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Any room for CTB back at Clemson, and for us to give him
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Any room for CTB back at Clemson, and for us to give him


May 6, 2019, 11:50 AM

any credit for what he had a vision for? Yes, he couldn't win. But w/o CTB, none of this is possible. He had the vision of turning Clemson Football into what it is through what began as the West End Zone project...build it and they will come. He gave us Dabo...and Dabo ran with it and made it into this monster we see now. I've, in recent years, looked back and developed a lot of respect for what CTB left us with.

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Re: Any room for CTB back at Clemson, and for us to give him


May 6, 2019, 11:55 AM

I have always been a fan of Coach tommy Bowden. He did a lot of good for Clemson Football. He should be honored for his visions and for his willingness to give us 100% at the very least.

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Men at 25 play football. Men at 40 play tennis. Men at 60 play golf. Have you noticed as men get older their balls get smaller.


He started the Christian culture, above everything else, at


May 6, 2019, 11:58 AM

Clemson. That culture has lead to not only great athletes wanting to come here...but great men leaving here.

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Re: Any room for CTB back at Clemson, and for us to give him


May 6, 2019, 12:00 PM [ in reply to Re: Any room for CTB back at Clemson, and for us to give him ]

thats ten percent short sir

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Re: Any room for CTB back at Clemson, and for us to give him


May 6, 2019, 12:58 PM

JaytheH, that last 10% got him and that is why he is no longer here...lol

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Men at 25 play football. Men at 40 play tennis. Men at 60 play golf. Have you noticed as men get older their balls get smaller.


Re: Any room for CTB back at Clemson, and for us to give him


May 6, 2019, 9:33 PM [ in reply to Re: Any room for CTB back at Clemson, and for us to give him ]

Says who? Frank Howard? ??

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Tommy's biggest vision was for himself...


May 6, 2019, 12:01 PM

He never embraced the community or the culture.

To him, Clemson was never anything more than just a paycheck.




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Sometimes good things fall apart so better things can fall together.


And anyone who doesn't believe this simply does not know


May 6, 2019, 12:22 PM

the scope of the situation. He hired Dabo and got the ball rolling on better facilities. Congrats. End of story.

If he 'created the culture' here then there wouldn't have been the division among the players, coaches, and fans that Dabo had to immediately set about healing. The culture he created was one of contempt and division. He threatened to leave for other jobs to create a better situation for himself on more than one occasion. I've said it 1000 times...there's a reason he isn't coaching anymore.

Some people talk Christian and some people walk Christian. If you can't tell the difference in just what has transpired at Clemson the last 20 years, I don't know what to tell you. I don't want TB anywhere near this program.

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I tend to agree with you. The "culture" was more created by


May 6, 2019, 2:15 PM

his assistants, with Dabo obviously a big part of that. Tommy Bowden playing up a possible move to Arkansas just to get a fat contract extension out of Clemson told me all I needed to know about him. ANY Head Coach at that time at Clemson could see that we needed facilities upgrades to compete in the arms race, Bowden didn't need some special insight to see that.

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TB never threatened to go to Arkansas.


May 7, 2019, 6:26 AM

He was rumored to have been contacted by Alabama but he made it clear at the time he had no t talked to Alabama but stopped short when asked if they had contacted him or his agent. At that time we were 8-0 or something close in his second season but the week after he got the raise he was beaten and taken to the woodshed by his dad and Chris Weinke.
I still recall that long ride home.

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Wrong. He NEVER put the Alabama speculation to rest,


May 7, 2019, 9:42 AM

and he absolutely did try to use the Arkansas job as leverage. That's where the 3.5 mil buyout came from. http://www.espn.com/college-football/news/story?id=3140991

During the Alabama thing I kept waiting for him to say, "I just got here, we love it here, and I'm not interested in the Alabama job." That never happened. It soured me on him from that time forward. He was a fraud. He got the Clemson job on the coattails of his daddy, Rich Rodriquez, and the QB they had at Tulane, Shawn King.

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PS...He got a contract extension in May of 2000 just by


May 7, 2019, 10:56 AM [ in reply to TB never threatened to go to Arkansas. ]

virtue of being noncommittal one way or the other on the Alabama opening. A contract extension after being here one season and going 6-6.

