Clemson Tigers football Biography
Clemson Tigers football team represents Clemson University in American football. The Tigers play in the NCAA’s Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) and the ACC’s Atlantic Division (ACC).
The 1896 program has produced 68 All-Americans, 15 Academic All-Americans, and 169 NFL players. Clemson has six HOF members.
Clemson is one of the founding members of the ACC and has 18 conference titles. In 2011, the Tigers beat 5th-ranked Virginia Tech 38-10 to win the ACC.
Clemson earned its only poll-era national championship in 1981 by beating Nebraska 22–15 in the Orange Bowl. They’ve been to 34 bowls. Terry Kinard, Jeff Davis, and Banks McFadden have been inducted. Frank Howard, Jess Neely, and John Heisman are inductees. The Tigers have finished in the Final Top 25 25 times.
The Tigers play at Clemson’s Memorial Stadium. A Presbyterian College coach nicknamed the stadium “Death Valley” in 1948 due to his team’s repeated losses there. It’s college football’s 19th largest stadium.
1896-99
Walter Merritt Riggs brought football to Clemson from Alabama A&M. (now Auburn University). Auburn and Clemson share the same mascot. Riggs let his players choose the team mascot, and they chose Tigers because Princeton had just won the national championship.
Riggs coached the 1896 Tigers. Only Coach Riggs and backfield Frank Thompkins had ever watched a football game when the Tigers played Furman on Halloween. Clemson’s soccer field is named after Walter Riggs.
In the first season, Riggs went 2–1. The cadets urged him to focus on his schoolwork rather than a coach for free. 1897 Tigers coach William M. Williams went 2–2. 1898 was John Penton’s first season as Tigers manager.
In 1899, when the Clemson Athletic Association couldn’t afford a coach’s salary, Riggs returned to the role, one of only two to do so. 1899 went 4–2. Riggs’ 6–3 record is.667. He named it Riggs Field.
After a decade as a Mechanical Engineering professor, he became acting president of Clemson Agricultural College in 1910 and permanent president on March 7, 1911. He died in Washington, D.C. on January 22, 1924, while meeting with land grant officials.
1900-1903 John Heisman
John Heisman led the Tigers to a 6–0 record in 1900. Heisman stayed four years at Clemson and had a 19-3-2 record, the greatest in school history. Georgia Tech hired Heisman as their first full-time coach after a 73–0 loss in 1903.
1931–1939: Jess Neely
Jess Neely (former Rhodes and Alabama coach) became Clemson’s head coach in 1931. The Tigers went 43-35-7 under Neely. His final season at Clemson turned the program around. His 9-1 team finished second in the Southern Conference behind Duke. The Tigers also won their first bowl game, the 1940 Cotton Bowl Classic, over Boston College. 1939 Tigers finished #12 in AP poll. Banks McFadden was Clemson’s first All-American. Jess Neely developed the IPTAY Scholarship Fund with then-athletic director Rupert Fike.
1940–1969: Frank Howard
Frank Howard became head coach after Jess Neely went for Rice. Howard earned two Southern Conference titles and six ACC titles in 30 years at Clemson. Seven Howard teams finished the year ranked. He also used Single Wing, T-formation, and I-formation at Clemson. Clemson went undefeated in 1948 (11-0) and 1950 (11-0). (9-0-1).
Coach Howard started the ritual of rubbing “Howard’s Rock” before home games. Following his retirement in 1974, Memorial Stadium’s playing surface was renamed “Frank Howard Field” and Inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame, South Carolina Sports Hall of Fame, Clemson Hall of Fame, Clemson Ring of Honor, Helms Athletic Hall of Fame, State of Alabama Hall of Fame, National Football Foundation Hall of Fame, Orange Bowl Hall of Honor, and Gator Bowl Hall of Fame.
1970–1976: Post-Howard
Frank Howard’s retirement hurt Clemson. Hootie Ingram’s record was 12–21. During his leadership, the squad halted rushing down the hill from 1970 until the final home game against South Carolina in 1972. Ingram introduced the “tiger paw” logo. Jimmy “Red” Parker coached the Tigers from 1973–1976.
1977–1978: Charlie Pell
Charlie Pell coached the Tigers for two seasons, twice winning ACC Coach of the Year and leading them to the 1978 ACC Championship. Clemson made both Gator Bowls. Danny Ford’s employment revealed NCAA laws and recruiting misconduct involving Pell. After 1978, Charlie Pell became the head coach at Florida, where he coached until 1984.
1978–1989: Danny Ford
After Charlie Pell went to Florida in 1978, Danny Ford took over. He won his first game, the 1978 Gator Bowl, 17–15 over Ohio State and Woody Hayes, who struck LB Charlie Bauman in the throat after making the game-winning interception.
Ford led Clemson to the National Championship and sixth undefeated season in his first two seasons. The unranked Tigers beat three top-10 teams (Georgia and North Carolina) during a 12-0 season that ended with a 22-15 win against Nebraska in the 1982 Orange Bowl. Ford, voted National Coach-of-the-Year in 1981, is the youngest football national champion.
The football program was placed on probation for 1983 and 1984 on November 21, 1982. Due to a history of recruiting breaches aimed to obtain an athletic edge, the NCAA Committee on Infractions imposed this fine. These recruitment infractions occurred from 1977 through 1982, under Charlie Pell and Danny Ford. The ACC imposed a third-year penalty.
