The AntiBowden

Reorg

noreply@blogger.com (Tom) — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 13:34:00 +0000

OK so obviously the name for this Blog isn't that applicable any more. Tommy Bowden is gone. I still want to write about Clemson football though so I've decided to keep doing so but now on my all-inclusive blog site: www.itsmyblog.com

So, I might add a post to this site here and there, but mostly everything's gonna be on It's My Blog.

Georgia Tech Postgame

noreply@blogger.com (Tom) — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 02:28:00 +0000

First I have to say it was really great to get back up to Clemson to see another football game. I was actually excited about football this weekend for the first time in a loooooong time. Nothing beats gameday at Clemson, just nothing.

As for the game itself, well what can I say, Paul Johnson is a great coach. I never in a million years would have predicted, even with Bowden as our head coach going into the year, that Paul Johnson would have the Tech nerds miles ahead of us in only his first year of coaching in the ACC. The score didn't really show it at the end of the game, but unfortunately, such was the case this past saturday. Tech had a short field all day, usually about 50 yards, while they absolutely shut down our rushing attack and stopped our passing enough to hold us from winning the game. The score would have been much more lopsided if Tech's QB was 100% healthy, but he was obviously still shaken up from his previous injury.

Either way, it was a good showing for Dabo Swinney. He had the team fired up and our defense did a great job in the first half against the triple option. We held Georgia Tech to their lowest rushing total of the year (I'm ignoring the Gardner-Webb game, don't know what the stats were there.) Our offense got off to a shaky start and Dabo disappointed me a little bit in running a couple of trick plays early in situations where all we needed to do was keep dinking and dunking our way down the field. Unlike Bowden, he seemed to learn from these mistakes quickly and we didn't see another one after the intercepted WR pass. Our team actually got better as the game progressed and we were arguably one holding call away from a great comeback. Our offense in the second half had some spark and it looked like they were actually coming together as an effective unit. Additionally, it was nice to see us throw the ball downfield to setup the screen pass, which I think we only ran twice.

I give Dabo an A- for this game given the shape of the team he inherited. There were some things that could have been done a little bit better, especially with Korn at the beginning of the game: less trick plays, more bootlegs. We should have seen a Michael Vick / Warrick Dunn style scheme with Willy Korn and James Davis where Korn takes the snap and steps to Davis, either faking the handoff and bootlegging out to the weak side or giving the ball to Davis, making the defense guess every time. We saw that maybe twice in Korn's short stint at QB and it was pretty effective.

Dabo's a good coach in my estimation, and I still say that we'd be in great shape with Foster as the head man/DC and Dabo as the OC. Dabo's got two weeks to get this team rested, recovered, and reeducated for the Boston College game and I think he's going to make tremendous progress. Clemson will beat BC.

Georgia Tech Prediction

noreply@blogger.com (Tom) — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 20:39:00 +0000

Well, this is it. Now is the time we face the coach that we should have hired last year. This game was slated to be a blowout in Clemson's favor before the year began, and even as late as a couple of weeks ago. Then the tables turned and it seemed that Johnson would surely blow us out with our incompetent coaching. However, the events of the last week have just thrown everything into complete turmoil.

Firstly, Tech had a game against Gardner-Webb last week in which they struggled mightily and only won 10-7. Now, that score doesn't really reflect what was going on, mostly in the fact that Johnson used the game to rest up many of his dinged up starters. Nevertheless, even Tech's third string should be able to handle Gardner-Webb better than that. Somehow, I think that game is going to have absolutely no bearing on how the nerds come out to play us. For one thing their starting QB is back and healthy and ready to kick some ass. For another thing they won't be playing vanilla practice defense against an offense that they didn't gameplan for. In fact, if anything they've had two weeks in which to prepare for our offense.

This brings me to the second part of this tale of turbulence: this week we have experienced here at Clemson the inevitable and the tardy departure of Tommy Bowden and his Bible study buddy Rob Spence. In their wake we have been delivered interim Head Coach Dabo Swinney, who most of us see as a Godsend. The man has reenergized the students, the fans, and the players. He's made some changes around Clemson that people are already feeling and he's gotten us back in the mindset that Clemson football is something to appreciate and to get fired up about.

That being said, he's inheriting a crippled team from a football ignoramus. He's got an offensive system to work with that was made by a mad (insane) scientist (dumbass) and a roster full of track stars with nobody to block for them, plus a quarterback who's never started a collegiate game. The ultimate recipe for success right? Hardly.

Although Dabo has already made some critical adjustments (that he's made public) like putting the linemen back into a three point stance, I just don't think 5 days is enough to completely turn around a totally inept offense. For that reason, I see a game full of excitement and big plays, but not enough will go our way. Georgia Tech wins 28-17. Dabo will do a good job and we will improve leaps and bounds the rest of the year, but this game is going to prove that old school fundamentals are too much to overcome, regardless of talent.

Bud Foster

noreply@blogger.com (Tom) — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 14:19:00 +0000

Bud Foster is known by many as the defensive genius that has guided Virginia Tech to its successes in the national spotlight as well as in the ACC. The Hokies have never been known for their great offense (aside from Michael Vick) but have instead relied on a stingy, fierce defense to hold opponents down while the special teams dominate the battle of field position. Also, Bud Foster has been responsible for the absolute domination of otherwise high powered offenses, such as the debacle us Tigers witnessed two years ago when we blew out Georgia Tech and the following week got our teeth kicked in by the Hokies. Nobody thought we could be stopped, not even the analysts, until Bud Foster showed the country how to do it. Everyone else on our schedule took note, and Boston College used the same strategy to beat us at home, keeping us out of the ACC Championship.

Foster's list of awards is noteworthy. He took the Hokies to the National Championship with Frank Beamer in 1999 and won the Defensive Coordinator of the Year for his efforts. As recently as 2006, he won the Broyles Award for the best assistant coach in all of college football. Most important to me as a Tiger fan, Foster's defense has led the ACC every year since they joined the conference.

