Head Coaching Record
78-42 in 10 seasons, 18-4 in two seasons at Tulane, 60-38 in eight seasons at Clemson
Coaching Experience
Graduate assistant coach at West Virginia (1977)
Defensive backs coach at Florida State (1978,79)
Running backs coach at Auburn (1980)
Tight ends coach at Florida State (1981,82)
Quarterbacks coach at Duke (1983-84)
Offensive coordinator/quarterbacks coach at Duke (1985-86)
Wide receivers coach at Alabama (1987-89)
Offensive coordinator/wide receivers coach at Kentucky (1990)
Offensive coordinator/wide receivers coach at Auburn (1991-96)
Head coach at Tulane (1997,98)
Head coach at Clemson (1999-present)
Playing Experience
Wide receiver at West Virginia (1973-76)
Bowl Seasons as a Head Coach
1998 Liberty Bowl (did not coach in game)
1999 Peach Bowl
2001 Gator Bowl
2001 Humanitarian Bowl
2002 Tangerine Bowl
2004 Peach Bowl
2005 Champs Sports Bowl
2006 Gaylord Hotels Music City Bowl
Bowl Seasons as an Assistant Coach
1980 Orange Bowl
1982 Gator Bowl
1988 Hall of Fame Bowl
1988 Sun Bowl
1990 Sugar Bowl
1996 Outback Bowl
1996 Independence Bowl
Bowl Participation as a Player
1975 Peach Bowl
Education
B.S. degree in physical education with a minor in health from West Virginia in 1977
Personal Data
Born July 10, 1954...married to the former Linda Joan White...the couple has a son (Ryan 25, a 2004 Clemson graduate and current law student at Regent University) and a daughter (Lauren 22, a senior at Clemson in 2006-07).
When one looks at Head Coach Tommy Bowden's resume, the first thing that comes to mind is consistency. Bowden has completed 10 seasons as a Division I head coach, and all 10 of his teams have been bowl eligible at the conclusion of the regular season.
Each of his last seven teams have finished with a winning record. A winning season in 2006 gives him a Clemson coaching record seven consecutive winning seasons, and he became just the fifth head coach in ACC history to record seven straight winning seasons with the same program, the first time it has been done at Clemson by one coach.
Bowden has also shown consistency in terms of improvement over the course of seasons. From 2003-05, his teams won at least five of its last six games. The 2003 team won its last four games, including wins over top-10 Florida State and Tennessee to finish ranked in the top 25. The 2005 team won six of its last seven games, a first for a Tiger team since 1991.
There has also been consistency in terms of success against Clemson's in-state rival (South Carolina). The Tigers have won six of the eight meetings since Bowden became Clemson's head coach in 1999, and the 75.0-percent winning mark is the best of any Tiger head coach in history against the Gamecocks given a minimum of five games. He has an average victory margin of 10.4 points per game in the state-rivalry game, and all six wins have been recorded against future Hall of Fame Head Coaches Lou Holtz and Steve Spurrier.
In 10 seasons as a Division I head coach, Bowden has a 78-41 record, a 65.5-percent winning. In conference games, he has never had a sub-.500 record, and his overall conference record stands at 48-28 for a 63.2-percent winning mark.
In eight years at Clemson, he has a 60-37 mark and seven bowl appearances. He has 37 ACC wins as well. The only programs with more ACC wins during this time are Florida State and Georgia Tech. The 60 overall victories are third-most in Clemson history. The 29-7 victory over South Carolina in the 2004 season-finale was not only the 600th win in Clemson history, it moved Bowden ahead of Hall of Fame Coach Jess Neely into third place on Clemson's coaching victories list. Only Frank Howard and Danny Ford are ahead of Bowden.
Twice Bowden has been named ACC Coach-of-the-Year (1999,03), joining Howard, Charley Pell, and Ford as the only two-time recipients of that award in Tiger history. In January of 2006, he was given the Grant Teaff National Coach-of-the-Year Award by the Fellowship of Christian Athletes.
