I held on to the idea that Bowden was a good coach for much longer than most people. Maybe Rob Spence's conservative play calling was the problem. Maybe our talent is not as talented as we all thought. I came up with excuse after excuse. The reason I kept backing up Bowden after all of his failures on the field is the same theme for this entry.
No matter what you want to think, what you heard, or how much you hated him, Tommy Bowden was a great coach at Clemson.
Recruiting
Bowden knew how to recruit. I think the best example of the scope of players that Bowden was able to reach out to is C.J. Spiller. Clemson should have never gotten a commitment from Spiller, we basically ripped him away from The University of Florida. Rumors have it that Dabo is just as influential a recruiter as Bowden, lets just hope that is the case.
Facilities
Probably the first thing Bowden did we he arrived on campus was decide that Clemson's althetic facilities needed a major overhaul. In order to upgrade football facitilites, NCAA rules state that the school must also spend funds pgrading other athletic facilities. The result? The West End Zone, the upcoming additions to the WEZ, and facility upgrades across the entire campus to athletic buildings. Thus, Bowden's hand reached further than just the football program.
Reputation
Let's face it. Whether you hate it or not. Bowden's reputation for a "good ole' christian boy" has done nothing but improve the image of Clemson. In the late 1980's and early 1990's Clemson's image has tarnished, and that's a pretty nice way to put it. Bowden came in to a struggling team at an embarrassed University and completely turned everything around. The team performed better, the nation forgot about recruiting violations, classroom performance improved, and the graduation rate reached levels almost unheard of for the ACC outside the cities of Durham and Chapel Hill.
So where did Bowden go wrong? Tommy had a knack for always having "pretty good" teams and never the "great" teams that Clemson fans require. It seems like every season Clemson was one game away from playing for an ACC title, and typically the one game where the Tigers fell short was against a team that should have been a relatively easy win. I hear the "a head coach is like a CEO of a company" comment a lot. Personally, I think Tommy was a fantastic CEO. The problem was, as a coach he was lacking, and possible some of his staff beneath him was not getting the job done either.
When I first learned of Bowden's departure I was excited, like most of you. After it set in, however, I realized that Clemson is truly losing a great guy. It is a shame Bowden did not get to stay here forever. If he lived up to the winning expectations, I would have loved Tommy to be here forever. But he did not meet those expectations, and I agreed that a change needed to be made.
Not that it is likely to happen, but if for some reason Clemson ever plays a team where Tommy Bowden is on the staff, I hope the entire Clemson community stands up and applauds that man when his name is announced. He did more good than bad for the University and I hope that some of the rabid Clemson fans will recogonize that.