Additionally, Foster has been courted as a head coach for some time now, but has turned down many offers through a mixture of loyalty to Frank Beamer and career savvy as he's openly admitted he's "waiting for the perfect opportunity." In fact, just this morning Foster had this to say:

"I'd be stupid" not to go, Foster said when asked what he would do if Clemson called tomorrow. "That's what you guys have all asked me for the last five years, six years. Who wouldn't be [interested]? ... That'd be one I'd be jumping through hoops to try to get. But at the same time, right now I can't worry about that. All I can worry about is what I can control, and that's trying to put the best defense on the field here."

I'd say that's a pretty clear indicator that not only is he ready to move into the role as Head Coach, but he wants to do it at Clemson. This is good news.

This means that now we have two high profile defensive coordinators up for the head coaching position here at Clemson. The problem with both Muschamp and Foster is that we just don't know what kind of offense they would want to run, or what their recruiting philosophy would be. We also don't know how open they would be to retaining current members of the staff, most notably Dabo Swinney, who has energized the team, the students, and the fans with his straight talk and spirited comments about the direction he wants to take Clemson Football. However, he's yet to coach his first game, so we'll have to see how he performs during the rest of the season before we jump to conclusions about his abilities.

I don't know how realistic this is, but personally I would hope for a situation where Dabo Swinney proves himself as not only a great recruiter but also a great offensive mind. Then we could hire Bud Foster to be the Head Coach and Defensive Coordinator, and have Dabo Swinney as Offensive Coordinator and asst Head Coach. This way we wouldn't miss a step in recruiting and we wouldn't have to guess at what kind of scheme Foster would run on the offensive side of the ball. At this point, I'm really leaning towards Foster as my favorite pick for our next head coach, and I hope that the scenario I outlined plays out.

Audio from Today's Press Conferences

noreply@blogger.com (Tom) — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 02:17:00 +0000

Dabo Swinney's PC audio + Player interviews

Terry Don Phillips and Tommy Bowden PC audio

Interestingly, Terry Don admits that he was the one who "pulled that string" and gave Tommy the contract extension this past winter. Great move.

Show support for Dabo - Get your All in T-shirt

noreply@blogger.com (Tom) — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 01:26:00 +0000

Click here to order yours today!

Bowden Bytes - Final Edition

noreply@blogger.com (Tom) — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 22:07:00 +0000

From the press conference about his firing:

"(Athletic director) Terry Don Phillips approached me this morning, and we agreed that this is the best solution for the direction of the program. Clemson has been very good to me and my family. Both of our children are Clemson graduates.

I appreciate the opportunity Clemson University gave me and the support of the administration while I was here. I also want to thank all the players and coaches who worked so hard for this program the last 10 years. I wish Clemson University nothing but the best in the future."

Hahahaha, yeah right. I'm sure you both agreed. Oh well, however he wants to put it, he's gone. Done. Finished. Gone. It's great to finally have some hope in Clemson football again.

Sporting News: 5 reasons Bowden was fired

noreply@blogger.com (Tom) — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 20:00:00 +0000

Here's the article, I'm going to address each point.

1. Won-loss record. Obviously. But even before this season of underachieving -- Clemson is 3-3 after starting the year ranked No. 9 and being picked to win the ACC -- the Tigers under Bowden lost games they should've won and won games they should've lost. That's a sure sign of a program in trouble, and one with little internal direction and leadership. You can't lose to Duke and beat Miami in the same season. Or lose to Wake Forest and beat Tennessee.

I understand what he's getting at, but he's not quite right. The problem was two fold: 1) we never made it to the top (10 wins and/or an ACC championship) and 2) is that we always had letdown games when we were in the spotlight. Every team wins some upsets and falls victim to some upsets, our problem under Bowden was that every single year we came out and played a couple of games like we just didn't have a clue. Then every time we played a fundamentally sound powerhouse we lost.

2. He lost control of the team. Players were bickering more and more after each loss, and then Bowden announced after last week's loss to Wake Forest that he was benching quarterback Cullen Harper, a senior captain, in favor of redshirt freshman Willy Korn. Bowden said he was looking for "a spark" in the offense, even though Harper has been playing behind an inexperienced and beat-up offensive line and has dealt with receivers dropping balls all season. Bowden essentially blamed Harper for the team's struggles -- and nothing could be further from reality.

Couldn't agree more. This has always been a problem with Bowden, starting with the Woody/Willie situation after Willie Simmons came in and led the Tigers to a win over UNC when Woody had been struggling with them.

3. He stayed too long with offensive coordinator Rob Spence. Bowden, like his father, Bobby, is big on staff continuity. He believes like minds get teams through rough patches. Spence had a few uneven seasons, but Bowden stuck with him. That loyalty likely cost Bowden his job. According to sources, Bowden was feeling pressure to fire Spence after last week's loss to Wake Forest.

This is pure speculation and I'm not sure it makes sense. Bowden's offenses have ALWAYS underperformed and it didn't matter who the OC was, so I don't see why the Administration would be so hell bent on getting rid of Spence. Also they asked Dabo if he wanted Spence or not, which they wouldn't have asked if they were the ones who wanted him fired in the first place.

4. The team never developed an identity. The Tigers were so erratic under Bowden because there was never a foundation or philosophy to embrace. It's well known around the league that Clemson can't brawl and doesn't get physical. "They try to out-athlete you," says one ACC coach. "You never had to be concerned that they were going to line up and trade punches with you. That comes from up top and works its way down."

This is fanspeak and sportswriter language. In reality, Tommy Bowden just didn't understand the fundamentals of football. Hell he even said "nothing that happens in the first 5 minutes of a game affects the outcome." Any coach in the world knows that you use the first drive of the game to set the tone. Whenever a team uses a gimmick offense and isn't fundamentally sound, it appears that they're lacking "toughness" but in reality they're just getting beat on technique and strategy.

