Orange Blooded [2157]
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Who is the worst Clemson football coach since 1980?
[1]
May 16, 2022, 3:36 PM
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Many will automatically say Ken Hatfield but Tommy West record was:
5-6
8-4
7-5
7-5
3-8
Ken Hatfield
10-2
9-2-1
5-6
8-3
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Tiger Cub [12]
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Re: Who is the worst Clemson football coach since 1980?
emoji_events
[11]
May 16, 2022, 3:42 PM
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I played for both and Tommy "Worst" was by far inferior to Hatfield. Hatfield was a good man, and a descent coach, but lost out in recruiting. That was his main problem. West was, from my understanding, a descent assistant, but I was never sold that he was Head Coach material. Just my 2 cents.
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Mascot [15]
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Re: Who is the worst Clemson football coach since 1980?
[1]
May 16, 2022, 4:23 PM
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his hands where tie by the head people at Clemson because the President took control over the football Dept Before they could recruit a player the President had to approve him
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All-American [565]
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Re: Who is the worst Clemson football coach since 1980?
[1]
May 16, 2022, 5:33 PM
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descent? into what?
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All-In [28551]
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West was the worst by far.
emoji_events
[6]
May 16, 2022, 3:45 PM
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He just gets a pass from most of our fans because he was a “Clemson guy” who coached under Danny Ford.
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CU Medallion [66439]
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i agree***
[1]
May 16, 2022, 4:02 PM
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All-American [587]
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Re: i agree***
[4]
May 16, 2022, 5:47 PM
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I agree 2!
Tommy West (31-28) was gung-ho and a nice enough guy, but his teams and strategy was just painful to watch and seemed like it was a struggle to win at all.
He had a 4 winning seasons in 9 years at Memphis (going 49-61).
If you go back to 1970 it would be Hootie Ingram (12-21), even more painful than Tommy West....
Hatfield (32-13-1) and Bowden (72-45) were decent coaches, but they could never put it together, and move up to the next level, regardless of personnel.
Both fielded average teams, with some excellent players - the teams lacked coaching and strategy!
Glad those days are behind us, and we had plenty of bad Saturdays in Death Valley....
That's why we need to keep Dabo until he retires, like Frank Howard, Bobby Bowden, or Bear Bryant....
Losing Danny Ford gave us 20 years wondering in the wilderness.....
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CU Guru [1018]
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Who would you have rather coached that 1990 team?
[2]
May 16, 2022, 7:29 PM
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That was national championship caliber talent, and they couldn't stand Coach Hatfield. We had ZERO respect for the man.
West wasn't capable of fixing what Hatfield broke, but they would have played for harder for West, and he would have done more with that 1990 team.
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Heisman Winner [100829]
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The only reason he gets a pass…
emoji_events
[5]
May 16, 2022, 7:29 PM
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is he wasn’t Ken Hatfield.
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All-In [41047]
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No doubt about that.***
May 17, 2022, 1:43 PM
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110%er [6456]
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Re: Who is the worst Clemson football coach since 1980?
[3]
May 16, 2022, 3:47 PM
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I know you mean as a "head coach" but...
Kevin Steele. Sure, I got 70 reasons - but at Baylor he was 1-31 in conference including another 70 point blowout. At Clemson, well... since 1980, I consider him the "worst" to coach at Clemson, mostly because he consistently lacked on ROI since 1980. Might have been worse performers to an extend but nothing palled as he could not stop or adjust to anything.
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Commissioner [984]
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Re: Who is the worst Clemson football coach since 1980?
[2]
May 16, 2022, 3:57 PM
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Tommy West without a doubt. Still trying to figure that one out. Not sure what the administration ever saw in him
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Orange Blooded [2421]
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Re: Who is the worst Clemson football coach since 1980?
emoji_events
[5]
May 16, 2022, 4:04 PM
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My take on the West hire. Ford was beloved by the Clemson faithful and many did not like it when he was forced out. The admin wanted to cut all ties and hired Hatfield as the polar opposite of Ford. After Hatfield left, West was the bone thrown to the boosters since he was a Ford man.
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CU Medallion [58619]
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Re: Who is the worst Clemson football coach since 1980?
[3]
May 16, 2022, 5:43 PM
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West was an attempt to appease Danny fans
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110%er [5415]
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Re: Who is the worst Clemson football coach since 1980?