Over 150 NCAA bylaw violations were found, including improper recruiting enticements, extra perks to student-athletes, unethical conduct, improper financial aid, improper campus visits, improper transportation and enjoyment, improper use of funds, and improper employment, improper recruiting contact, and coaching staff cash distributions.
Clemson was banned from bowl games in 1982 and 1983 and from live TV in 1983 and 1984. In 1983-84 and 1984-85, the university limited football scholarships to 20 (from 30). The Tigers kept their 1978, 1981 ACC, and 1981 national titles.
NCAA Committee on Infractions chairman Charles Alan Wright said, “Due to the frequency and severity of the infractions in this case, the committee deemed television and bowl game bans acceptable.
Due to a pattern of unethical recruiting, the committee decided to limit financial aid to new recruits for two years to counteract any advantage the university obtained.”
After probation, Clemson won three straight ACC crowns between 1986 and 1988, beating Penn State 35-10 and Oklahoma 13-6 in the Florida Citrus Bowl.
In 1989, Clemson finished 10-2 and ranked in the top 12 for the fourth straight season. He capped his career with a 27–7 triumph over West Virginia (with All-America quarterback Major Harris) in the Gator Bowl.
Five years after their probation ended, Clemson was accused of recruiting breaches in 1990.
From 1984 until 1988, the NCAA accused Clemson of paying players and illegally contacting recruits. In June 1990, the Tigers were again on probation after less than a decade. This succession of events helped cause Danny Ford’s resignation.
Ford returned to coaching in 1992 and spent five seasons with Arkansas.
1990-1993: Ken Hatfield
Air Force and Arkansas’ Ken Hatfield. He led the Tigers to three bowl games and was 32–13–1.
After Ford-era sanctions, Hatfield cleaned up the program’s reputation.
Clemson supporters never liked Hatfield. Tiger fans often said “Built by Howard. Ford delivered. Hatfield won.”
Due to his displeasure, school officials refused to extend his contract following the 1993 season, despite the Tigers’ 8–3 record and Peach Bowl invitation. Hatfield quit after the regular season because he felt unsupported. He joined Rice.
Clemson’s purple home jerseys debuted during the 1991 ACC title season.
1993–1998: Tommy West
Tommy West succeeded Ken Hatfield in 1993 and led the Tigers to a 14-13 Peach Bowl win over Kentucky. West guided Clemson to three bowl games but no ACC titles in five seasons. Clemson dismissed West after a 3-8, last-place 1998 season. West became Memphis’ coach.
1999–2008: Tommy Bowden
Tommy West was fired after the 1998 season, and Clemson hired Tulane’s, Tommy Bowden. Bowden led the Tigers to a 6–6 record and a Peach Bowl bid in 1999, despite facing undefeated MAC champion Marshall, undefeated Big East champion Virginia Tech, and eventual National Champion Florida State (who finished the year undefeated).
In 1999, a father and son coached against each other in Division I football for the first time.
Bowden’s Tigers were bowl eligible every year but never won an ACC title (the 2004 team turned down a bowl invitation as punishment for a massive brawl during a game against the University of South Carolina).
Bowden’s teams have underachieved despite this. The 2000 Tigers started 8–0 and reached #5 before losing three straight. In 2006, after a 7–1 start and on the verge of winning the ACC Atlantic Division, the same thing happened.
Bowden’s Tigers have also demonstrated resolve. The 2003 squad finished 9–4, beating #3 Florida State and #7 Tennessee in the Chick-Fil-A Peach Bowl. The 2004 Tigers started 1–4 but won five of their last six games, including an overtime shock of #10 Miami. The 2005 club overcame a 2–3 start to finish 9–4.
Tommy Bowden agreed to quit for $3.5 million on October 13, 2008, after leading the Tigers to a 3–3 record (1–2 ACC) at the halfway of a season in which they were picked to win their first ACC title under Bowden and ranked #9. Dabo Swinney is the interim coach.
2008–present: Dabo Swinney
2009 Music City Bowl: Clemson Tigers.
Dabo Swinney led the Tigers to a 4–2 record in 2008, ending 7–6. Swinney signed a five-year contract on December 1, 2008.
Swinney and the Tigers reached the 2009 ACC final game but lost to Georgia Tech 39–34. They won the 2009 Music City Bowl, beating Kentucky 21–13 to avenge their 2006 setback.
South Florida beat Clemson 31–26 in the Meineke Car Care Bowl in Charlotte, North Carolina, on December 31, 2010. Swinney hired Chad Morris in January 2011. In December 2011, Clemson tied Morris with Gus Malzahn as the highest-paid college football assistant. Dabo added RB coach Tony Elliott and DL coach Marion Hobby.
Brent Venables joined Clemson’s coaching staff on January 1, 2012. Orange Bowl loss to West Virginia, 70-33.
Clemson upset #21-ranked Auburn on September 17, 2011, ending Auburn’s 17-game winning run, the nation’s longest. Clemson beat three nationally-ranked opponents in a succession on October 1, 2011:
#11 Virginia Tech, #21 Auburn, and #11 Florida State. Clemson beat Wake Forest on 11/12/11 to win the ACC Atlantic Division. Clemson hasn’t dropped three consecutive to its instate foe since 1968-1970.
The Tigers beat Virginia Tech 38-10 in the ACC Championship Game on December 3. #15 Clemson lost to #23 West Virginia in the 2012 Orange Bowl 70-33, giving up bowl game records for points scored in a quarter (35), half (49) and game (70).
Read More: A Total list of Clemson Tigers football seasons