5. He was never embraced by the Clemson community. Think about that concept: This was Bowden's 10th season, yet there were many big-money boosters who never felt like he was the right coach for the job. There was constant bickering among the school's legendary booster club IPTAY, and Bowden was seemingly always considered on the proverbial hot seat.

What? What is this guy smoking? Tommy Bowden brainwashed 99% of the fanbase into thinking he was the second coming. Hell we still have people saying he was a good coach for us because "he improved facilities." That literally makes me laugh out loud. Our new facilities sure have helped us build an OL and a linebacking corps this year havent they? Oh wait, we've never had either under Bowden.

This is a decent article and I appreciate the attempt, but the reality is this: our Administration is weak and spineless and they made this move because of the outcry from the fans and donors. If they were using analytical factors to make a coaching decision, Bowden would have been let go after the 2003 season when he showed just how inconsistent of a coach he was even though he had a supremely talented team. If our Administration was using a thorough evaluation to make this decision, they would have let Tommy go last fall while he was flirting with Arkansas. The fact is that our Administration was starting to feel some of the heat from Tommy's seat so they made the move now.

Muschamp responds to the Bowden firing

noreply@blogger.com (Tom) — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 19:53:00 +0000

Since we've featured him before, I thought I'd post his comments.

One of his quotes is kindof concerning though:

“That’s upsetting,” Muschamp said. “That’s the way college athletics is going, I guess.”

That doesn't sound very... BOOMish. I mean, is he saying we were rash in our decision to fire Tommy? This is a guy that's coached for teams that have won the national championship... and he's implying that we shouldn't have fired Tommy after 10 years of disappointment? Not sure what to think about this.

Latest Rumor: Dabo Fired Spence Too!!!

noreply@blogger.com (Tom) — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 18:31:00 +0000

Awesome!!! I'll try to find something to substantiate. This was heard on the radio.

Update
Block-C is keeping up with everything on this day. Here's all the details.

Hell the guy gets a big decision to make on his first day and he does the right thing... Maybe we should just keep Dabo?

Mission Accomplished: Tommy Bowden Fired

noreply@blogger.com (Tom) — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 15:50:00 +0000

The day has finally come. Tommy Bowden has been fired. Dabo Swinney to be interim Head Coach.

Thank Goodness.

In the time between now and hiring a new coach I will continue to profile prospects, such as: Bud Foster, Mike Leak, Brian Van Gorder, Jim Grobe, etc.

My work here is almost done. At the end of the year, I will sell this domain to the unlucky souls that hire Tommy. 'Till then, let's get us a football coach!

Update
The news is all over the web now.

Bobby Johnson

noreply@blogger.com (Tom) — Sun, 12 Oct 2008 16:47:00 +0000

In the quest to find the next Clemson coach I have gone out and researched some more about another one of the fan favorites: Vanderbilt's own Bobby Johnson.

First off, a good place to start is his Wikepedia article.

It's hard to find something you don't like about this guy by reading about him. He's had a good career, he's even coached at Clemson before. He took Furman to the promised land while he was the head coach there. He's taken Vanderbilt from the whipping boy of the SEC to an actual tough team. He's a hard worker, a good Christian man, he doesn't allow any foul language, and everybody likes him.

My biggest problem with him, is this:
2002 Vanderbilt 2–10 0–8 6th (East)
2003 Vanderbilt 2–10 1–7 5th (East)
2004 Vanderbilt 2–9 1–7 6th (East)
2005 Vanderbilt 5–6 3–5 5th (East)
2006 Vanderbilt 4–8 1–7 6th (East)
2007 Vanderbilt 5–7 2–6 6th (East)

Now, I know this is Vandy. They don't even have an Athletic department. They used to be an automatic win every year for everybody in the SEC. Even South Carolina used to count them as an automatic win, that's how bad they were. Still... how long do we want to wait to be a contender? 6 years is a long time to have that little of an improvement. He also took a while to get Furman going, and even though they did make it to the championship they still didn't win it. So now, in his late 50's, would he have the fire and determination we'd need out of a head coach?

However, this year he's got the 'dores off to a 5-1 start, which is their best ever. Still, they just dropped a "letdown" game to a Mississippi State team that just isn't that impressive. Worse still is what you can find in the post game quotes:

"All the things we were doing when we won five games, we didn't do a very good job with today. That's just the difference between winning and losing, especially when we take on teams with a lot of talent like Mississippi State. We had too many penalties, dropped balls, and too many missed tackles. We couldn't seem to make the big play and that's what seems to happen to you when you don't win. We will try to bounce back. Our guys are pretty resilient and our coaching staff will be too. It is tough to be that close and not get a win."

While not quite as brain dead, that statement sounds an awful lot like Tommy Bowden. Blame the players' "execution," instead of talking about what the coaches could have done differently.

Even more damning is this:

On Vanderbilt's offensive struggles:
"I think it definitely had to do with Mississippi State. They did a good job with that week off and showed us something a little bit different. They also have good players doing it too. We probably weren't as sharp as we had been but you have to give them a lot of credit for making some big plays and they did a real good job in coverage. It looked like when we had some momentum, we would get a penalty to stop us."

So in other words, they came out and did something unexpected on defense, but you weren't able to make the proper adjustments to counter their strategy, so you're blaming penalties (the players) instead of strategy. That's not good. That's the same thing we've experienced at Clemson for the last 9 and a half years.

Then there's the issue of allegiance. Yes, Johnson is a Clemson man, but would he actually leave Vandy? They really like him there, plus, he doesn't have an AD to deal with. That's a pretty sweet gig for a head coach. All he has to do is win a couple of SEC games a year and people think he's the greatest coach in the world... why would he leave?

