The View of Publius:"Tommy Boy"

In the interest of full disclosure, I am not a Tommy Bowden fan. I think he is arrogant and definitely overrated as a coach. Apparently, Clemson is beginning to feel the same way. The 2007 football season will probably determine whether "Tommy Boy" stays or goes.

It seems that "Tommy Boy" loves putting his foot in his mouth. A couple of examples will illustrate the point. After Steve Spurrier was given a raise at South Carolina in order to stop him from interviewing at Alabama, Spurrier,who was 7-5 in 2007,was given a nearly $500,000 a year raise." Tommy Boy" then proceeded to say the following.""it's amazing how this thing works because I'm at a place where seven [wins] gets you fired. He's at a place where seven gets you a raise."

Spurrier in his typical fashion quipped,"If Tommy Bowden wants a raise, he can just ask his AD and president if he's as good a coach as Mark Richt, and me, and Fulmer and Tuberville and those other guys. That's the only reason I got a raise. They think I'm that good a coach."

So what else has "Tommy Boy" been saying? Seems that he thinks the academic standards at Clemson are too tough and he is losing football recruits. He has caused such an uproar that the Clemson president has promised a review of the academic standards. What a guy "Tommy Boy" is. He is playing into the football factory mentality and doesn't seem to care. Could it be that he is worried about his job being in jeopardy?

And the last example is Markish Jones. How many think that the Clemson alumni and Bowden did not have a role in convincing Markish Jones to stay at Clemson? I am sure the full story of this will never come out. On top of this, "Tommy Boy" took time to blast FSU and his dad, Bobby Bowden. Here is what he said, " Obviously it was pretty good work on (Florida State's) part by trying to undermine the rules and regulations of the NLI, but it did not work.”What a classy guy.

A recent blog post that I read sums up my feelings about "Tommy Boy". "Tommy, son of legendary coach Bobby Bowden, is a consistent underperformer who justifies a salary of over $1 million per year by claiming that winning seven or eight games is enough. This comes on the heels of a beatdown in a bowl game with Kentucky where the Tigers were embarrassed."

This is a guy who has never won an ACC division title, an ACC Conference Championship, nor been to a BCS bowl.Enough said.