Off the field, Clemson has graduated nearly 80 percent of its seniors in his eight years. Clemson's graduation success rate of 94 percent in 2005 was fourth-best among the 119 Division I-A programs. In 2003, Clemson was #11 in the nation, including second among public institutions, in the NCAA graduation-rate study for scholarship football signees who entered Clemson in 1996. Clemson was first in the nation in graduation rate among African-Americans (100 percent). Each of the top-six semester team GPAs have been recorded under Bowden.
His 2006 squad has set numerous offensive records on its way to scoring 52 touchdowns and scoring nearly 34 points per game. Clemson has four First-Team All-ACC selections on offense, including 1,000-yard rusher James Davis, and the Tigers lead the ACC in a majority of offensive categories.
Despite starting 7-1 and losing three of its last four regular-season games, Clemson lost three of its games by a total of five points, including single-point losses to Boston College and Maryland. However, the 2006 senior class became the first one in ACC history to beat Florida State three times in a four-year span.
The Tigers also had a landmark 31-7 victory over #13 Georgia Tech at Memorial Stadium. Clemson dominated the Yellow Jackets thanks in part to 332 combined rushing yards by James Davis and C.J. Spiller. That same weekend, ESPN College GameDay made its first-ever appearance in Tigertown.
In December of 2006, Bowden was named a semifinalist for the Maxwell Club George Munger National Coach-of-the-Year Award. A big reason for his naming was the fact that Clemson overcame numerous injuries, including the loss of linebackers Anthony Waters and Tramaine Billie, to reach as high as #10 in the national polls.
Defensive end Gaines Adams is regarded as one of the top defensive linemen in the nation. He was named a finalist for the Bronko Nagurski Award and Ted Hendricks Award as well as earning unanimous first-team All-America honors. He was also named ACC Defensive Player-of-the-Year.
In 2005, Clemson had a record of 8-4, including a 3-2 mark against top-25 ranked teams. All four of the losses were by six points or less and by a total of 14 points. Two of those losses came in overtime, therefore the Tigers lost the four games by a combined five points at the end of regulation.
The 2005 team also won six of its last seven games, including a 19-10 win over Colorado in the Champs Sports Bowl. The Tigers had the best record among the 12 ACC teams over that time period.
The Tigers earned close victories to start the year against #17 Texas A&M and Maryland, then lost three nailbiters in a row. But just like the two previous years, Clemson won five of its last regular-season six games, including wins over #16 Florida State (eventual ACC Champion) and #19 South Carolina in the final two regular-season games. It was the first time since 1983 that Clemson defeated top-20 teams in consecutive games.
Clemson was in the top 25 in four national defensive rankings, including 11th in scoring defense. After the victory over Colorado in the Champs Sports Bowl, the Tigers were ranked #21 in the final Associated Press and USA Today polls. Clemson had three victories over top-20 ranked teams, the most in one season by a Clemson team since the 1989 season.
Both placekicker Jad Dean (Lou Groza Award) and cornerback Tye Hill (Jim Thorpe Award) were finalists for their respective awards in 2005. Hill was a Walter Camp First-Team All-American as well.
In four years at Clemson, Charlie Whitehurst became the most prolific signal-caller in school history. He set 46 Clemson records, including records for passing yards (9,665), completions (817), completion percentage (59.5), and touchdown passes (49). He directed Clemson to 25 wins as a starting quarterback, the second-most wins in school history.
Consistency in his approach is one reason Clemson went from a 1-4 start to bowl eligibility in 2004. It marked the first time since 1963 that a Tiger team had overcome such a deficit to finish with a winning season.
His 2004 Clemson team featured a defense that ranked 11th in the nation in pass efficiency defense. The unit had 42 sacks to rank in the top 10 in the nation. Leroy Hill was named the ACC Defensive Player-of-the-Year and a Third-Team AP All-American. Cornerback Justin Miller was a semifinalist for the Jim Thorpe Award and was a second-team All-American as a kick returner. Wide receiver Airese Currie led the ACC in receptions and reception yards.