All in all, Bobby Johnson is a good coach, and he would be a good coach at Clemson. We'd win 8 or 9 games a year and we might even sniff the ACC championship game. He has the same type of Bob Jones mentality of Bowden and that would probably lead to a clean program with not that many arrests. While that's all well and good, it's not enough for me to want him as our next head coach. It is my conclusion that he would not be a good hire and he would not take us to the next level. Unfortunately, the goal of our Administration doesn't actually seem to be winning championships, but rather having a clean program that sells tickets.

An Open Letter to Terry Don Phillips

noreply@blogger.com (Tom) — Sun, 12 Oct 2008 16:35:00 +0000

Feel free to add your own message in the comments section.

Dear TDP,

What the hell is going on? Last thursday, for the second time this year, our beloved Clemson football team had a chance to shine on national TV but instead came out and crapped all over the football field. Our offense looked so pathetic that watching our guys try to score was like watching a midget try to hump a doorknob. Yet... nothing has been done or even said about the situation by the powers that be.

This same type of meltdown has gone on for the last 9 and a half years, and this year it has culminated in the most miserable experience for a Clemson football follower since the 3-8 season. We've dropped two ACC games in a row only to have our head football coach come out and throw his own starting quarterback under the bus to save his own ass when it is clearly evident that you could have John Elway back there throwing screen passes and it wouldn't make a bit of difference.

So where are you? Why aren't you doing your job? The Clemson nation continues to suffer and we've heard nothing from you about the situation. Are you content to simply sit back and let Tommy Bowden run this program into the ground until the end of the year, just so you can save some money on his buyout contract? We're already the laughing stock of ESPN, how much lower do you want us to go? I'll tell you what, since it was your brilliant idea to give this schyster a contract extension last year after having accomplished absolutely nothing, then how about we dock your pay until you've made up for it?

Terry, do your job. We desperately need a solution to this downward spiral.

Bowden Bytes - Harper Officially Thrown Under the Bus

noreply@blogger.com (Tom) — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 19:38:00 +0000

What was promised by your dedicated blogger has now come to pass: Korn to start against Georgia Tech. Tommy Bowden, feeling the lake water draining out from under his jetski, has decided to throw 5th year senior Cullen Harper under the bus in a last ditch effort to save his floundering coaching career. Will it work? Sadly, it probably will. This is going to make my Georgia Tech prediction more difficult. Regardless, someone who isn't sitting in an airport and who has time to do such things should photoshop a "Tommy Bowden's Career" bus with X out stamps on it like the old WWII fighter planes with pictures of Willie Simmons, Mike O'Cain, Levitte (or whatever that defensive coordinator's name was), and now Cullen Harper. Poor guys.

Clemson SID Tim Bourret: Coach Bowden would like to make a statement first.

Oooohhhh how official, like he's the frapping president or something.

Tommy Bowden: "We're going to make a change at quarterback. We've got to find a spark, offensively. A more mobile quarterback will give us more options."

Too bad, I thought the statement was going to be "I resign." Unfortunately you've decided to take the CYA move by throwing a hardworking player under the bus to hide your coaching deficiencies.

Some notable quotes:

Question: Have you talked to either or both of the young men?

Tommy Bowden: "When I made my mind up about 1 p.m., we started calling Cullen's cell phone. Rob was still calling that cell phone as of about 15, 20 minutes ago."

Oh wow. So not only are you throwing the kid under the bus, but you also are so classless that you tell the press first before you even talk to the kid? Man, you must be a dumb ass redneck, or just really desperate to save your job, or both. You damned asshole.

Question: You have been against this for a while. What was the final straw?

Tommy Bowden: "I made the decision based on the things that I just said. We need to find a spark offensively. And we need to re-evaluate our plan of attack. A more mobile quarterback gives you more options. That's why I made the decision. (Cullen) He has been a pretty productive quarterback, but has struggled some this year."

Question: So he is going to start?

Tommy Bowden: "I think I said that. I think I opened up with that."

What a pompous ass. What a momma's boy. Damnit why is he still employed?

Question: Why did you wait this long?

Tommy Bowden: "I think we have gone six quarters without a touchdown. We just need a spark. We have to find something that sparks us a little bit. I've waited so long because it was the appropriate time."

"When you make a move like this, I want to make sure it's done for the right reasons, and appropriately off of evaluation."

Yep, the appropriate time to divert attention away from your complete lack of coaching ability. I'm sure this is done for the "right reason," if you mean the right reason is saving your own ass.

Question: How about with play-calling and play selection? Any chance you would become more involved?

Tommy Bowden: "Not right now. Rob has been here for about three years. He has had a pretty productive track record. I think over the last couple of years we have had a couple of lapses in productivity. He didn't forget how to coach or call plays or coordinate an offense in six games. I have not thought about that."

Interviewer: are you fucking insane? Tommy's already too involved now. Go back and watch Spence's offense before Clemson, it operated much better and had far fewer moronic plays in situations that they simply were doomed to failure. I'm not saying Spence's offense is good, I hate it, but Bowden is already handcuffing him.

Question: I know how difficult you said this was for you several years ago when you started Charlie Whitehurst ahead of Willie Simmons. Was this similar?

Tommy Bowden: "Yes. One is a fifth-year senior and one is a freshman, plus because of his performance last year."

Similar? It's fucking identical. Bowden knows that Korn is the savior to the multitudes and he's the only way he can save his ass from being run out of town, which is exactly what was going on with Whitey and Willie.

I have a hard time even thinking about this stuff. Why is he not fired yet? You've got a head coach of a college football program benching his quarterback in the press... really? Good God. That's reason enough to fire his sorry ass, even without the last 10 years of fraud.

Wake Forest Prediction

noreply@blogger.com (Tom) — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 16:00:00 +0000

Alright, so tonight we play Wake Forest in their High School stadium on Thursday night football. My prediction: PAIN.

