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Legend [15862]
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Here is one of the best articles which tell it like it was when Hatfield
May 26, 2019, 1:35 PM
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came to Clemson. One of the comments I see in many post is Hatfield’s inability to recruit. It would make hard on any coach when boosters were writing letters to potential recruits to stay away from Clemson. This comes directly from Chris Ard. You should read the entire article which includes several of Clemson’s former head coaches.
IMO Ken Hatfield gets the blame for a lot of things out of his control. And for those that still have hate and hard feelings towards KH, I feel really sorry for you. It takes a lot of energy to carry hate for such a long time. Tommy West is by far one of the worst most unprepared former Tiger head coaches who run the program down in the 90’s. Yet Ken Hatfield seems to draw the most anger and the most negative comments from Clemson fans after Ford left. I heard one fan call into to a talk show who said “ We don’t need Bible toting Hatfield in Clemson “.
I am posting this article to further support my previous post about the sad days in Clemson when many fans treated a good man and a successful coach like trash. Things were said about Ken and his wife Sandy that cannot be put into print. Some by many so called church going die hard Clemson fans who should be ashamed of themselves. I hope some will take off those blinders that has caused a lot fans after approximately 30 years to still have such harsh feelings towards Ken Hatfield.
I met Ken Hatfield and his personal pilot. Two of the nicest men you will every meet. One of Coach Hatfield’s problems was that he did not have DF’s back slapping country demeanor. But he was a very kind and sensitive individual. The negative treatment from many Clemson fans did eventually take its toll on Ken and Sandy emotionally.
Here is part of Chris Ards article mostly about former Clemson Head Coach Ken Hatfield.
Chris Ards article: https://clemson.rivals.com/news/the-ken-hatfield-files-3
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All-In [43989]
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I am glad you are posting about this.
May 26, 2019, 1:44 PM
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Hatfield was never given a fair shake by many Clemson fans. I believe it was for these reasons:
-He wasn’t a good ‘ol boy redneck
-He had no ties to Clemson
-He wasn’t Danny Ford
Tommy West was a much worse coach, and was far less prepared to be our coach than Hatfield. He did way more to harm our program and set it back, but he seems to get a pass because he was a good ‘ol boy who not only coached at Clemson previously, but coached under Danny.
It’s really sad how some people are still so angry with Hatfield, to the point that they can’t be objective at all.
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All-TigerNet [10824]
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Re: I am glad you are posting about this.
May 26, 2019, 6:42 PM
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My understanding is that the Clemson administration really screwed up big time in firing Danny Ford. Then they hired a guy from another part of the country. He probably had few ACC or SEC ties (Hatfield came from the Southwest Conference). So, it can't be too surprising that he was going to struggle with recruiting. When you throw in all of the animosity and frustration, it was not going to be good. In most instances, 32-13-1, with three bowl teams and three ranked teams gets it done. But not this time, unfortunately.
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CU Medallion [55642]
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Agree 100%. KH is a good man and we did him wrong. But Max
May 26, 2019, 1:44 PM
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Lennon is the real enemy here. He wanted to get someone in who was the opposite of Danny and a fellow Right Wing Christian. KH should have never been put in the situation and Lennon never should have been Clemson's President.
Thank goodness we have what we have now. And I wish Hatfield the best.
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Commissioner [942]
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Re: Agree 100%. KH is a good man and we did him wrong. But Max
May 26, 2019, 2:16 PM
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OMG. There's the "hate" word again, coupled with appeals to Christianity. I haven't seen a single person express hatred toward Ken Hatfield, but only question his coaching and recruiting ability. What does Tommy West have to do with this? Of course West was a very poor coach---along with Hatfield. I'm not asking anyone to agree with me. I recall running across a starting Clemson lineman downtown one evening during Hatfield's coaching tenure. The discussions regarding Hatfield were in full swing. Recruiting was awful. The conversation naturally turned to our football program, and I asked this player about Hatfield, and he responded with utter contempt, stating that KH was "hopeless and clueless." Now we are instructed to accept the revisionist line that Hatfield was a really good coach who was somehow sabotaged by the university. I hope that these neo-historians don't have a quasi KGB who can vist us realists late at night!
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CU Medallion [58367]
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Great point about Tommy West.
May 26, 2019, 2:07 PM
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He was a much worse football coach than Hatfield. He had a personality and demeanor that was a much better fit at Clemson, and he came in with lower expectations than did Hatfield.
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All-In [25870]
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Re: Great point about Tommy West.
May 26, 2019, 2:14 PM
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I don't have a dog in this fight but I was told that Hatfield did not associate himself with the Clemson family. He left right after practice, lived outside of the Clemson area, and really had nothing much to do with the Clemson brand. He basically lived in his own little world. Don't know if any of this is true but it is what I was told.
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CU Medallion [58367]
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I've heard a lot of that too, and I suspect there is some
May 26, 2019, 2:21 PM
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truth to it. Whether that was his fault or due to the fact that he was not a Danny Ford clone and was therefore not accepted, I don't know. Bottom line though, he was a bad fit here, and that had more to do with his downfall than his coaching.
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Commissioner [942]
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Re: Great point about Tommy West.
May 26, 2019, 2:19 PM
[ in reply to Great point about Tommy West. ] |
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So bad and extra-bad. The three stooges, minus one. I can't disagree.
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CU Medallion [67657]
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Re: Great point about Tommy West.
May 26, 2019, 2:23 PM
[ in reply to Great point about Tommy West. ] |
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TW was just a bad hire. Appeasement never works. And he was not ready professionally. I wish it had worked out but it didnt. There was no way in that era it could have much like the KH hire.
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1st Rounder [628]
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Re: Here is one of the best articles which tell it like it was when Hatfield
May 26, 2019, 2:27 PM
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I was young back then. Went to his camps. He was very good to the kids. Also, we remember Red Parker, barely. He was a nice guy too. Danny Ford was incredible!
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CU Guru [1639]
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Re: Here is one of the best articles which tell it like it was when Hatfield
May 26, 2019, 5:32 PM
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Face it. No one would have had a chance at Clemson following Danny. I know one individual who was a manager with me, was very successful, had his own skybox. When Danny was fired, he gave it up, never contributed to Clemson again and never went to another game.
I actually heard people say if the head coach didn't curse and chew they couldn't coach football. Wonder what those guys think of Dabo? I would say Lennon was probably the worse president Clemson ever had. Hatfield's wife didn't help him any. She didn't want to live in Clemson and was more concerned with rodio.
But also remember, Danny got too big for his britches and forgot he had a boss. The big issue was football dorms which had been banned by the NCAA. Danny demanded one anyway.
You never want to replace a legend. Look how long Alabama struggled after Bear. It will be same or worse after Saban. UNC after Dean Smith, Maryland after Lefty. How would you like to be the first coach at Clemson after Dabo?
Hatfield was abad fit, but didn't deserve all he got. Tommy West was just not a head coach. Doing good as Defense Coordinator at Memphis. Bowden didn't have the fire and was living off his last name. And just remember all the people that said we had lost our minds making Dabo the head coach!
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