More on Mount ACCMore
The argument for Bobby Bowden's inclusion on our Mount ACCMore - the Mount Rushmore of Atlantic Coast Conference sports greats - is that he was somehow responsible for where ACC football is today.
To me, that line of thinking does a disservice to two Clemson coaches who I see as having laid down the foundation for ACC football.
Frank Howard won six conference titles in the first 15 years of league play - and set the bar high for Ford, who later led the Tigers to the 1981 national championship.
It was Howard's teams who established the reputation of Memorial Stadium being Death Valley; it was Ford who made Clemson the standard-bearer of ACC football, to the point where schools up and down Tobacco Road did their best to keep up with what Clemson was doing in terms of its stadium amenities and training facilities.
Their legacy was so strong that Ford's successor, Ken Hatfield, got fired after four seasons because he was only able to win 71 percent of his games.
That Bowden and his Florida State program came in at the tail end of Hatfield's tenure is interesting in terms of the timing.
The Howard-Ford connection set the standard for ACC football for the better part of four decades. Bowden has a couple more to go before he can approach their influence on the conference.
- Chris Graham