31-13 Deamon Deacons

Yes, I just like the symetry of the numbers, that's why I picked it.

No actually I think Wake Forest got beat by a Paul Johnson inspired Navy team last week and they're hell bent on redemption and the chase for the ACC championship. They have a tough defense that has easily stopped us in the past and I see no reason it won't do the same today. On the other hand, our defense has had plenty of trouble stopping them in past games in Winston-Salem and we haven't stopped any good teams this year.

Finally, it's at Wake, on Thursday night, both killer intangibles. Some would say "but Tommy Bowden's back is against the wall and Rob Spence is 'getting tough'!" Well, to that, I say: "so what?" Rob Spence said he's getting tough but then he turned around and said he's going to run lots of trick plays. Oh boy, that's a brillaint idea. Run a bunch of limp wristed reverses and double screens... that'll be real tough.

I may be wrong: we may cover the spread. Doubtful. This one is going to be painful.

Being slack

noreply@blogger.com (Tom) — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 15:25:00 +0000

Sorry for the lack of posting, I've just been so disgusted by Tommy Bowden lately that I don't have much to say. The good news is that it seems like more and more Clemson fans are feeling this way. Hopefully the Administration will fire him before people decide to stop contributing to IPTAY.

Will Muschamp

noreply@blogger.com (Tom) — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 19:16:00 +0000

One of the most popular potential replacements for Tommy Bowden has to be Will Muschamp. This guy doesn't only coach Football, he is Football. Once, he got so irate at his defense for simply letting the other team into the redzone, he smacked himself upside the head and started bleeding all over the place.

Yep, he's a fooball coach. However, he's not just fire and emotion. The guy's got a pretty impressive resume:

Playing career
Career highlights
1991–1994	Georgia
Position	Safety
Coaching career (HC unless noted)
1995–1996 1998 1999 2000 2001–2004 2005 2006–2007 2008–present	Auburn (GA) West Georgia (DB) Eastern Kentucky (DB) Valdosta State (DC) LSU (LB/DC) Miami Dolphins (Asst. HC -Def.) Auburn (DC) Texas (DC)

He's got quite the lineup there. Lots of powerhouses on that list. Valdosta State basically wins their division's championship every year. He was at LSU with Nick Saban, who we have first hand knowledge of. He did a great job at Auburn and their fans were really sad to see him go. The people at Texas absolutely love him and he's gotten a sort of cult following there. He's a rising star in the football world and he's bound to get a head coaching job somewhere with all the vacancies that are sure to come this year. So what do we know about his philosophy?

Defense

Muschamp runs a typical fundamental powerhouse defense. He runs a 4-3 with mostly cover-2 and isn't afraid to blitz. Muschamp's defenses have never allowed more than 18.3 points per game in a season. His title winning defense at LSU led the nation in defensive scoring. His defense is exactly what we need at Clemson.

This year he inherits a Texas defense that was ranked 109th in the country against the pass in 2007. He's competing in the Big 12 against the likes of Oklahoma, Missouri, and Kansas. From Rivals.com:

Muschamp is always in the conversation about best defensive coordinator in the country. If he can turn Texas around this season, he will slam the door on the argument.

Offense

This is somewhat of a question mark. Muschamp hasn't been a college head coach and he's never coached the offensive side of the ball in college. However, one can take a look at some of the teams he's worked with to see what kind of offense he may run. For example, there's LSU, who ran the typical SEC type offense with lots of I formation, some shotgun and some single back, with another twist in there from time to time. Such an offense paired extremely well with his defense as LSU was pretty dominating in that time period. Auburn and Texas both run a similar style offense to that of LSU, with some differences here and there. It doesn't appear that Muschamp has coached for a spread team or an option team so I don't know if he'd want to run either of those. This one question is my only real hesitation on the guy, simply because I'm so gimmick-averse.

Another Opinion

From Chip Brown of Rivals:

MIRACLE WORKER

Few could blame Muschamp for feeling like he can do just about anything. On an Auburn team that seemed to set offense back a few thousand years each of the last two seasons, Muschamp helped the Tigers win 20 games and beat Florida twice. There was a 7-3 victory over LSU in 2006 and a 9-7 victory at Arkansas last season. That will forever be known as the game Muschamp solidified his nickname "Coach Boom!" with some sideline color caught on ESPN that is now achieving cult status on YouTube.

Auburn went 11-2 in 2006 despite being ranked 76th in total offense. The Tigers went 9-4 last season despite finishing 97th in total offense.

"Greg (Davis) has promised me he's going to score some points," Muschamp joked at the Texas Gridiron Kickoff luncheon last Friday.

Muschamp has been calling key leaders of the defense into his office for one-on-ones. He demands the most from those he expects the most. Miller has been in Muschamp's office a bunch.

"I tell the guys, 'If we're not coaching you hard, we're not coaching you,'" Muschamp said. "So we're going to coach the guys Texas football is important to and putting those Horns on every Saturday is important to. Those are the guys who are committed to doing it, and we're going to coach those guys hard."

Muschamp can't stand idle chatter. His father, Larry, a high school football coach in Georgia used to tell him, "Your actions speak so loud, I can't hear what you're saying."

"I understand it now and I tell it to our players here at Texas," Muschamp said. "You talk about being a great player. You talk about being committed. You talk about being a great teammate, a great student or a great son. Your actions speak so loudly I can't hear what you're telling me because your actions aren't exactly what you're telling me you want to be. Your actions are what make your character. That's something that I live by daily. Am I exhibiting the right actions for the kids, doing the right things for the kids or making the right decisions? Are we coaching something and not acting something out? I think that's a saying I always remember my dad saying."

