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The Memory of Championships Brings Expectations

Oct 21, 2010, 11:28 AM

The year was 1981.

The Clemson Tigers, led by coach Danny Ford, had just finished a 6-5 season in 1980 and would start the '81 unranked. After winning the first two games of the season, Clemson hosted the #4 Georgia Bulldogs into Death Valley.

The rest is history.

After holding Georgia to only three points, the Tigers went on to win every game including wins over South Carolina, #9 North Carolina and #4 Nebraska.

Clemson had won the National Championship of college football. The Tiger fan base was hooked.

Ford led Clemson to four more ACC Titles in the 80's and amassed a 96-29 record finishing the 80's with three consecutive 10-win seasons.

However there were problems. Recruiting violations put a damper on Ford's success and when 1990 came along, Ford resigned.

Clemson football has never been the same.

The team was still full of Ford's players and went on to win the 1991 ACC Championship. However it would be the last for the once dominant team of the ACC.

Hatfield would have little more success and would leave in 1993. Tommy West came with mixed results but his tenure ended with a disastrous 1998 season that left Clemson, former national champions, 3-8.

The fan base was restless. The 80's had brought the taste of success and it had been seven years since the program had won the last of it's 13 ACC Championships.

The school looked to a familiar name who had found success at a smaller school to lead the program back to relevance. In 1999, Tommy Bowden was hired to coach the Tigers.

While he had a good resume, many of the Clemson faithful never fully accepted Bowden.

Despite this, things seemed to be going well in 2000, when Clemson had it's best start in years going 8-0 and being ranked fifth. Was Clemson back?

No.

Clemson went on to lose three of their last four games including a blowout loss to Florida State.

This was a pattern Clemson fans quickly grew tired of.

While Bowden's teams were an improvement from the 90's, they still could not get back to the level that Clemson fans desired. Every few years, Bowden and the Tigers were just "one play away" from clinching the ACC title only to let it fall through their fingers.

In 2008, Clemson had one of the top recruiting classes in the nation and started the season ranked ninth, everyone's pick to dominate the ACC. After being blown out by Alabama on national television and starting the season 3-3, Bowden resigned.

19 years and three coaches later, Clemson was still searching for the magic it found in the 80's.

The search began for the new coach of the Tigers but many wondered if Clemson had the funding to find that big name coach that many hoped for. Bowden had just been given an extension for $3.5 million in 2007.

The wide receivers coach under Bowden, Dabo Swinney, was named interim coach while the search was on.

Swinney took Clemson to a 4-2 record during the remainder of the 2008 season including a 31-14 win over rival South Carolina which ended with the fans of Clemson chanting, "Dabo." He was young, he was from Alabama, he loved Clemson and he was excited.

Was he the next Danny Ford?

Dabo Swinney was promoted from position coach to head coach and was given the position full time in 2009.

Swinney's first full season started slow. But after going 2-3, the Tigers rebounded behind the play of Heisman candidate CJ Spiller to win the teams first ACC Atlantic Division title.*

However, the team failed to win the ACC and also suffered its worst defeat from rival South Carolina in many years.

2010 started with many questions. Would quarterback Kyle Parker return? Who would replace CJ Spiller? Can Clemson get back to the ACC Championship game?

So far in 2010, it feels like much of the same.

After wins over lesser opponents to go 2-0, Clemson dropped three close games against Auburn, Miami and North Carolina to fall to 2-3.

2-3.... two years in a row.

Again, the Clemson fan base is restless. Dabo and Co. may recover again in 2010, but they may not. Either way, Clemson is still waiting for it's return to greatness.

Some already want to cut ties with Dabo and bring in a more experienced coach.

Some point out that even Danny Ford's first two seasons went 8-4 and 6-5.

Can Dabo Swinney take Clemson to the next level?

Will the fans have any more patience after 20 years of mediocrity?

It is doubtful that the Clemson faithful will give Swinney nine years as they did Bowden. Clemson is tired of losing. Clemson wants results. Clemson wants 10+ win seasons. Clemson wants ACC Championships. Clemson wants, no, must beat South Carolina.

Clemson wants to matter.

It's all yours Dabo.... bring the trophy home.

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/497442-clemson-football-the-memory-of-championships-brings-expectations

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Dude, Clemson Football has been around since 1896. You could say the fan base was "hooked" in 1900 when a guy named John Heisman lead Clemson to our first conference championship. The history of our University, and our football team go hand in hand and date back long before 1981. I bet 95% of our current students weren't even born yet. And those that were are working on PHDs, not standing in line at Collegiate Club ticket distribution.

It's not a bad article, but have a little perspective. Dabo isn't Danny, and he isn't Tommy either. Tommy was coming off an undefeated season at Tulane, he had some credentials (his last name) to buy him time, and then he kept getting us close to keep him around. Dabo doesn't have the background, lets not forget he was selling real estate until Tommy picked him up and gave him a shot. He's not going to get the time Tommy got.

Don't get me wrong, Dabo doing well is good for all of us and I sincerely hope he will win a ton of games for us. But making comparisons to Danny like that's the standard to live up to, instead of straight up wins and losses, is counterproductive as a fan base. I realize its blasphamy, but Danny hasn't been our coach for a long time, and with all due respect, he wouldn't last in today's game. Just ask Arkansas.

The Memory of Championships Brings Expectations

Trying to be serious, but at the same time making fun of

"Clemson wants to matter."

No, we have felt it. Only for small bits of time though.

You're right, of course. But it made everything about

Re: You're right, of course. But it made everything about

Good point...it's only for very small bits of time***

This isn't the 1980s...

The things you mentioned definitely leveled the playing

What does "football school" mean?...

No - that football is the main sport of the athletics side

Are you advocating doing what Cal-Berkeley is doing?...

Ummm....no. You're reading WAY too much into my

I say we give Cal Berkeley 3 years to see how that works

why don't you expect to return to winning (glory days)

I don't expect a return to the glory days in the sense that

we didn't win it every yr in the 80s either, but I expected

The ACC sucked in the 1980s...

sucks now and we still can't win it

It's much better now than it was then.***

maybe you should sit this one out junior***

We won it in '81, '82, '83, '86, '87, '88. I'm just saying

Just want to win a bad conference about 1 out every 3 years***

You have won ONE conference championship EVER

How does their comment make them a coot?

It's been a generation since we mattered

Short-sighted.

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