Clemson played a complete game at #10 Miami (FL) on November 6, 2004 and defeated the Hurricanes in the Orange Bowl by a score of 24-17 in overtime. It was the second overtime win of the season for the Tigers, who are 4-2 in extra-session games under Bowden.
Clemson overcame a 14-point halftime deficit, not to mention overcoming a fourth-quarter deficit, a rarity against Miami. The Hurricanes had been 174-2 when leading going into the fourth quarter since 1985.
The win over Miami gave Bowden and the Tigers three wins over top-10 programs in a 13-game span, something that had been done at Clemson just once previously (1981 National Championship team). All three of those programs (Florida State, Tennessee, Miami) have won the national championship within the last eight seasons.
Over the last four seasons, Bowden has won nine games over coaches who have won the national title (Bobby Bowden (three times), Phillip Fulmer, Larry Coker, Holtz (twice), Spurrier, and Howard Schnellenberger). These big wins have stimulated interest in the program. The Tigers averaged 81,000 fans per home game in 2006. Clemson has ranked in the top 20 in home football attendance each of the eight seasons Bowden has been at Clemson, and six of the top-10 average attendance seasons have come during his tenure.
With Clemson's selection to the 2004 Peach Bowl, Bowden became the first head coach in Clemson and ACC history to take a team to a bowl game in each of his first five seasons. In fact, no coach had ever done so more than twice to open his career at Clemson. Under Bowden's direction, Clemson had also appeared in the Peach Bowl in 1999, the Gator Bowl in 2000, the 2001 Humanitarian Bowl, the 2002 Tangerine Bowl, the 2004 Peach Bowl, and the 2005 Champs Sports Bowl prior to its invitation to the 2006 Music City Bowl.
The 2004 Peach Bowl appearance meant that it was the first time since the senior class of 1991 that Clemson went to a bowl game five consecutive years. Clemson's red-shirt seniors of 2003 were the first group he recruited, so it is an indication of the firm foundation his first group set. In December of 2003, Bowden cemented his place at Clemson by signing a seven-year contract, which will go through 2010.
The 2003 season was a breakthrough year in many ways. Clemson earned its highest-ever victory over a ranked team with a 26-10 win over #3 Florida State. The Tigers also defeated #24 Virginia in a thrilling overtime contest. The 39-3 victory over a bowl-bound Georgia Tech team was Clemson's largest victory margin in the series since 1900 as well.
The 2003 victory over Florida State, Clemson's first in 12 tries since the Seminoles joined the ACC, was the beginning of a four-game winning streak to close the season. In those four games, Clemson outscored its opponents 156-48, an average score of 39-12. Clemson defeated arch-rival South Carolina in Columbia by a score of 63-17. It was the most points ever scored by a team in the 101-game series and the Tigers' largest victory margin in the series since 1900.
The season concluded with a 27-14 win over #6 Tennessee, the highest-ranked team Clemson has defeated in a bowl game since 1981, when the Tigers defeated #4 Nebraska in the Orange Bowl to claim the National Championship. As a result, Clemson finished the season with nine wins and a #22 final national ranking.
Over the final four games of the season, Bowden defeated two coaches (Bobby Bowden, Holtz) who had already earned 200 wins to become the first coach in NCAA history to beat a pair of 200-game winners in a month's time. He also registered wins over three coaches (Bowden, Holtz, Fulmer) who had previously won a national title.
The 2002 season included victories over bowl teams Georgia Tech and Wake Forest, and a third victory in four years over arch-rival South Carolina. Clemson gained 434 yards of total offense in the 27-20 win over the Gamecocks, the most yards against Holtz's defense all season.
The 2002 Clemson defense featured two of the top 21 players in the nation in terms of interceptions per game. Miller had eight interceptions, best among all freshmen nationally, and Brian Mance had six in an All-America season. The defense was one of the most improved units in the ACC and ranked in the top 10 in the nation in interceptions (21).
