Great Expectations? Not so much

by cocknfire on Jul 16, 2008 1:55 AM EDT in Football Comment 3 comments

Yep, it seems like everyone's favorite coach from the Upstate is trying to tamp down expectations for what everyone on the face of the planet believes will be his best team yet.

Bowden, in typical coach summer-speak, isn't so sure.

He's worried over his offensive line, which has only center Thomas Austin as a returning starter. Bowden's also concerned about his linebackers, all three starters gone from last fall.

"I don't see this as a veteran team," Bowden said.

Of rampant talk of coming success, he says, "I would say it was premature."

What happened to "seven gets you fired"?

It seems that Baby Bowden is beginning to back-pedal a little bit. Does he know something the rest of us don't? Or does he lack confidence in his own ability?

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Watching the Clemson saga is fascinating to me . . .

. . . from my perspective as a Georgia fan.

Even though the Bulldogs and the Tigers don’t often play anymore, there is a long history between the two teams and it is a short trek up I-85 from the Classic City to Lake Hartwell, so it’s easy to keep an eye on Clemson.

It’s like the Tigers are Red and Black re-enactors in a bad color scheme. They had a beloved coach who delivered a national title in the early 1980s. They later had a coach who was a beloved former player promoted beyond his ability too early in his career. They later had a coach with no previous ties to the school and an impressive offensive pedigree who won too consistently to fire him but not consistently enough to keep him. In the course of the latter two coaches’ tenures, the school experienced a decades-long conference title drought.

Where have I seen this movie before?

Oh, right . . . it happened at Georgia, too, although, there, the coaches’ names were Vince Dooley, Ray Goff, and Jim Donnan instead of Danny Ford, Tommy West, and Tommy Bowden.

If Tommy doesn’t close the deal this year, Clemson faces a clear-cut choice. They can fire him and hire their equivalent of Mark Richt, or they can learn to live with mediocrity.

Go 'Dawgs!

by T Kyle King on Jul 16, 2008 8:36 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs

I hope not

I would hate for Clemson to fire Tommy and hire a Richt-esque coach. I hope they keep him long enough for the school’s stock to drop. Right now if they wanted to fire Tommy, they could probably entice a pretty good coach to come there. As a Gamecock fan, I wouldn’t like to see the happen. KEEP TOMMY BOWDEN (cheating bastard), FOR NOW.

by Charlestowne on Jul 16, 2008 11:36 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs