Assistants’ loyalty to Bowden paying off

ATLANTA – When Dabo Swinney decided to leave real estate and return to football coaching in the winter of 2003, he took a $100,000 pay cut.

What’s more, he chose to climb aboard a Clemson ship that was taking on water. The Tigers had just absorbed a humiliating 55-15 defeat to Texas Tech in the Tangerine Bowl, and head coach Tommy Bowden was looking over his shoulder going into his fifth season.

“Everybody told me I was crazy for coming,” Swinney said. “They told me when I came here that I’d be looking for another job in six months.”

Swinney uses that snapshot to shed light on a more recent experience. After the 2006 season, Swinney was one of six Clemson coaches presented with opportunities for major raises elsewhere.

Five rolled the dice by remaining with Bowden, whose job security was considered tenuous entering 2007.

As the No. 15 Tigers seek their first 10-win season in 17 years Monday against No. 22 Auburn in the Chick-fil-A Bowl (7:30 p.m., ESPN), the assistants are able to reflect on the payoff with a mix of validation and relief.

After flirting seriously with Arkansas earlier this month, Bowden locked up a long-term contract extension with a hefty buyout. His assistants began to breathe easier knowing their job security improved as a result.

“I had been here since 1999 and seen how far we had come as a program,” said defensive assistant Ron West, who accepted a job coaching the offensive line at West Virginia last January before changing his mind. “I thought we were so close to getting this thing to explode, the volcano erupting, that I felt like it was worth staying and letting it happen.”

Bitter disappointment marked the end of the 2006 season, as Clemson lost four of its last five games to finish 8-5 and wipe out the optimism that was rampant after a 7-1 start. Bowden’s assistants were nevertheless in demand, with all but three receiving serious overtures during a month-long span that followed their Music City Bowl loss to Kentucky.

Offensive coordinator Rob Spence rebuffed Alabama and Minnesota; defensive coordinator Vic Koenning had serious discussions with Oklahoma State; Swinney was offered a $100,000 raise to return to his alma mater, Alabama; West Virginia’s Rich Rodriguez offered West a raise of more than $60,000 to be the Mountaineers’ offensive line coach; running backs coach Burton Burns was presented with an $80,000 pay increase to go to Alabama; and defensive line coach Chris Rumph was approached by South Carolina defensive coordinator Tyrone Nix about returning to his alma mater and also getting a salary boost.

In the end, Burns was the only departure. The other five took a leap of faith, knowing full well the ramifications of things turning sour in Bowden’s ninth year.

Swinney ended up staying after athletic director Terry Don Phillips answered by offering a promotion to assistant head coach, a multi-year contract and a pay increase of $60,000 annually.

“When you’re in this profession, every year is a gamble,” Swinney said. “You roll the dice every year, because ultimately people say all the right things but judge you by the scoreboard. But Tommy Bowden is a good gamble for me every year. I’ll put my money on him.”

For the third straight season, the Tigers fell agonizingly short of playing for their first Atlantic Coast Conference title since 1991. But a 9-3 regular season, capped with Bowden’s seventh victory over USC in nine tries, produced a feeling of progress as Clemson looks ahead to a 2008 season that is already pumped with promise.

“I think it’s a reflection of this place,” Bowden said. “It’s a pretty good place. And (with) my management style of delegation, I think a lot of coaches feel comfortable with that. But this is a really good place to coach.”

Spence is expected to provide further affirmation of that today. After interviewing with Tennessee coach Phillip Fulmer last week for the Volunteers’ vacant offensive coordinator position, Spence has given Bowden the impression he intends to remain with the Tigers. Spence is expected to make it official today at a previously scheduled bowl press conference.

Spence was not available for comment Friday, but a few weeks ago he reflected on the assistants’ loyalty to Clemson after the disappointment of 2006 season, and their commitment to helping the Tigers fulfill their aspirations.

Clemson is putting the finishing touches on reworked contracts for Bowden’s assistants.

“There’s more to this game, more that goes on than just coaching football,” Spence said. “The coaches, by their level of commitment and staying, taught a lesson to those that they lead by staying. By no stretch was it easy for each one of us to make that decision. But I know that each one felt it was the right decision after they thought about it.”

It took West a while to realize he’d made the wrong decision by joining his old buddy Rodriguez at West Virginia. A day after his hiring with the Mountaineers was announced, West had strong misgivings and asked Bowden if he could have his old job back. Bowden accepted.

West, a reserve offensive lineman at Clemson in the late 1970s, said all five coaches realized staying was as risk.

“All of that entered our minds, but we felt good about our odds,” he said. “We had the opportunity to work for a good man, and we didn’t want to give up on the program and all the hard work we had put into it.”

When Alabama coach Nick Saban offered him a position as the Crimson Tide’s receivers coach and co-offensive coordinator, Swinney felt the tug of home. The Birmingham native grew up pulling for Alabama, played there and coached there.

Taking a huge raise and returning to his alma mater made sense. But not as much as remaining at Clemson.

“It’s not about what that checking account says if you’re not happy,” he said. “I just saw no reason for me to leave here. We’re happy. The coaches are happy. Our wives are happy. People are happy here, and that’s a compliment to coach Bowden and Terry Don and the environment they’ve created for us to work in.”