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YOUR BALANCE
Who do you think was the better coach between Tommy West and Tommy Bowden?
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Who do you think was the better coach between Tommy West and Tommy Bowden?


Sep 10, 2020, 12:49 PM

What say you?

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Re: Who do you think was the better coach between Tommy West and Tommy Bowden?


Sep 10, 2020, 12:53 PM

Bowden was better at hiring WR coaches.....

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Of course he would say that that was


Sep 10, 2020, 1:39 PM

his biggest mistake?

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Re: Of course he would say that that was


Sep 10, 2020, 2:15 PM

Add in Ken Hatfield ... and the answer is "none of the above".

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Bowden. West couldnt recruit worth a lick imo


Sep 10, 2020, 12:54 PM

Football during West was a snoozefest.

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You nailed it on West


Sep 10, 2020, 1:00 PM

My grad school years overlapped Hatfield and West. Watching CU games was depressing those days. Bowden brought hope and some fun. Dabo brought cheers and trophies.

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I specifically remember the Thurs night home game v. GT


Sep 10, 2020, 1:46 PM

in 1998 (I believe).

Tech took the lead with about a minute to play. Clemson was driving and in position for at least a game tying FG, but West allowed the clock to expire even though he still had timeouts remaining.

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


West was totally unprepared...


Sep 10, 2020, 1:00 PM

to be a head coach at a major Division 1 program.

That wasn't his fault. It was Clemson's fault for being foolish enough to hire him.

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


IMO, West was hired because he was a former


Sep 10, 2020, 2:21 PM

Clemson assistant and the upper-crust donors wanted Hatfied fired (for good reason) and wanted a "Clemson guy". West was the only one willing to take it.

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"When I was young, I was sure of many things; now there are only two things of which I am sure: one is, that I am a miserable sinner; and the other, that Christ is an all-sufficient Saviour. He is well-taught who learns these two lessons." -John Newton


Re: IMO, West was hired because he was a former


Sep 10, 2020, 2:27 PM

Weak attempt at appeasing the Danny crowd is all it was. The guy was HC for one year. 4-7 was his record that year. What the heck?

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I'd give Bowden the nod


Sep 10, 2020, 1:00 PM

Bowden's record: 90-49 overall (.647), 72-45 at Clemson (.632)

West's record: 84-96 overall (.467), 31-28 at Clemson (.525)

Bowden was 7-2 vs. the Gamecocks, West was 3-2.

By my count, West only beat 3 ranked teams while at Clemson. I didn't bother counting Bowden's ranked wins but I know it was more than 3. As we all know, he could beat anyone on any given Saturday, and lose to anyone on any given Saturday.

Message was edited by: acevans®


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Bowden was 7-2 vs USuCk...


Sep 10, 2020, 2:43 PM

and the Tigers were one play away in both losses!

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You're right--dunno why I gave him an extra loss.***


Sep 10, 2020, 3:28 PM



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Re: Who do you think was the better coach between Tommy West and Tommy Bowden?


Sep 10, 2020, 1:06 PM

Bowden.

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Re: Who do you think was the better coach between Tommy West and Tommy Bowden?


Sep 10, 2020, 1:34 PM

Tommy, of course!

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Re: Who do you think was the better coach between Tommy West and Tommy Bowden?


Sep 10, 2020, 1:45 PM

I love Tommy West but he was a drowning man from day one... Bowden was just LAZY....

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Re: Who do you think was the better coach between Tommy West and Tommy Bowden?


Sep 10, 2020, 1:56 PM

The scoreboard counts. Bowden was the better coach that West. Bowden certainly hired better coaches than West. RR was a terrific coach for us and for WVU and the Dabo guy has turned out nicely for Clemson. Hiring Dabo is the best single thing any head coach before Bowden ever did for Clemson.

But it is no accident that fired Tommy West was carried off the field in Death Valley following the last game he ever coached there while Bowden was was not.

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glad I'm not the only thinking he was lazy


Sep 10, 2020, 1:57 PM [ in reply to Re: Who do you think was the better coach between Tommy West and Tommy Bowden? ]

he kept saying how it was his dream to just ride the golf cart are practice like daddy.
Being so young, thats all i needed to hear from him. I knew lazy was already there. No drive.
We aint got that problem any more

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Not sure who was the better coach....


Sep 10, 2020, 1:49 PM

But, as a fan, I enjoyed the Bowden years more.

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Re: What about if you're old enough to know Hootie?


Sep 10, 2020, 2:19 PM

Then it means you lived through lots of bad football and bad coaches and you're old too.

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Re: Who do you think was the better coach between Tommy West and Tommy Bowden?


Sep 10, 2020, 2:25 PM

Bowden by a mile. Here’s one to numb your brain and highlight how far we’ve come; Our best QB in west’s tenure ended up playing linebacker in the NFL.

