Confessions of a Bowden Apologist

Its amazing that I have gone this long without commenting first on any Clemson related and second on the firing of recently deposed Tommy Bowden. Tonight I have to share my thoughts on the latter. Let me first start by saying I'm a big Bowden fan, good guy and solid man are probably the first phrases that jump to your mind which can be a bad thing when your occupation is that of a college football coach. Usually you want the first things to be brilliant tactician or makes great adjustments, but that just wasn't in his DNA. If you are a Bowden fan you like the more subtle qualities he poses, a great smile and great hair are both something he posesses. A great speaker on the rubber chicken circuit otherwise known as the winter IPTAY meetings. Bowden is physically a smaller man, but in small groups you forgot about that and gave yourself over to his charm and laughter and the feeling that he was really only speaking to you and the wink he gave you would seal the deal in your mind.

For a long while after family and friends had given up on Tommy I was still on his side and I'll admit that even a day after his departure from CU I'm still on his side. I won't bore you with the "little" things that can derail a coaching career like players out of control or NCAA violations, neither of which were hallmarks of Bowden's tenure with the Tigers. Instead I want to talk reality. Its been often said around Clemson that the 1981 national championship was both the best and worst thing to happen to the University. The best because national championships aren't handed out and to win one puts you on the college football map. Its the worst because unreal expectations are created and everyone from LaVell Edwards to Lou Holtz can tell you that the planets need to align perfectly in order to win a national championship. Clemson fans for the most part don't see that. The recruiting classes that Bowden brought in and the preseason ranking this year they thought were enough and its obvious they weren't. Bowden won games and beat some pretty decent teams in his 10 years, but never became the consistent winner everyone wanted. The reasons for this are many and can't be catalogued in a blog. I thank Bowden for everything he's done. No doubt about it that he left the program in a much better place then when he found it. If I could give one piece of advice to the next coach its that you better win and you better be prepared to do it short order because to most Clemson fans, the BCS title game is right around the corner. Unfortunately the orange colored glasses most of them wear can't see what really doomed Bowden the last couple of years. For sure his decisions weren't that great whether they dealt with play calling or his choices of assistants. But, in the end players play the game and his collection of student-athletes fell victim on many occasions to their perception of themselves as All-Americans. There was too much "me" and not enough "we" on that team. Bowden couldn't throw the ball and couldn't block the defenders. There are 85 scholarship student-athletes out on that field and not even half earned what they were given. Yeah the players practice hard and they go to class, congratulations here is your ribbon for that. But as players you must perform on Saturdays and there was no performance by many of them. I think the public saw their performances in the media with their comments after the firing. Nice to see they could find the cameras and lights of the media on Monday when many times the most outspoken of the players couldn't find the endzone or their teammates that were wide open. I titled this an apology and that's what it is, an apology to Tommy for all of us Tiger fans not living up to what you signed on for.