[2]
May 16, 2022, 5:48 PM
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Steele was fine as DC in 2009 and 2010. Both were top 25 defensives and it was a minor miracle in 2010 as much as the offense left them on the field. In the big picture we should probably thank Steele for doing good enough in 2010 that Dabo wasn’t fired and doing bad enough the next year that we made the move for BV. He wasn’t able to adjust, at all, to the demands Chad Morris’s offensive style would put on the defense. But even Brent’s first defense only finished 46th in total defense.
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Orange Blooded [2969]
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DID NOT FORCE 1 PUNT in 2009 ACC Champ game.***
[1]
May 16, 2022, 7:15 PM
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Orange Blooded [2835]
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West set Clemson football back at least 10 years.
[2]
May 16, 2022, 3:53 PM
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Absolutely abhorrent hire.
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110%er [9801]
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Hatfield took the once talented program down
[2]
May 16, 2022, 4:00 PM
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West kept it there.
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Orange Blooded [2421]
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Re: Hatfield took the once talented program down
[2]
May 16, 2022, 4:05 PM
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Wasn’t it Switzer that stated Hatfield would destroy Clemson football?
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Orange Blooded [3314]
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Hatfield inherited Danny Ford’s program while Tommy West
emoji_events
[6]
May 16, 2022, 4:06 PM
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inherited Ken Hatfield’s program.
I won’t defend Tommy West’s overall record because it’s not good, but I also won’t praise Ken Hatfield for taking a Top 5-10 roster and losing a couple of winnable games per season with it before then going 5-6.
Let’s just say that Clemson struggled in the post Danny years.
Dabo pulled us out of it and brought unprecedented success.
We all need to remember this fact while we go through a year or two of adjustment to the crazy rules now in place in college football.
As Dabo has said in the past ... The Best is Still to Come!
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110%er [9113]
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Re: Hatfield inherited Danny Ford’s program while Tommy West
[2]
May 16, 2022, 4:33 PM
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“but I also won’t praise Ken Hatfield for taking a Top 5-10 roster and losing a couple of winnable games per season “
That was Ford’s way too. Not sure why folks got upset with Hatfield for doing what Danny did previously.
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All-Pro [679]
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Re: Hatfield inherited Danny Ford’s program while Tommy West
[2]
May 16, 2022, 5:19 PM
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It was 1990, the 10-2 year. That roster with a decent coach could have gone undefeated and played for a championship. Hatfield lost to UVA (for first time ever) and GaTech (0.5 MNC that year). Ford would have won both games, BUT he would have lost to NC State. Then he would have beaten Nebraska for that half of a MNC. Hatfield lost the fans that year, never got any back.
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110%er [9113]
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Re: Hatfield inherited Danny Ford’s program while Tommy West
[2]
May 16, 2022, 5:25 PM
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I enjoyed visiting Duke in the rain back in 1989 and watching them beat our then top 10 ranked team. Terry Allen had almost 200 yds in the first half.
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Asst Coach [710]
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Hatfield didn't inherit many fans.***
[1]
May 16, 2022, 5:19 PM
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Orange Blooded [3314]
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Ford never sank to a 5-6 season ... that’s what killed it
[1]
May 16, 2022, 7:02 PM
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for Ken Hatfield. Going from potential #1 caliber roster all the way to a 5-6 season in three years.
If he’d have kept winning 9-10 games a year he’d have never been fired.
5-6 was pretty unforgivable with what he had handed to him.
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All-In [28551]
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I think his point was that it was ironic to criticize Hatfield for losing 1-2 games a year
[2]
May 16, 2022, 7:48 PM
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that he shouldn’t, when that’s exactly what Danny Ford could also be counted on to do most every year.
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Orange Blooded [3314]
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I understand his point. I made a counter-point.
[1]
May 16, 2022, 9:21 PM
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Danny went undefeated and won the national championship, then had two 1-loss seasons before leveling out and rebuilding toward multiple 10-win seasons. He did have the misfortune to start finding ways to lose a couple of head scratchers a year. But, he’d built up a lot of equity with fans and by his last year was ready to roll again.
Ford left Hatfield an embarrassment of riches to build on and Ken couldn’t sustain it.
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Trainer [27]
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Re: Who is the worst Clemson football coach since 1980?
