Clemson fires head football coach West
Posted: Thursday November 19, 1998 01:50 AM
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Tommy West: "I wanted Clemson and its football program to be perceived as a first-class, top-of-the-line football program and I think we have done that" AP |
CLEMSON, South Carolina (AP) -- Clemson coach Tommy West promised he would never quit on his team, and he didn't. Instead, he was fired Wednesday after a 2-8 season, the Tigers' worst in 23 years.
West will stay to coach Clemson's year-ending rivalry Saturday against South Carolina.
"It's kind of ironic," West said as he left the practice field. "I promised them I would never quit, made them say, 'Yes sir, we'll never quit.' I've been fired, but I haven't quit yet since I've got another game left."
West will be paid the $325,000 contract buyout negotiated this past summer. The school said it will be paid from athletics funds, not from general monies or booster funds.
"We appreciate the time, energy and effort that coach West and his staff have given Clemson and we wish him the best in the future," athletic director Bobby Robinson said.
After West met with the reporters, he walked over to his wife Lindsay and got hugs from her and his 10-year-old son, Turner. A group of 15 to 20 people applauded West as he walked off.
His future has been the hottest Clemson topic since Virginia Tech routed the Tigers 37-0 on September 12. With each loss, West's hold slipped a little more.
A search for a new head coach would begin immediately, Robinson said. Among the names mentioned as a successor have been Tulane's Tommy Bowden, Virginia Tech's Frank Beamer, its offensive coordinator Rickey Bustle and former coach Danny Ford, who brought the Tigers their only national championship in 1981.
West said he disagreed with the decision, but understood why it was made. "It was a business decision," he said. "They made the decision and I can live with that."
At the end of last season, West was given a contract extension through 2001 and a $5,000 base salary increase. But the terms made it easier for the school to buy out the contract if things did not work out.
Coming into this season, West was 27-20 at Clemson and had taken the team to three straight bowl games. But as the losses have mounted, so have fans' calls for West's departure, just as they soured on Ken Hatfield before him.
"I wanted Clemson and its football program to be perceived as a first-class, top-of-the-line football program and I think we have done that," West said.
West, 44, who is 34-35 overall, came to Clemson in November 1993 after just a year at Tennessee-Chattanooga.
His first game was in the Peach Bowl just a month after accepting the job. The Tigers won, 14-13 over Kentucky, but Clemson has lost its past three bowl games, including a 41-0 drubbing at the hands of Syracuse in the 1995 Gator Bowl.
In many fans' minds, West was the spiritual heir to Ford, under whom he had served as an assistant. West had left Clemson in 1989 when Ford and his entire staff were dismissed.
West once said that during his first year people often would look at him like Ford's assistant -- but he made clear he wasn't the little boy who had grown into daddy's job.
Copyright 2003 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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