``Oh yeah, I heard that a lot,'' said Spiller, a junior.
Now, only days away from his 10th season, the coach some Clemson fans love to complain about isn't going anywhere. Bowden's contract ties him to the school through 2014, and he has the backing of his bosses and some of the slickest talent in college football.
But he doesn't have a championship, which is likely what keeps his coaching seat hot at No. 9 Clemson no matter how many blue-chipper players he attracts.
``The objective in this profession is to win, win championships and win national championships and I've done neither,'' Bowden said. ``You'll face the question of, 'He's a nice guy who comes in second.' You'll always face that until you change the facts.''
Only modern program patriarch Frank Howard and national championship icon Danny Ford have walked the sidelines at Death Valley longer than Bowden, who admits it's a tough profession to say in for 10 years.
He would know. Bowden watched his father, Florida State coach Bobby Bowden, hung in effigy by impatient West Virginia fans in the 1970s. He saw his brother Terry get chewed up by some Auburn supporters two decades later. Another brother, Jeff, left the Seminoles as offensive coordinator when wins didn't come as quickly as people wanted.
When it comes to quick-trigger coaching casualties, ``underline and put in the parentheses, a lot,'' Tommy Bowden said.
This might be Bowden's most pressure-packed season.
The Tigers are preseason favorites to win the Atlantic Coast Conference championship. Quarterback Cullen Harper, and runners James Davis and Spiller finished 1-2-3 for the league's preseason player of the year. At ninth in the national rankings, Clemson is at its highest starting spot since 1991 the same year of the school's last ACC crown.
The Tigers open the season Saturday night against No. 24 Alabama in the Georgia Dome. While Clemson might get the analysts edge on several positions, almost every breakdown would give the coaching check mark to the Crimson Tide's Nick Saban.
Saban, who won a national crown at LSU, admires Bowden and doesn't put much stock in past successes or failures.
``This game is what it is right now, and they've done a really good job in recruiting,'' Saban said. ``I know they haven't won a title yet, but they've knocked on the door a couple of times.''
ESPN analyst Lee Corso likes how Bowden's built his team, and the athletic department's support.
``The guy's a competitor. He did an outstanding job at Tulane and now he's done a nice job at Clemson,'' Corso said. ``If (Bowden's) senior leadership plays up to their potential, he could win it all over in the ACC.''
Clemson fans have waited on that since Bowden came to Clemson in 1998 after leading Tulane to an undefeated season.
The Tigers were 8-0 and No. 5 in the country in 2000, but they lost three of their final four games and started a stretch of mediocrity (20-18) that lasted until the middle of the 2003 season. And when Clemson fell 45-17 at Wake Forest, the ACC doormat Tiger fans had reveled in a pounding each season.
But Bowden's patience bore fruit. A week later, he topped No. 3 Florida State for his first Bowden Bowl victory over his father, who said pointedly in post-game comments that if Clemson didn't want his son as coach, plenty of other schools would call.
Clemson finished with four straight wins, and he got a long-term contract.
Two years later, Bowden's position again looked shaky after the Tigers started 7-1 and reached No. 10 in the country then lost four of their final five games to miss out on the ACC title game.
Another second-place finish last fall again revived talk about whether Bowden were the right coach to help the Tigers win a championship.
Clemson leaders believed in him and awarded him a new contract that locks him in through 2014. It will cost Clemson $4 million if the school and Bowden part ways after this year.
Still, talking with reporters earlier this month Clemson athletic director Terry Don Phillips was asked what the school would do if Bowden didn't win. ``Tommy Bowden is our football coach,'' Phillips answered, ``and we're going to go on down the highway.''
ESPN analyst Todd Blackledge says Clemson's leaders share Bowden's vision and that's kept them from knee-jerk changes. ``It's not something you see all the time these days in college football,'' he said. ``The pressure to win makes that difficult.''
Tommy Bowden's just as frustrated as Tiger fans are with Clemson's stumbles and close calls. He compared his goals to any profession that gives out a top award. ``You'd all like to have that award, and if you said you didn't, you'd probably be lying,'' Bowden says. ``Well, I wouldn't be any different. In this profession, you eventually want to be the champion, you're disappointed when you're not and you keep working hard until you get it.''
Clemson football coach Tommy Bowden
http://accesswdun.com/article/2008/8/212753