[3]
May 16, 2022, 4:38 PM
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Hatfield was the worst offensive strategist ever to pick up a playbook. He had most of the great players that Ford had recruited and underproduced, and then lost all our recruiting advantages, especially in North Carolina. My choice for worst coach, however, would be Tommy Bowden. He was a bully and a coward, running up the score against inferior teams and leaving his best players in too long to "make it look better". He was a bible thumping hypocrite, who talked the talk but didn't walk the walk. He was just good enough with his family heritage to keep us from going down fast, but we were going down.
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Starter [398]
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Re: Who is the worst Clemson football coach since 1980?
[1]
May 16, 2022, 4:45 PM
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I would still say Hatfield. He inherited more. Clemson still had a good reputation when he came in.
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Walk-On [126]
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Re: Who is the worst Clemson football coach since 1980?
[3]
May 16, 2022, 5:13 PM
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I know that Hotie Ingram was Head Coach at Clemson in the early
70's be we would have killed to have Tommmy West or anybody as Head coach.
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All-In [27337]
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Hatfield was not a bad football coach by any means. Butt,
[4]
May 16, 2022, 5:24 PM
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the circumstances of his hiring, coupled with his "dour" personality, pretty much doomed him from the start with most Clemson fans.
"Circumstances of his hiring" meaning, his name was not Danny Ford.
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All-In [27337]
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It has to be Tommy West. In later interviews, he himself
[1]
May 16, 2022, 7:19 PM
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admitted that, at the time, the Clemson job was "just too big for him". Even a blind man could see, with his hire, we were trying to catch that Danny Ford "Lightning in a bottle" a second time. That was just too much pressure for Tommy West to live up to those expectations. He did his best, it just wasn't near enough at the time.
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CU Guru [1018]
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Hatfield inherited a national championship caliber team.
[1]
May 16, 2022, 7:20 PM
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West inherited Hatfield's utter mess.
West could have taken Hatfield's first and second seasons and done better.
Hatfield was terrible. West wasn't so good either, but I give him the nod over Hatfield.
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Recruit [79]
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Re: Who is the worst Clemson football coach since 1980?
[2]
May 16, 2022, 7:23 PM
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No comparison between the rosters each inherited. Hatfield had a fully stocked bar and couldn’t make a good drink. Exhibit A is at GT when we gashed them all day long , Ronald Williams I believe, and ######## pulls out the wishbone inside the 10 time after time. Cost me a perfectly good TV.
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Orange Blooded [3341]
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Re: Who is the worst Clemson football coach since 1980?
[1]
May 16, 2022, 8:24 PM
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Tommy West and it’s not even close imo. Hatfield coming in after Ford’s departure was a no win situation for either side.
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110%er [6366]
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Re: Who is the worst Clemson football coach since 1980?
[1]
May 16, 2022, 8:58 PM
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I agree. Hatfield didn't have a chance. The administration simply wanted to ditch Ford and then didn't care about the program. And the Clemson fans did not support Hatfield. Ken should have stayed at Arkansas. West was not good, period.
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110%er [5265]
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Hatfield
[1]
May 17, 2022, 6:28 AM
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left cupboard empty for West. At least West saw the need to modernize the offense, just couldn't get it done.
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Orange Blooded [3341]
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Re: Hatfield
May 17, 2022, 12:36 PM
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Another reason he should have stayed at Arkansas. He did not know these high school coaches and recruiting was a little different back then and I feel tougher without relationships. May have happened on down the road who knows but following Ford was a detriment to his career.
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110%er [6366]
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Re: Hatfield
May 17, 2022, 7:58 PM
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Agreed. Bringing in a coach from the Southwest Conference and expecting him to recruit well in South Carolina, especially in the pre-internet, pre-cell phone days, was going to be very difficult. It probably would have taken Hatfield some time to establish connections, as you say. They should have hired someone from the ACC or SEC.
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Trainer [25]
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Re: Who is the worst Clemson football coach since 1980?
[1]
May 17, 2022, 11:28 AM
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Unfortunately, Tommy West.
** It's scary that our Offensive Coordinator was the starting QB during those very rough Clemson years.
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CU Guru [1161]
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Re: Who is the worst Clemson football coach since 1980?
[2]
May 17, 2022, 11:32 AM
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I’m surprised you coots aren’t saying Dabo.
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