Let's Look It Up
Well considering that someone has already devoted a blog to Danny Ford (http://dannyfordisgod.blogspot.com/) I will go ahead and assume that out of these 4 coaches, he goes down as the best. When it comes to Hatfield, West, and Bowden ..... when talking to friends, they pretend as if Hatfield was not that good of a coach. Well today, we are going to look at the numbers for all of these 4 coaches.
Coach-----------#Years------Games----Won----Lost----Tied---Pct
Danny Ford --------------11.1------------120---------96--------29---------4------.760
1978-1989
Ken Hatfield---------------3.9-------------46----------32--------13----------1------.707
1990-1993
Tommy West---------------5.1-------------59----------31--------28---------0-------.525
1993-1998
Tommy Bowden------------6--------------73----------44--------29---------0-------.603
1999-present
Now if you would like to go ahead and assume that Clemson wins 11 ballgames this year, then that would make Bowdens statistics look like so - Games - 86...... Win - 55...... Lost - 31 ...... Pct - .640
Either way, the thing that just has to make you scratch your head is when you look at Ken Hatfield's stats. 32-13 with a winning percentage of .707. Who was the Athletic Director at the time that fired him? Robinson? So I ask you today, who was a better coach while at Clemson. Of course, we need to take in mind that the ACC is a tougher conference now than what it was back in the early 90's. You tell me in which order do they rank.
1. Ford --------------------------------------------- 1. Ford
2. Bowden-----------------------O---------------- 2. Hatfield
3. Hatfield-----------------------R---------------- 3. Bowden
4. West--------------------------------------------- 4. West
posted by ____________ at 12:01 AM
3 Comments:
Reese, it's funny you wrote about this. I just had a long talk with George Bennet (former director of IPTAY) about this. My order...
1. Ford
2. Bowden
3. Hatfield
4. West
You could always make the argument that Hatfield was riding high with Ford's recruits, just as West did ok at the beginning with Hatfield's. The main problem with Hatfield was... he followed Danny Ford and he didn't fit that good ole boy role. The fans always despised Hatfield and hated him before he even got to campus. So if Robinson wanted to keep his job, Hatfield had to go. Bowden coaches in a much different ACC and his big wins are much more impressive, in my opinion. Ford won a national championship and is "God" in the eyes of a lot of die hards. As much as i disliked Bowden at the beginning (kind of cocky, but not compared to Spurrier) he is really starting to grow on me. He also runs a tight ship (something Danny didn't do well). Either way Bowden is 2nd in this poll but 5th all time in my opinion. Charlie Pell, Frank Howard (who brought Clemson to the national spotlight), John Heisman, and Danny Ford have to come ahead of Bowden.
12:19 AM
I think anyone that thinks Hatfield is remotely close to Bowden is crazy. You can't look at just record, because he did come in with great talent. You have to look at the big picture. He was a poor disciplinary coach, the players did what they wanted and were out of shape. Also, look at what Bowden has done outside of wins and losses. Ex- Facilities and Academics. What did Hatfield do in those categories?
6:40 PM
Ken Hatfield was still living off of Danny Ford's players and Clemson's reputation. Just remember Clemson had never lost to Virginia until Hatfield took over. The program started it's decline w/him and we're just getting out of the hole that him and West burried us in. TB is getting us back to the glory days.
8:51 PM
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