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Re: And anyone who doesn't believe this simply does not know


May 6, 2019, 3:33 PM [ in reply to And anyone who doesn't believe this simply does not know ]

There's also the fact that Dabo had that big notebook of reflections (from experience) about what he would do if he ever became a HC. Now maybe some of it he accumulated during his short time coaching in Tuscaloosa, but given all the changes he *immediately* implemented when he became the interim, it seems Dabo himself thought--all along--that MAJOR changes were in order.

Bigger props are due to TDP, who unearthed both Dabo and Les Miles. That man's a football prophet.

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Re: And anyone who doesn't believe this simply does not know


May 6, 2019, 8:52 PM [ in reply to And anyone who doesn't believe this simply does not know ]

You can send Tommy’s white trash momma back to the land fill she came from too.

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Arkansas shenanigans to get a raise. Enough said.***


May 6, 2019, 10:02 PM [ in reply to And anyone who doesn't believe this simply does not know ]



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Re: And anyone who doesn't believe this simply does not know


May 7, 2019, 7:06 PM [ in reply to And anyone who doesn't believe this simply does not know ]

Spot on. Knew several players back then and they hated playing for him. He had his nose in the air and never really tried to embrace Clemson. Good riddance.

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Re: Tommy's biggest vision was for himself...


May 6, 2019, 12:26 PM [ in reply to Tommy's biggest vision was for himself... ]

Yep - he did do some good things here ..... but - man - his teams were tough to watch !! Excruciating at times ....

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If people were as good as their obituary - and products were as good as advertised - this would truly be a wonderful world !!


He was disliked by many. I used to know quite


May 6, 2019, 12:36 PM [ in reply to Tommy's biggest vision was for himself... ]

a few university employees when TB was coach. More than one had stories of extremely rude, arrogant behavior. He came across as a brat with a bad temper.

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"Democracy is the theory that the common people know what they want, and deserve to get it good and hard."
- H. L. Mencken


Re: He was disliked by many. I used to know quite


May 6, 2019, 12:46 PM

Interesting - Smiling .... But that doesn’t sound very .. well .... Christian !! -:)

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If people were as good as their obituary - and products were as good as advertised - this would truly be a wonderful world !!


I’ve heard the same from people who have met him.


May 6, 2019, 9:18 PM [ in reply to He was disliked by many. I used to know quite ]

Bowden built nothing. He gave us a reputation losing games that we shouldn’t. It took Dabo years to break the media from using the term “#######ing.” There’s a reason why he hasn’t been asked to coach again. He left our team in a mess.

And yes I endured Clemson football throughout the 90s. I know what he came into. It was Rich Rods offense that turned us around so quick not Bowden. He is not a good coach because if he was his teams would not have consistently underperformed.

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bigcufan that isn't a true statement at all


May 7, 2019, 6:17 AM [ in reply to Tommy's biggest vision was for himself... ]

TB did embrace the culture but in order to implement some of the changes he wanted to make and provide at Clemson it meant he refused to knock back beers with all the good ole boys like Danny did and I'm glad he took that stand.
I'm not saying he's perfect by any means but he tried to get to know the people only in different ways than some enjoy.

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I give Coach Bowden the respect I think he deserves


May 6, 2019, 12:25 PM

Coach Bowden beat SC regularly. I salute him for that.
Coach Bowden posted three 9 win seasons and two 8 win seasons.
Coach Bowden ran a clean program and was a classy head coach.
Coach Bowden hired Dabo Swinney.
Coach Bowden resigned when it was appropriate.
Coach Bowden's two kids both graduated from Clemson.


I've never understood or appreciated Coach Bowden's decision to move away from Clemson. He moved many times in his adult life and has essentially no permanent home. His kids went to Clemson. Had he just sat tight for a year or two, he and his family would have remained a part of the Clemson family forever. We'd have honored his service and his coaching tenure. His kids would have loved coming home to Clemson. He'd be a part of our success today in the same way Coach Ford is. But he did not stay put. Coach Bowden never really committed to Clemson. We were simply one more stop in a long list of jobs he held. Coach Bowden quit us; we did not quit him. By refusing to commit to something bigger than himself, Coach Bowden sat himself apart and to a large extent, alone. All that is too bad for Coach Bowden, a basically good man

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Re: I give Coach Bowden the respect I think he deserves


May 6, 2019, 12:53 PM

I really like your post, but I suspect TBs personality did not permit him to be a part in the way Dabo is.

TB had a long shadow under which to work given his father's great successes. I dont think TB really liked coaching all that much but approached it dutifully and ran a clean program.

i got no hard feelings against TB.