What to look for

Texas has a HUGE task coming up. They face Oklahoma on Oct 11 and Missouri on Oct 18. They aren't favored to win either of those games. Let's see how Muschamp's defense performs and what kind of grit they have. They might not necessarily win, but it's how they play that you should be concerned with. Are there halftime adjustments made? Does the defense look like they're prepared?

In conclusion, I think Muschamp would be a very good selection for Clemson's head coach. I'm not totally sold on him just yet, but I wouldn't be dissatisfied with the hire. It's a lot better than hiring some big name coach and expecting his popularity alone to propel us into greatness... you see how that turned out.

UPDATE - 5:20PM EST, 10/2/2008

Apparently, there's already a pro-Muschamp to Clemson website, and it's pretty cool: www.SolidBOOM.com

Tigernet is starting to turn

noreply@blogger.com (Tom) — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 18:46:00 +0000

I never thought I'd see the day, but Tigernet is in 100% full on "Fire Tommy" mode. I can't really say that I'm happy, because all this means is that I was right all along and the last 9 years have been a complete waste of Clemson's time, money, and effort. Now we're faced with a $4 million buyout and there aren't really any great coaches out there to pick up (that I know of anyway.) I think I'll start researching available coaches and posting their bios.

They've started a petition

noreply@blogger.com (Tom) — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 14:31:00 +0000

Bowden Bytes - Maryland Post Game

noreply@blogger.com (Tom) — Sun, 28 Sep 2008 19:12:00 +0000

Tommy Bowden post game press conference.

Q. What did you tell your team after this one?

A. "I told them I thought Maryland played well and confident but the reason I think we lost was in our room, not theirs. We kind of self destructed on offense, penalties, tried to get a drive going, getting a 60-yard touchdown called back, converted in the red zone and had a penalty… and not to take away from them, but any time you have two pretty good teams and one self destructs, that's the one that will probably lose the game."

Boy that's a brilliant observation.

Q. What had been a major concern going in, your offensive line, they seemed to play well.

A. "Yeah. I think we rushed for over 200 yards. Usually when we do that, we're fairly successful. In the second half they made some adjustments. We moved the ball but had some penalties. It's hard to be productive against a good team when you do that."

Yep, we were able to rush the ball pretty well yesterday... which is why in the second half we gave James Davis the job of shutting the game out... or wait, no we didn't.

Q. Were you over-pursuing on defense?

A. "I'd say on the reverse, the one for 80 yards. One of them, we stopped it, I thought. I'll have to go look at the tape. That's usually what you do with an aggressive defense. You usually run misdirection."

A reverse is a trick play Tommy, a trick play. Misdirection is a counter or a zone read or a belly. Reverses are trick plays.

Q. Did you feel good at halftime?

A. "No. I never really feel good. You play 60 minutes, not 30. As a head coach, in 12 years, I've never felt real good at half."

There is a God.

Q. What about the fourth quarter?

A. "The fourth quarter, I felt worse."

"We kept shooting ourselves in the foot. We withstood an earlier barrage, fumbling a punt and giving them six. We gave them some early points and had a chance to convert in the second half but didn't do it."

Maybe we didn't convert because instead of running James Davis you run the worst QB sneak in college football history? Maybe?

Q. The way you were running the ball in the first half, it appeared you had control of the game.

A. "We did. But you have to give them credit for making adjustments, Then we kind of slowed ourselves down in the second half."

"They've got a good staff, they've got good players. You know they're going to make adjustments. I believe the California game… all of a sudden they jumped out on them and got a big lead, and Cal came back. I'm more disappointed in the self destruction on offense."

We did slow ourselves down in the second half, thanks to Bowden and Spence. The playcalling in the second half was atrocious. I'm sure Bowden was talking about the penalties (trying to place all of the blame on the players) but the playcalling was clearly horrible.

Q. Is that mental?

A. "Yeah. One was alignment, one was a late hit and one was a hold. We got a touchdown called back, then they score on that reverse two points later. That's a two-touchdown swing just like that."

There it is. Blame the players.

Q. A lot of people had this one circled as a win for you coming into the season. Where do this put your team psychologically?

A. "Well… we've got seven games left. They play 12. We have to line up and play 12. Surely it's discouraging, disappointment with the players, the fans are disappointed and it'll be a long ten days or two weeks, whatever it is before we've got before the next game. But that's the way this sport is."

Yep, football is very discouraging and disappointing under Tommy Bowden.

Q. What do you say to the fan base after this one?

A. "Well, you know, what I'm telling y'all, they're going to read what y'all write. I guess I'm more or less talking to them. You self-destruct on offense, and you can't beat good teams doing that. We played well enough to win on defense. For the first time we weren't very productive on special teams. We fumbled a punt, got a block in the back, didn't cover kickoffs real good, so that was our least productive in five games."

Translation: Don't blame me y'all, blame the players

Q. Does it feel like you've got a game like this every year where you can't seem to get it going?

A. "You never really anticipate. I can't remember that many penalties that late offensively that were so critical. We even got a substitution penalty. I don't think we've had that called in four or five years."

Obviously you never anticipate anything... especially not halftime adjustments. I mean who'da thunk Fridge would go in at halftime and "reinvent the wheel" and come out and beat you in the second half? What kind of a coach would do such a thing?

Q. During this open date do you have to evaluate your offense, what you're doing with your scheme or personnel, overall?

A. "I think the biggest thing is number one, we have to start correcting those penalties that we had. Those were alignment errors, late hits, holding, that's more technique and fundamentals than anything else. I just don't think you can go out there and run the ball up and down the field, move it and score it at will when you play good teams. We had 370-something yards, rushed for over 200, and I'm sure there were some things in the passing game we could have done differently."

Of course we don't need to adjust our philosophy or strategy any, why it's blessed by God as the word of Tommy Bowden and Rob Spence, it must be absolutely perfect. No, we're just going to blame the players for getting a few penalties and stick to the same ingenious gameplan.

