Great coaches win right away.

Nov 12, 1999, 12:00 AM

Great coaches win right away with the material they have on hand. When a special coach comes along, you can see it in the play of his team pretty quickly. Spurrier won the ACC at Duke. Bobby Bowden won ten his second year at FSU. Ford beat ND his first year and won it all in his third. There is popular idea idea out there that a coach ought to get four or five years to get his players in and win 'his' way. I think that's a load of crap. Great coaches show special qualities on the field right away. So, as year one winds down, what do we have in Coach Bowden?

Coach Bowden has pushed his team since day 1. He told 'em right off the bat they were lousy last year. He kicked his best runner into the dog house and just about threw away the key. He jumped in Ardley's face in front of BIG crowd and sent him to the dog house. Coach Bowden ran'em and ran'em and ran'em until most of them were throwing up. Every time they have screwed up, he has publicly blasted them for poor practices and poor play. He's benched starters and he said GOODBYE to a senior we all liked back in August because the guy wouldn't do what he asked. He's demoted starting offensive linemen and changed out his punt returner pretty publicly. He's yelled at his QB's in front of us and the TV camera, swapped'em out when they weren't playing well and openly said what each could and could not do well. He's clearly told the team (and us!) MY WAY OR THE HIGHWAY. None of this is the popular 'sensitive' way to coach a football team. Truth is, Tommy can be abrupt and harsh in his words. Some have called him arrogant. Back in the fall, that long gone guru, CaliCock predicted Bowden's tough talk wouldn't serve him well when the season started and the losses came rolling in. On other boards, Coach Bowden has been identified as the soon to be most hated coach in the conference. THE MAN IS TOUGH.

But that's not all. He has the respect and affection of his team. Last night he was asked about 'his' seniors and he rather proudly pointed out that 6 of them start. I like that, especially from Bowden.

So, why do I really like his comment about the Seniors? Because it shows me he is a player's coach. It tells me that Bowden knows what it means to be a senior and to have put a lot in over a long time. He knows the importance of seniors to a ball team and I think he knows what is in the heart of every senior who ever played the game. I really like that. Coach Bowden has shown us other glimpses of his bond with the team he inherited.

Last week on the sidelines when Jolly and his pals were all piled up celebrating, Coach Bowden was a madman. He was screaming at them, pulling guys off the pile, grabbing at them and telling them to get off the field and trying his darnedest to avoid a penalty. But when the flag flew, the madman turned and took off after the official. He berated the ref for calling a silly penalty on 'his' players and dogged him big time. I'm betting every player saw it. More importantly, I don't think it was an act...Bowden was simply doing what he had to do. He was defending his players openly, passionately, intensely and I might add, in a game that was over. I loved it.

A month ago when he intercepted the pass to seal the win against UNC, Robert Carswell, in celebrating on the sideline, went into a St Vitus dance that looked like he was a crazy man. Coach Bowden, who professes not to spend too much time with the defense, sprinted 25 yards, leapt joyously at his player and hugged his neck. The two jumped up and down together while Bowden rubbed Carswells head. It was a great picture of a man and his coach celebrating together.

In essentially every game this year, Coach Bowden has defended his team from bad referees and showed them, and us, his intensity. He's been on the officials constantly, supporting his players and challenging bad calls that hurt his team. Importantly, we've all noticed that Bowden's players have had the good sense to keep quiet and let "COACH" do the talking regarding the officiating. That tells me they trust him. His boys got jeered at by the Noles at our field and Bowden has announced that we'll meet FSU 'in the tunnel' in Tallahassee next year. If I am a player, I like that.

If I were a player, I'd also be inspired by a guy who fakes punts, fakes field goals, and generally show a heck of a lot of trust in the ability of his team to do the unlikely. Starting QB goes down, and the next guy is up an ready to go in and win. SECOND QB goes down, the freshman is throwing hard on the sidelines and the world sees Bowden ready to win with QB number 3. When the moment passes, Bowden on the sidelines is seen laughing with the freshman QB who just missed getting thrown into the fire. Offensive linemen lost for the year off an already thin squad, don't complain, but keep trucking. Discover you ain't got much of a kicker, don't complain, simply find another way to win. I think any player would want to play hard for this guy.

Bowden's told us he loves offense and only tolerates defense, but he's also heaped a ton of praise on his defense. He preached hurry, hurry, hurry all summer, BUT no Clemson QB has ever used the clock as well as ours have this year. Most of his gameplans have been rock solid.

Now, he pretty casually says he likes all the seniors and points out that 6 of them start. The kids he's talking about are not Coach Bowden's future. Those seniors are not guys Bowden recruited and he could have written them off. (That's been done before at Clemson.) Those seniors and Coach Bowden had one year together. It looks to me like Bowden made it a good year for them. It looks to me like Coach Bowden is a players coach. He's a coach who pushes every guy to reach his potential, who tolerates nothing but the best effort, who focuses on results and does not sugar coat bad news, but also one who really likes the people he is coaching. I think that's important.

I said last winter that you measure coaches by results. You ought to know by year two if you have a special coach or not. I said that if a guy hasn't shown you that he is special by the end of year two, you ought to run him off. It shouldn't take five years for a great coach to pan out. I still think all that. You can spot the great ones quickly.

Well, Coach Bowden has produced big results for Clemson already. He's won the hearts of his team and he has coached this flawed team to inspired performances five or six times this year. They haven't won enough to suit any of us, but the play of Bowden's team has been outstanding and EVERYONE who understands football knows it. Caoch Bowden looks like the special coach, one of the oh-so-rare great ones to me.

We might win tomorrow and we might not. Heck, we're all pretty spoiled and yet we know we got some NCSU type games left in us. Still, I'm sold on Bowden. In his first 9 games, Coach Bowden has shown all of us plenty of the special qualities a great coach has to have. Coach Bowden is the Man. It sure didn't take us two years to find out.

Go Tigers!!
Beat Tec

flag link

military_tech

thumb_down

thumb_up

Great coaches win right away.

TigerBoard POTD