their teeth and Wake is supposed to be good this year? Fans are never satisfied with a winning record they always want more. Why is the dude from ND gone by now? He is nothing to write home about and neither is ND! For that matter why aren't LSU, OKA, Missu and many more coaches gone by now? They have lost when they were predicted to go all the way? Blame it on the coach never on the players or their abilities! Why isn't the dude from Mich gone by now after he moved from W.Virg. and was supposed to be so great - just another average coach. What makes Kiffin a winner when he can't even win at Oak? Bowden will find another job and probably do fine especially with the extra 4 mil he will receive from the dummies from Clemson! Maybe they (AD/regents/fans boosters) should be fired for just passing an extension that will cost them a ton! Who is the worse off! Bowden's crying all the way to the bank.

47 You sir are an idiot, the reason LSU, OKA, MISSu aren't firing their head coaches is because they have been NC contenders for the last several years, and fyi if you want folks to think you at least have a clue what your talking about don't refer to HC's as what their names of some of the most prominent schools in the country. 3041971

2008-10-14T10:22:44-04:00

http://img.fannation.com/upload/user_profile/image/449/996/thumb/S4020811.jpg 4348 FL

KingFootball

450436

You sir are an idiot, the reason LSU, OKA, MISSu aren't firing their head coaches is because they have been NC contenders for the last several years, and fyi if you want folks to think you at least have a clue what your talking about don't refer to HC's as what their names of some of the most prominent schools in the country.

67 Did history get revised? Missouri has been a national title contender for the last several years? Or is it that they were last year? Big, big difference. 3045089

2008-10-14T10:07:00-04:00

http://img.fannation.com/upload/user_profile/image/426/84/thumb/WVownsGA.bmp 25 GA

wvu1980

Bethlehem 42904

66 Speaking from an outsider's point of view (not a Clemson fan), I think Coach Bowden is a fine man and a good football coach. He'll resurface somewhere else next year and a new start would be good for him. And the Clemson fans won't be happy until they win an ACC title, which could be a while.... 3044887

2008-10-14T09:38:21-04:00

199

GameChickens

Duluth 394671

65 Has anyone else heard from IPTAY personell the name Jimmi Johnson? 3044517

2008-10-14T09:00:53-04:00

Spotsylvania 583361

64 just hope they dont pick someone like the old ball coach like USC did. They spent millions just to get his son and lose a bunch of loyal fans including me. The country is changing, coaches, like CEO's should be paid based on their performance not on their history. Four million to a self confessed failure is a bonehead move. It ranks right up there with the thinking that PACMAN and all the other hoodlums out there can single handedly win football games in the NFL. 3044063

2008-10-14T08:40:57-04:00

http://img.fannation.com/upload/user_profile/image/477/646/thumb/ute_red_black_white.jpg 20 FL

MeanBobMean

Tallahassee 478086

63 Clemson should have waited, Rodriguez might me available as an OC again soon. 3043848

2008-10-14T08:37:44-04:00

http://img.fannation.com/upload/user_profile/image/477/646/thumb/ute_red_black_white.jpg 20 FL

MeanBobMean

Tallahassee 478086

62 Clemson has many fine athletes and coaches and a clean program. Those are great things for akid ot lookforward to in college, mor eimportant even than (gasp) winning only. 3043838