Q. Have you given up on your downfield passing game?

A. "No, but we threw one down there deep to Aaron and the guy intercepted it. We forced it and it was two-deep. That's what happens when you force it."

Yes, because any time you throw the ball more than 5 yards that is "forcing it." We tried to "force it" once and it got intercepted so we should never throw downfield again, right Tommy? Seriously though, it is pretty dangerous for Harper to throw the ball downfield, considering we only practice screens.

Q. Did you give up on your running game in the second half?

A. "I'd have to look and see how things happened. I'd have to see why and when. I can't recall off the top of my head when we ran it and what we didn't get. A penalty might have thrown us in a bad situation, and I think we lost four or five yards on a bad snap. I'd have to look at the tape to make an evaluation on whether or not we gave up too early."

Correct answer: Yes. Tommy's Answer: blah blah blah, blame the players

Q. How do you make sure this doesn't happen again?

A. "I think the players, they'll respond. Like I said… I can't remember where we've had that many (Penalities) in critical situations. It's not something that has happened a whole bunch. I seriously doubt it'll happen again this year… that many back to back to back. I think they're pretty coachable guys. They'll respond."

They are pretty coachable. Unfortunately, they don't have a coach.

I was wrong, again

noreply@blogger.com (Tom) — Sun, 28 Sep 2008 19:09:00 +0000

I should probably just not do a season prediction ever again. Maybe from now on out I'll just predict the game the day before.

Anyway, Maryland came from behind against the Tigers yesterday and won 20-17. I never saw us losing to Maryland this year, but that's a signature move by Tommy Bowden, losing to someone you shouldn't.

Bowden bytes coming soon.

Bowden Bytes - SC State Post Game

noreply@blogger.com (Tom) — Sun, 21 Sep 2008 19:50:00 +0000

OK, so here's the press conference.

Not many nuggets today. He's continuing the slow but steady process of throwing Harper under the bus. There is one nice little bit of lunacy here at the end:

Question: But are you concerned with your downfield passing game?

Tommy Bowden: "Well you know when they back off and play real loose, you can throw them down there if you want, but I kind of like those little eight, 10, 12-yard gains, high percentage throws, kind of like a toss sweep with the I-formation where you throw it out there to Jacoby or Tyler or Aaron, and it's a high percentage. I know one thing, they can put two guys on Aaron, they can put two on the other guy, but they can't put any other back up at the line of scrimmage, so I'm guaranteed a completion out in space to a pretty good skill guy. So if they're going to back off and play loose, then there's no need to throw it downfield unless you're just trying to please people and throw it downfield to throw it."

Huh? When they back off, that's the time to run, throw it over the middle to the tight end (I don't think Tommy even knows what that position is), or throw to the perimeter... it would be idiotic to throw a lot of downfield passes when the other team is playing the exact coverage to stop them. Our problem is that the other defense doesn't ever play us loose (when we face a team in the top 50 of the FBS) and so we have to throw downfield (really, just anything over 10 yards, which is asking a lot out of Tommy), and we can't. So, they keep everybody tight and shut down our screens and runs. That's what Alabama did, and that's what every good team is going to do to us for the rest of the year.

Bowden Bytes - NC State Post Game

noreply@blogger.com (Tom) — Sun, 14 Sep 2008 16:03:00 +0000

Tommy Bowden Post Game Interview

I'm not in the mood to make a long post today, but here are a couple of quotes of interest:

Question: Talk about CJ's run late in the game for you, assuming that role, one that James Davis normally has.

Tommy Bowden: "Well, that was probably just his time. Andre Powell rolls them in that rotation. It was just CJ's time to go. He was really greased up and hot and made some impressive tackle to tackle runs, and they had gotten a little fatigued. They had been on the field a good bit."

Why did James Davis even come back to Clemson? As I said last year, it's only going to hurt his NFL prospects. Hell he might not even get drafted if he continues getting the number of touches he's getting. Why does Tommy Bowden like to crap all over his Senior runningbacks so much?

Question: Talk about your third down defense. They seemed to convert a lot of those for first downs.

Tommy Bowden: "It's probably the worst thing we're doing now in our first three games. We've got to do a better job of getting off the field. We held them to one touchdown, but again, first down just changes field position. We've got to be more productive there. I'm sure we'll work hard on it. Seems to be all three games we've played, we don't rise to the occasion on third down. We've got to find someone to make a play."

While this answer might seem pretty vanilla, it's easy to see how Tommy is trying to shift as much blame as he can over to the defensive side of the ball. He might even be setting up his defensive coordinator to be fired at the end of the year. Why do I say that? Bowden knew Koennig's defense was a "bend but don't break" style when he hired him. Those defenses, by definition, give up first downs and don't dominate the field position battle. They let the other team move the ball but don't let them get it into the end zone. So why now, all of the sudden, does Tommy say "it's probably the worst thing we're doing?" Blame shifting.

This is the most interesting exchange of the whole interview:

Question: Talk about a couple of questionable decisions Cullen made today.

Tommy Bowden: "The first one, the snap would be one. My point was to him on the run, third-down-and two, lower your shoulder and try to get it. We're not real good on third-and-two, but lower your shoulder and get me to six inches or a foot. Give me something to work with. I'm sure he'd do them over again if he could."

Question: Even with a sore shoulder, you'd want him to lower it and try to get the first down on the short run?

Tommy Bowden: "Yeah, lower your shoulder. We've got another quarterback. Lower it and go win a conference game. Take the sore one, lower it, run over him and get us close to it. Make them both sore."

Damn. I mean... damn. I feel sorry for Cullen. Bowden is too much of a chicken shit to actually make a coaching decision and pull Harper outright, so he's going to try and get him injured, so there is no decision to make, and the fans all go crazy because their Lord and Savior Willy Korn will be the quarterback. Boy oh boy. Actually, it's probably more likely that Bowden will put in Korn in the midst of our next debacle (probably Wake, maybe even Maryland) and he will be the starter from that point forward. Harper will get all of the blame, just like Simmons did.

