Re: Without looking it up, what was Coach Frank Howard’s

waterboyII · 2022-02-28T14:25:36.381Z

winning % at Clemson and how many games did he serve as head coach?

I know many may not care about this but I am a big supporter of Liverpool FC, a football (soccer) club in England. In the 50s-60s (same era as Howard), they had a legendary coach named Bill Shankly who really turned them into a large club. He got them out of the 2nd division of English football and consistently kept them in the 1st division. By the end of his career he won a couple of major trophies and turned Liverpool into a powerhouse. He was then surpassed in trophies by his successors who went on to win many many more in the 70s-80s (Parallel to Danny Ford), making them the most successful team in England at the time. Liverpool went into a lull in the 90s to mid 2000s and have had a lot of success recently under Jurgen Klopp, who has turned them into a powerhouse (parallel to Dabo).

All this to say, I see Bill Shankly a lot like I do Frank Howard. Everyone knows who he is and knows he is responsible for creating the foundation for the teams that we have today. Without them, there is no Liverpool FC or Clemson Football as we know it.

I see a lot of parallels from being a fan of both of these teams, so I enjoy discussing it.

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Feb 28, 2022, 9:19 PM

Not only did Coach Howard have to play in Columbia every year, but he was also at a great disadvantage during the WW II years. Only a few regular students were on the Clemson campus, and those were either 4-Fs or 17 year olds. Clemson's men were fighting the war, including Coach Howard's football players. All of the assistant football coaches were away in military service also.

During the war, Clemson College was an Army training base, and the Army would not allow its men to play collegiate sports. SC, GA, and UNC were Navy training bases, and the Navy did allow its men to play college sports. Those schools got their best athletes from the Navy trainees, especially their football players.

It was questionable some years if Coach Howard could field a football team, but he always did with a total of 20-25 players. Most were 17 year old freshmen, and the others had physical problems and couldn't pass military physicals. The several assistant coaches were former players who were not physically qualified for military service.

Coach Howard and Clemson's athletic teams had some rough years. One basketball team had no returning players from the previous year, and a baseball season was cancelled for lack of players to field a team.

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Without looking it up, what was Coach Frank Howard’s