Clemson had another record-setting season in 2001, a season that culminated with a Humanitarian Bowl victory over Louisiana Tech. Clemson set school records for points scored, touchdowns, and total offense in a bowl game in the victory.
The 2001 season demonstrated Bowden's ability to win in the long run, as he had the second-youngest "two-deep" in the ACC. Thirty-four of his top 44 players were underclassmen. Only Duke had a younger group of top 44 players. Fourteen different freshmen saw action in 2001, including 10 who played in at least 10 games.
Bowden has a 60-37 record (.619) as the Tigers' head coach and is 78-41 (.655) overall. He has recorded that ledger against a difficult schedule. In his first year, Clemson's schedule was ranked in the top 10 in the nation. In 2001, his team defeated five teams that finished with a winning record, tied for the third-highest single-season figure in school history. One of the victories was a 47-44 overtime triumph at #9 Georgia Tech. It was the highest-ranked road win in 20 years for the Clemson program. In 2003 and 2004, Clemson's schedule strength once again ranked in the top 25 by the Sagarin rating. The 2005 team faced five top-25 teams in the regular season, a first in school history.
When Bowden came to Clemson in 1998, he inherited a team with a 3-8 record. By late October of 2000, just 14 months after his first game, Clemson was ranked #3 in the nation in the USA Today poll after an 8-0 start. That ranking was the highest for the program in 16 years. The final #14 ranking in that same poll was the highest final listing for the program since the 1990 season.
Making a swift improvement is nothing new for Bowden. In 1997, he took over a 4-7 Tulane program and brought the Green Wave to a 7-4 mark in his first year. In 1998, the improvement continued with an 11-0 regular season and #7 national ranking. In 1999, Bowden elevated the Tigers from 3-8 to a bowl game and a 6-6 final record. The 2000 Tigers concluded the season with a 9-3 record, their highest win total since 1993.
Considerable improvement is a common phrase for Bowden-coached teams. In each of his first four years he coached at the Division I level, his team showed at least a three-win improvement over the previous year, believed to be a first in Division I history. Bowden is just the third coach in history to bring the Tigers to a three-win improvement in consecutive years and was one of just two Division I coaches to do it over the 1999 and 2000 seasons.
In 2000 and 2001, his dynamic offense produced a Heisman Trophy contender in quarterback Woodrow Dantzler, who placed his name next to 52 school records. In 2001, Dantzler became the first quarterback in Division I history to accumulate 2,000 yards passing and 1,000 yards rushing in a single season. Dantzler was named a semifinalist for the Davey O'Brien Award in 2000 and 2001.
Center Kyle Young was a finalist for the Rimington Award in 2000 and 2001, and won the ACC's Jim Tatum Award, presented to the league's top student-athlete. He was one of eight players nationally to receive a National Football Foundation Scholarship and became just the second offensive lineman in college football history to become a three-time first-team Academic All-American. Linebacker Chad Carson also performed well in the classroom and on the gridiron. He and Young were first-team Academic All-American selections in 2000 and 2001.
Bowden's second Clemson team was one of the most decorated in history. Six different Tigers were finalists or semifinalist for national position awards, including linebacker Keith Adams, who was one of three finalists for the Butkus Award.
When Bowden arrived at Clemson, he had one simple goal - improvement. Bowden warned Tiger supporters that Clemson was unlikely to be a bowl participant in 1999, but his main focus was to improve. Bowden's goal of improvement was reached, and he was happy to be wrong about his preseason prediction, as the Tigers were invited to the 1999 Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl.
In 1999, Bowden accomplished a personal milestone that no Clemson coach had attained since 1981, the year the Tigers won the National Championship. He became the first Clemson coach since Ford to be named ACC Coach-of-the-Year.