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Re: Who do you think was the better coach between Tommy West and Tommy Bowden?


Sep 10, 2020, 2:26 PM

How about it this way...

Name NC State's last and best modern coach.

Sheridan. I bet NC State would had over their basketball player payments to get someone like that back.

He was 52–29–3 (0.642) with 3 top 25 finishes (17th was the highest) and 0 titles. 7 seasons.

Bowden 74-45 (0.615) with 4 top 25 seasons maxing out at 14th. 0 Titles.

West was 0.525, NC State since Sheridan is .510.


Our dark days are NC States normal. Our frustrating days are theiur best. No wonder NC sState's motto is "with great excitement comes great disappointment"

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Tommy Bowden, and it's not even close.


Sep 10, 2020, 2:41 PM

Bowden had more success, recruited better, and generated more excitement than West did.

For all of his flaws, Bowden did a great job of getting Clemson football out of the stone ages when it came to run-oriented football. He was willing to make the big changes, including removing the crown on the field and being unapologetic about passing the football more. West always said he wanted to throw more, but he didn't seem to know how to do that well. Bowden did.

There was a huge level of excitement with Bowden, especially early on. We really needed that at the time, after nearly a decade of mediocre to bad football. Our offense became fun. We ran neat plays out of interesting formations. We went no huddle and went at a fast pace. These were huge departures from what Clemson had always done, and it made us competitive even when we played teams more talented. Many of these changes Bowden made are still in place today. So in addition to giving him credit for hiring Dabo, I feel that we should also give him credit for some of these changes.

Bowden was also a lot tougher on his players when it came to how they conducted themselves. He was no-nonsense when it came to players going to class and staying out of trouble. West was way more lackadaisical in that regard.

West was in way over his head. It's stupid to hire someone just because they worked for someone else you like. The two worst hires Clemson athletics has made in recent memory were Tommy West and Larry Shyatt. Both were assistants at Clemson under successful coaches, took a head coaching job elsewhere for 1 year with unimpressive results, and were hired back because some morons in our athletic department thought they had been taking notes and could recreate that success. That was dumb.

West was a likable guy by all accounts, but not ready to be a division I-A head coach. I feel that we gave him what he needed to be more successful. Our football success was still pretty recent then. He had a motivated donor base. There were a lot of good high school prospects in the southeast at the time. But he couldn't get it done.

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Re: Tommy Bowden, and it's not even close.


Sep 10, 2020, 2:53 PM

Bowden does not get enough credit for what he could do. While he could not get us over the hump, he set us up right.

The only flaw was that for whatever reason he lacked a good feel for the enthusiasm of the team. The kids would just evaporate around him, seemly be unprepared at times, and just had something lacking, missing, or just flatness. I think Tommy set the team up right in most cases but the actual game was always a dice foll for him - and that is how we could go down 45 points to Wake and then beat a top ranked FSU. I think Tommy knew his short-coming and tried to surround himself with folks that could read the players (and you had Dabo right there). I think Dabo just has that knack for messaging the players to over-perform and it is downright scary when he has the talent on top of that.

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TB in my opinion


Sep 10, 2020, 2:45 PM

Although I do think TW has some really good qualities as a person

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Tommy Bowden by a mile.


Sep 10, 2020, 2:47 PM

Coach Bowden made going to games at death Valley fun again.

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Re: Who do you think was the better coach between Tommy West and Tommy Bowden?


Sep 10, 2020, 3:05 PM

West hands down. He truly loved Clemson and was hired too early in his career. The players loved him too.

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Bowden and West both have things the other doesn't


Sep 10, 2020, 3:41 PM

Tommy West was in over his head at Clemson.

He was hired b/c he was the closest thing, personality wise, to Danny Ford. However, X&O's and recruiting was not his strengths at all. He grew as a coach while at Memphis, but he still lacks overall in this area.


Bowden, was a better at the X&O's and with his staff they increased the recruiting depth and talent. Just as importantly, he did the little things that set a good foundation (Nike Deal, a lit a fire under the Athletic Dept & IPTAY around the need for facilities upgrades).

However, what Bowden didn't have, that Tommy West actually did, was a competitive fire in the belly when it came to crunch time. You can bet West wasn't scared of any team, we just didn't have the best talent depth or the X&O's to get the job done. However, Bowden's lip would quiver when BC & Wake would score first.

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Remember West had the misfortune of following


Sep 10, 2020, 4:03 PM

Hatfield. He was taking over a fractured program and dismal recruiting. Bowden would have struggled more, especially early on, if he inherited what West did.

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Re: Remember West had the misfortune of following


Sep 10, 2020, 5:19 PM

Bowden, but at least West liked the job. Bowden was scared of gameday. He would have been happy if all he had to do was practice.

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