Bowen Bytes - Day after Citadel

noreply@blogger.com (Tom) — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 19:42:00 +0000

Upon Further Review

KORN REPORT! The process of throwing Cullen Harper under the bus has begun:

Q. Cullen's throws downfield don't seem to have much zip. Receivers seem to be waiting. It may come back to bite you.

A. "I just watched one throw down the field. If he doesn't under-throw C.J., it's a touchdown. Another one down the middle would have been a touchdown. There are a lot of guys who have to play better. He'd be one of them."

Tommy is mentally preparing his flock for the replacement of Cullen Harper with Willy Korn. Tommy knows he's on the hot seat and the Clemson fans are pissed off. He's got to throw somebody under the bus or he might lose his job. First it was Willy Simmons, then it was a different coordinator each year, now it's Cullen Harper. Mark my words, Harper will not finish out the year as our starter. Hell he might not even finish out the NC State game.

Q. You won and you dropped one spot in the coaches poll.

A. "Yeah, until the end of the year it's not real important. That No. 9 ranking wasn't very important to us. I doubt this one will be either. We need to win a lot more games until we get real interested in that. I hope our players aren't paying that much attention to it right now. We did that earlier. It didn't work."

OBVIOUSLY!

Q. Do you feel like you'll need a couple more wins to restore your reputation after the loss in the season-opener?

A. "We have to win more games. We have to win the next one. That will take care of itself. Most people remember your last game. The further away you get from a loss like that, the less they remember it. Georgia got beat by Tennessee 35-7, and they forgot about that pretty quick down in Athens. I would think if we could continue to improve, they'll forget about that one, just like Virginia Tech forgot about LSU and Southern Cal forgot about Stanford. The most important thing is to win. The only way to win is to get better. Right now we're a long ways away from being where we need to be."

Tommy Bowden missed his calling. He really knows his audience perfectly. He should be in PR... or better yet, he should run political campaigns. The man is a brilliant strategist when it comes to public opinion. Too bad he sucks at football.

Bowden Bytes - Citadel Post Game

noreply@blogger.com (Tom) — Sun, 07 Sep 2008 01:01:00 +0000

Tommy Bowden Post Game News Conference

This week was a cupcake game and so there aren't many tidbits in the press conference, but I'll put a few quotes up.

Question: After the week you had last week, is this a springboard into your practice next week? It is going to be easier to practice?

Tommy Bowden: "We just need to feel good about ourselves. Now you can see why Oklahoma starts with a Division I-AA, why LSU starts with a Division I-AA and Ohio State starts with Division I-AA. You don't have to play real sharp and can still win, and play a lot of guys. I want to feel like those guys felt when they won their Division I-AA games."

Ah yes, the old "we should have started with a cupcake" excuse. Tommy says this as if it's only the first game of the year where his team crumbles. I seem to remember we do it at lots of different times of the year, it just depends on the strength of the team we play. Last year it was Virginia Tech, this year it was Alabama, time of year didn't matter.

Question: Can you just talk about this week. How long of a week was it for you?

Tommy Bowden: "It was long. It was an embarrassing loss. That makes it longer. You don't sleep much. At least you can sleep tonight."

Awwww, poor Tommy. I'm surprised he can ever sleep well at night knowing how much money hey gets paid to lay eggs.

Question: What do you get out of a game like this?

Tommy Bowden: "You can feel good about yourself for just a little bit. And then you can carry on. The thing in this profession is that everybody loses. As I brought up to my team last week, when Georgia lost to South Carolina and when Virginia Tech lost to LSU, some teams respond and find their pride. They bounce back. There's a reason those teams separate."

"Everybody loses. There were 60 teams that lost last week. There are 60 teams that will lose this week. For some reasons there are some teams that separate that go on and win championships and win BCS bowl games. We'd like to be one of those teams. You can't do it unless you respond like this after a loss."

10 years at Clemson and apparently Tommy hasn't figured out what those reasons are. What an idiot. I'll give you one reason that some teams win championships: they don't make bullshit excuses after losses like "hey 60 teams lost this week."

Question: Do you think your team will understand the perspective of this one come tomorrow, because you didn't really prove anything today other than you won a game?

Tommy Bowden: "I think the biggest thing is that you have a week to feel good about yourself. Our guys have worked awful hard since January, and to play as bad as they did, they need to have something to feel good about for a while. At some point you need to feel like your work is paying off and being productive. I guess that's why most of your top 25 teams open up with the teams that they do. There must be some positives."

This is amazing to me. He is so damned arrogant it's beyond belief, and nobody ever calls him on it. With that one little half-sentence there he's shifted the blame for the Alabama game completely over to the players. People actually buy this stuff and stand behind this guy. Let me state the obvious just so it's perfectly clear: the performance of a football team is the direct responsibility of the head coach. In addition, our players did not play bad last week; they were put in adverse situations by poor strategy and poor coaching. Good coaches put their players in position to easily succeed, Bowden puts our players in position to succeed by some miracle.

Question: When you look back on this game and see over 400 yards given up by your defense, will you be worried?

Tommy Bowden: "Yeah, but we played a whole bunch of players (at the end). Right now we have one dominant pass-rusher, Ricky Sapp, and he didn't play. We've got to find a dominant pass-rush. Da'Quan looks like that's the other guy. We've got to find some way to generate more of a consistent pass-rush. We did play some down-the-line guys there at the end, but still, that's too much yardage, so that would be a concern."

Here again is another blatant mistruth by Tommy Bowden. We gave up over 200 yards to the Citadel in the first half alone and that was when our starters were all in. He does this sort of thing all the time and people just eat it right up... I guess I'll just keep making these posts and hopefully people will catch on.