Bowden led the Tigers to a 6-6 record and 5-3 mark in the ACC against the nation's seventh-toughest schedule according to the Sagarin rating. The Tigers finished tied for second with Georgia Tech and Virginia in the final ACC standings, a six-place improvement over the previous season, the greatest one-season jump in ACC history in league play.
The Tigers also made a four-game ACC-win improvement in 1999. It was just the fifth time in ACC history that a team made that big of a league victory jump. Bowden had taken over a team with a losing record and brought it to a bowl game in his first season, just the sixth coach in ACC history to accomplish that feat.
The Clemson program set or tied 41 school records in Bowden's first year, including 26 on offense. Ironically, Bowden's first Tulane team set or tied 26 offensive school records.
The improvements in the ACC standings were thanks in large part to an innovative offensive attack. The Clemson offense ended the season averaging 402.6 yards per game, nearly a 100-yard per game improvement over 1998. The Tigers scored 26.8 points per game in 1999 compared to 19.8 in 1998. Clemson's 42 touchdowns in 1999 were fifth-most in school history.
Under Bowden, Clemson continued its strong defensive tradition. With 47 sacks, Clemson was first in the ACC in that category for the second-straight season, and the final total established a school record. Three players (Adams - 15.5, Carson - 12.0, Robert Carswell - 10.8) all had nearly 11 tackles per game in 1999 to rank among the top-four tacklers in the league.
Adams, a sophomore that season, finished with 186 tackles, highest in the nation, and broke the Clemson single-season tackle record held by Anthony Simmons. They all contributed to the 17th-best pass efficiency defense in the nation, a unit that had 19 interceptions, ninth highest in the country.
Thanks to the wide-open offensive attack, several Clemson players made their presence felt in the national rankings and the Clemson record book. Junior wide receiver Rod Gardner became the school's first 1,000-yard receiver. Gardner had 80 receptions for 1,084 yards, Tiger single-season records in both areas. He was 17th in the nation in receptions per game, with a 6.6 mark. He had another 1,000-yard season in 2000 when he was a first-round draft choice of the Washington Redskins.
Four of Clemson's losses in 1999 came against teams ranked in the top 15 of the final AP poll. Bowden Bowl I, the first-ever meeting between father and son head coaches in college football history, took place on October 23, 1999. Bowden faced his father Bobby's top-ranked Florida State team in Death Valley in front of a national television audience. The Tigers lost a tough battle to the eventual National Champions, 17-14, the closest margin of victory for the Seminoles and the fewest points they recorded all season by two touchdowns.
Making strong improvement in his first year with a program was nothing new for Bowden. In the two seasons he was the head coach at Tulane, Bowden took a team that had been 4-18 in the two years previous to his arrival, and emotionally and numerically reversed the team's fortunes with an 18-4 record, posted an 11-1 conference mark, and finished the 1998 season ranked #7 in the nation by both polls. Tulane and Tennessee were the only undefeated teams in college football in 1998.
His Tulane team averaged 39.7 points, 5.1 touchdowns, 463 yards of total offense, 270.5 yards passing, and 192.6 yards rushing. The Green Wave averaged 6.3 yards per play, and converted on third down 47 percent of the time. Some say the most telling statistic in terms of wins and losses along with the most telling statistic when it comes to coaching ability is turnover margin. They were fifth in the nation in turnover margin each of his seasons at Tulane.
It did not take Bowden long to put Tulane back on the college football landscape. In his first year, Tulane was picked last in the preseason polls of Conference USA. But he led the New Orleans-based school to a 7-4 record, a second-place conference standing with just one league loss, and set 33 school records in the process, including 26 on offense.
Tulane's accomplishments on offense were noteworthy in 1997, but its offensive numbers reached uncharted areas in 1998. Tulane stood as the only school in the nation that averaged over 300 yards per game passing and 200 yards per game rushing. The team was fourth in the nation in total offense (507.1 per game) and second in scoring (45.4 points per game).