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anybody with a brain would have had the same vision. we


May 6, 2019, 12:51 PM

Were a sleeping giant and everybody knew it. All you need to do is find a coach who wins.

If Tommy would have won like Dabo he would have gotten whatever facilities he wanted..

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Re: Any room for CTB back at Clemson, and for us to give him


May 6, 2019, 8:17 PM

Had they allowed him to stay we would have been like usuc is now.Good guy not much of a coach

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I don't know... his poor coaching and excuse making might be


May 6, 2019, 8:36 PM

contagious or something. Better to respect the things he did well from a distance.

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I don't know... his poor coaching and excuse making might be


May 6, 2019, 8:36 PM

contagious or something. Better to respect the things he did well from a distance.

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Re: Any room for CTB back at Clemson, and for us to give him


May 6, 2019, 8:58 PM

Always had a good impression of him as a person. Reading some of the above posts makes me think maybe he wasn't. I think with him being a broadcaster all these years and the ACC Network getting going, he will probably already have a good gig for the next few years.

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Meh. I'm lukewarm on him at best.


May 6, 2019, 9:24 PM

Others have noted his contributions. He also created Clemsoning. Thanks TB. That's all you're getting out of me.

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i agree with OP we owe a lot to TB!


May 6, 2019, 9:32 PM

The man was the most approachable and and had a unique sense of humor. He visited me when I had serious surgery and it wasn't just an appearance he showed true concern.
I'm sure some disagree but TB had the vision to invite the man with the vision back into coaching.
At the time I wasn't sure that was such a great idea. I was wrong.

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Tommy Bowden’s greatest accomplishments at Clemson


May 6, 2019, 9:39 PM

were hiring Dabo and being better than Tommy West.

Yes, he ran a clean program. Yes, he got us taking action on facility upgrades. Both are great. But his teams were undisciplined, and I never felt like he maximizes his players’ talents.

I also think he gets too much credit for Dabo. Yes, he hired him, but he didn’t hire him with the intention of helping Dabo be our next coach. We can thank TDP for that.

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"All those 'Fire Brownell' guys can kiss it." -Joseph Girard III

"Everybody needs to know that Coach Brownell is arguably the best coach to come through Clemson." -PJ Hall


I could be wrong here, but I feel like I read somewhere that


May 7, 2019, 9:55 AM

TB made the suggestion to Terry Don to take a look at Dabo (upon his "resignation").

I agree though. He didn't hire Dabo with some "great vision." He hired him as a position coach and nothing more.

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No more room than for Charley Pell.***


May 6, 2019, 9:57 PM



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Re: Any room for CTB back at Clemson, and for us to give him


May 6, 2019, 10:09 PM

CTB has said too much spiteful things post firing.

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Re: Any room for CTB back at Clemson, and for us to give him


May 7, 2019, 7:48 AM

When Mama Bowden made Daddy Bowden lose to Tommy after Wake had pulverized CLEMSON the week before, I lost what little respect I had for the entire Bowden family. He made Tommy look good so Tommy could keep getting that fat paycheck. Prior to last year, I have never seen an FSU team look that bad in my entire life. Daddy deliberately caused FSU to lose badly.

But for me, I hated hearing that we hired a Bowden, and I never was convinced to change my mind. And the extension was beyond believable.

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He seems to be jealous of what Clemson is now.


May 7, 2019, 11:12 AM

I've heard the man talk on the shows he's appeared on and he shows a little negative emotion(s) toward Clemson. He's a little bitter which imo is unjustified. He blew the opportunity he had, the length of time he was given and he's embarrassed that all he did was waste an opportunity to build what he sees at Clemson now.

When he threatened to leave for Arkansas for that last contract extension then fell on his face I got the impression he was working a plan to leave with a retirement fund. When Dabo gave money from his salary to the assistant coaches that pretty much drove the last nail in Bowden's legacy coffin.

Clemson was ready to explode with or without Tommy, imo. We'd been down for quarter century and getting even with the house was eventually inevitable.

He had Dabo on his staff for years without promoting him to a coordinator's position. I fear all the talk about Dabo not knowing 'X's an 'O's obstructs our view of just how incompetent Tommy Bowden really was at the time. It makes no sense that all Dabo did for Tommy was recruiting and WR training.

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Negative. Let him keep his cushy ACC job.


May 7, 2019, 11:48 AM

Don't upset the apple cart.

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