<div class="photo_container image_right"> <div class="photo"><img src="http://img.fannation.com/upload/si_blog_post_images/tommy-bowden.jpg" alt="Tommy-bowden" /></div> <div class="photo_attributes" style="text-align: right;">Clemson's season began with a blowout loss to Alabama. AP</div> </div> Axed Clemson coach Tommy Bowden sealed his own fate five months before the season even started. In an interview last spring, Bowden told me -- as he did others -- that "on paper, since I've been at Clemson, this [season] is my best opportunity" to win the school's first ACC title since 1991. If you make that claim only to get eliminated from the race by the first week of October, what possible reason would anyone have to believe it's ever going to happen? It took 10 years, but on Monday, Clemson administrators finally accepted this reality. They saw a team brimming with offensive weapons that started the season with a humiliating performance against Alabama, a subsequent loss to Maryland and, most gallingly, a 12-7 loss to Wake Forest last Thursday in which the Tigers looked completely inept offensively. Bowden responded by brusquely demoting preseason ACC player of the year Cullen Harper, but Clemson's problems extended far beyond its struggling quarterback. Since starting the 2006 season 7-1, the Tigers have gone 13-11. In a memorable primetime rout of eventual division champ Georgia Tech at the apex of that 2006 run, tailbacks James Davis and C.J. Spiller combined for 338 rushing yards, eliciting seemingly limitless possibilities for the future. Neither has come close to recapturing that glory in the 24 games since. Clemson could have allowed Bowden to hang around for the rest of the season, but then they would have risked him pulling … well, a Bowden. New QB Willy Korn would come in and lift the Tigers to a second-half surge, teasing Tigers fans yet again of the possibilities of something grander next year. Then next year would come, and Clemson would go 8-4 again. It's been that kind of near-annual titillation that allowed Bowden to hang around as long as he did. Every time it looked like he was down to his last days, he'd pull some unexpected upset out of his hat. Every time expectations were low, the Tigers would exceed them, and every time expectations were high … well, see this year. In hindsight, Bowden peaked eight years ago. Behind dynamic QB Woody Dantzler, the Tigers started the 2000 season 8-0 and reached the top five of the polls but eventually got spanked by Chris Weinke-led Florida State and lost to Virginia Tech in the Gator Bowl. That was also the last time Bowden had the services of offensive coordinator Rich Rodriguez, his right-hand man on his undefeated 1998 Tulane team as well. Bowden spent the next eight years chasing those glory days but could never put the pieces together offensively, even with the most talented core of skill players in the ACC these past three years. He got lapped by Wake Forest and Boston College in his own division. Not only had the fan base lost confidence but, based on recent comments, so too had his players. While Clemson hardly qualifies as a "premier" destination, the job Bowden vacates will be plenty attractive to potential replacements. For one thing, the next coach will inherit what some dubbed the top recruiting class in the country last February, and Clemson's deep-pocketed boosters can pony up for just about anyone. (It's likely costing them several million to part ways with Bowden, who just got a new contract this past offseason.) One obvious name that jumps to mind: Vanderbilt's Bobby Johnson. A South Carolina native and former Clemson cornerback, Johnson spent 25 years coaching in the state (including one season as Clemson's defensive coordinator) prior to taking the Vandy job in 2002. Meanwhile, he's done more this season with a cast of largely unsung players than Bowden did with a roster full of blue-chippers. http://img.fannation.com/upload/user_profile/image/940/61/thumb/mandel_stewart.jpg 2 NY

Stewart Mandel

New York 94361 13882 <div class="photo_container image_right"> <div class="photo"><img src="http://img.fannation.com/upload/si_blog_post_images/tommy-bowden.jpg" alt="Tommy-bowden" /></div> <div class="photo_attributes" style="text-align: right;">Clemson's season began with a blowout loss to Alabama. AP</div> </div> Axed Clemson coach Tommy Bowden sealed his own fate five months before the season even started. In an interview last spring, Bowden told me -- as he did others -- that "on paper, since I've been at Clemson, this [season] is my best opportunity" to win the school's first ACC title since 1991. If you make that claim only to get eliminated from the race by the first week of October, what possible reason would anyone have to believe it's ever going to happen? It took 10 years, but on Monday, Clemson administrators finally accepted this reality. They saw a team brimming with offensive weapons that started the season with a humiliating performance against Alabama, a subsequent loss to Maryland and, most gallingly, a 12-7 loss to Wake Forest last Thursday in which the Tigers looked completely inept offensively. Bowden responded by brusquely demoting preseason ACC player of the year Cullen Harper, but Clemson's problems extended far beyond its struggling quarterback. Since starting the 2006 season 7-1, the Tigers have gone 13-11. In a memorable primetime rout of eventual division champ Georgia Tech at the apex of that 2006 run, tailbacks James Davis and C.J. Spiller combined for 338 rushing yards, eliciting seemingly limitless possibilities for the future. Neither has come close to recapturing that glory in the 24 games since.