The Green Wave scored 40 or more points in eight games in 1998, including each of the last seven games. In one game, the Green Wave scored 72 points and rolled up 704 yards of total offense. They converted 52 percent of their third-down opportunities for the season and had just 11 turnovers in over 800 plays. The 1998 season saw the program post a perfect 11-0 regular season under Bowden, its first perfect regular season since 1931. The Green Wave won Conference USA, its first league title since Tulane won the SEC in 1949. Bowden was named Conference USA Coach-of-the-Year.
His team ranked #7 in the final AP poll and was a mainstay there from the third week of the season. Tulane had not been ranked at any time since 1979, and had not been ranked in a final poll since 1973. After Bowden accepted the job at Clemson, Tulane defeated Brigham Young in the Liberty Bowl.
A look to the list of coaches who had undefeated seasons in the 1990s shows two other men named Bowden. His father, Florida State Head Coach Bobby Bowden, had a perfect regular season in 1996 and 1999, while his brother Terry posted a perfect regular season in 1993. Obviously, the Bowdens are the first family of college coaching, and this "Wonder Years" environment had a lot to do with Tommy Bowden's decision to enter coaching.
The fatherly influence of a college coach who reached 300 career wins against his son in 1999, also had an influence on other members of the family. Bobby Bowden is the winningest coach in Division I history. Terry has been a head coach at Samford and Auburn, posting a 47-17-1 record at the latter. He also serves as a commentator for Westwood One's radio college football package.
Tommy Bowden began his college football experience as a walk-on wide receiver at West Virginia. He played for his father between 1973-75 and then for Frank Cignetti during the 1976 season.
As a junior, he caught 15 passes for 189 yards and one score. Bowden remained at West Virginia for the 1977 season and began his coaching career, serving as a graduate assistant on Cignetti's staff. His interest in coaching only became more intense after that first year as a graduate assistant. His father then hired him as a secondary coach at Florida State for the 1978 season.
That experience confirmed to Bowden that he was in a profession that would be his life's work. The Seminoles posted a 19-4 mark in his two seasons at Florida State.
In 1980, Bowden joined the staff at East Carolina, where he coached for the spring-practice session of 1980. That spring, he moved to Auburn and served as the Tigers' running backs coach for the 1980 season. Among the players he coached was James Brooks, who went on to a 13-year NFL career and is still second in Auburn history in rushing.
In 1981, Bowden returned to Tallahassee as the tight ends coach. In two more years at Florida State, the Seminoles posted a 15-8 mark. The 1982 team ranked #13 in the final poll, claimed a 9-3 record, and won a Gator Bowl championship.
From 1983-86, Bowden served under Steve Sloan at Duke as the quarterbacks coach, and was named coordinator in 1985. In 1984, he made his first trip to Death Valley as a coach. Among the players he tutored was future NFL player Anthony Dilweg.
After four years at Duke, Bowden became the wide receivers coach at Alabama under Bill Curry. It was there that Bowden refined his offensive coaching prowess under noted offensive mind Homer Smith, then the Tide offensive coordinator.
In 1990, Bowden returned to a coordinator role, serving as Kentucky's offensive coordinator and wide receivers coach. That year, he helped the Wildcats to their first upper division SEC finish since 1984.
In 1991, Bowden joined Pat Dye at Auburn. He remained with the Auburn program for six years, his longest stint as a college assistant. During his tenure, Auburn had a combined record of 46-20-2, including a perfect 11-0 season in 1993. Auburn had four Associated Press top-25 seasons, including a #4 final ranking in 1993 and a #9 final ranking in 1994. The SEC Tigers were 20-1-1 in 1993-94 combined. Bowden worked under his brother Terry for his last four years at Auburn and the Tigers had a 36-9-1 record with both Bowdens on the coaching staff.
Born on July 10, 1954 in Birmingham, AL, Bowden is married to the former Linda Joan White, who he first met when the two were in school together at Morgantown (WV) High School. The couple has two children, Ryan (25), a 2004 Clemson graduate and currently a law student at Regent University, and Lauren (21), a senior at Clemson.