10-29-2002, 05:38 PM
per the Charlotte Observer...
Quote:Clemson football: Big myth
What did this university do to earn title 'football school?'
GREGG DOYEL
The biggest myth in college football is Clemson, and not because N.C. State took a switch to the Tigers' backsides Thursday, or even because Clemson might only break even this season.
Why is Clemson a "football school," anyway? Because the basketball is so bad? It takes more than a glorious decade under the regime of two cheaters -- the wobbly stilts holding up the mirage of Clemson's palace.
Clemson did win a national championship, but that was 21 years ago, thanks to recruiting violations committed by Charley Pell and his replacement, Danny Ford.
Since then, Brigham Young and Washington have won titles, too. Are they football schools? Overall, Minnesota has four national titles, Army two, and even lowly Maryland has one.
And they didn't cheat.
This is a football school? Since 1959, Clemson hadn't won more than six games until Pell arrived in 1977 and went 8-3-1.
This is a football school? Ford averaged 8.7 victories from 1979 through '89, a regime kick-started by Pell's NCAA violations. After a lull in 1984 and '85 when Clemson went 7-4 and 6-6, Ford got the Tigers over the hump thanks to new violations that led to his ouster in 1989 -- after three straight ill-begotten 10-2 seasons.
This is a football school? Ford's replacement, Ken Hatfield, had three good seasons, but they were aided by Ford's tainted stockpile of talent. Since Hatfield left in 1993, Clemson has gone 57-46 under Tommy West and Tommy Bowden.
Old-time Clemson fans cling to the legend of Frank Howard like my 4-year-old clings to his dingy, shredded blanket.
Let's look at the legend of Frank Howard. He coached in 1940-69, and he coached well. He won 58 percent of his games, which means he won more than he lost, but he didn't win as much as Georgia Tech's George O'Leary (61.2 percent), Maryland's Jerry Claiborne (67.1) or Bobby Ross (66.9), N.C. State's Dick Sheridan (63.7), Virginia's George Welsh (60.8) or North Carolina's Mack Brown (59.9).
Dadgum, Howard didn't even win as often as Bowden -- Tommy, not Bobby -- who has won 59.1 percent of his games in three-plus seasons at Clemson.
Still, Tigers fans are ready to look for a new coach because this is Clemson, and Clemson football is a winner, and they will simply not stand for a coach who might just break even this season.
You'd think Clemson fans would be used to it by now. The Tigers have finished .500 or worse 18 times in the past 49 years. There would have been more, no doubt, but the 15 years from 1977 through '91 were bloated by the violations of Pell and Ford.
This is a football school? Well, maybe it is. If you ask some Clemson fans to name their dream coach, they hock up a familiar name.
Danny Ford.
Some myths never die.
