Ever since his hiring 10 years ago, I have, for the most part, been supportive of Clemson head football coach Tommy Bowden.

After all, I remember the disrepair the program was in prior to his arrival — a 3-8 season in 1998, a stadium half-empty (or half-full for the optimists out there) against the University of Texas at El-Paso that same year and an inability to beat Florida State on a consistent basis. Since his arrival, Bowden has never posted a losing record, made the Tigers bowl-eligible each of the previous nine seasons, beaten Florida State four of the last five years, including the last three, generated increased ticket sales and helped achieve long-needed stadium upgrades.

The Clemson football program is in much better shape now than before Tommy Bowden arrived, no doubt about it. But, as much as it pains me to say it, what success he has enjoyed with the Tigers has peaked, and the time has come for him to leave.

I don’t know when that will occur, whether it will be during the season (highly unlikely) or after the season (the more likely scenario) but there needs to be a new voice leading the troops. The demeanor of Bowden on the sidelines, that look of someone who has lost his best friend, of someone whose face shows the wear of a decade of highs and lows and the barrage of criticism that accompanies it, the look of bewilderment and frustration in his players and the perception of the program in the national media — of a constant underachiever — are more than enough reasons why his time has passed.

While Coach Bowden still has his supporters, that number is dwindling with each embarrassing performance by his team. Their reasons mirror mine — a growing disgust with a product that is regressing, rather than improving, each week, coupled with the fact that traditionally weak football programs such as Wake Forest, Vanderbilt and, in recent years, Kentucky, are passing the Tigers by.

If the problem with Bowden was simply about wins and losses, including his 3-5 bowl record, that would be one thing. But the plethora of bowls that exist in today’s college football landscape make it virtually impossible for any team, except the bottom of the barrel ones, not to go somewhere during the holidays. The problem is that Bowden-coached teams have taken fans on a rollercoaster ride for much of the past nine years (and every year since 2003) and it appears that this year, that ride is about to slow to a halt.

As if the 34-10 blowout loss to Alabama on national television to open the season, something that should never happen to a preseason top-10 team, weren’t enough, the Tigers pitiful offensive performances in the second half versus Maryland two weeks ago and Thursday night against Wake Forest were downright disgusting. You can blame injuries, and some of that is justified, but the biggest problem boils down to coaching or the lack thereof.

Bowden’s biggest albatross has been his assistant coaches — whether it was Jack Hines, John Lovett, Mike O’Cain and, currently, Rob Spence and Vic Koenning. Spence, the offensive coordinator, has continually proven that he has no clue how to utilize the talent on hand — evidenced by his pass-happy play calling in the 2006 Music City Bowl versus a Kentucky team that ranked dead last against the run and his play calling the past two weeks.

Even the ESPN announcers for the Wake Forest game were at a loss to understand why the Tigers continued to go deep downfield so many times in the second half. If Auburn could fire offensive coordinator Tony Franklin six games into this season, then Bowden should do the same. But he won’t, at least not on his own accord.

The defense must also accept its share of the blame. Koenning continues to rush three linemen at opposing quarterbacks, severely limiting any possibility of sacks, and the end result is a secondary that allows far too many third-and-long completions — something Tiger fans have witnessed far too many times this year.

But, ultimately, the buck stops with the head coach. Bowden hired his staff and has defended them up one side and down the other. A mark of a great coach is hiring good assistants and that is one lesson Bowden, with the exception of Rich Rodriguez, has never learned from his daddy — legendary Florida State head coach Bobby Bowden.

The players have also been disappointing, to say the least. Quarterback Cullen Harper, who was mercifully benched by Bowden on Friday in favor of redshirt freshman Willy Korn, throws too many interceptions because too many of his pass attempts are the equivalent of trying to fit a square peg in a round hole. Standout wide receiver Aaron Kelly hasn’t helped matters by dropping passes, and I would certainly like to know what has become of fellow wide receiver Tyler Grisham.

The offensive and defensive units are, to put it kindly, too soft. That could be a reason why Clemson players are usually the ones getting physically punished by opponents, rather than the ones administering the punishment.

But the players, and even the assistant coaches, should be a reflection of their head coach, and this head coach is simply not doing the job. Considering that his annual salary is $1.8 million, not including the $4 million payment he will receive per the terms of his buyout, more is and should be expected of Bowden. Fans are frustrated at a level not seen since 2003, and I would argue that the sentiment that exists now has even surpassed that season.

Tiger fans are sick and tired of being a laughingstock to the rest of the nation — on national television, in newspapers and magazines and to opponents who glee at this team’s and this program’s inability to get out of its own way. While football in Tigertown isn’t as bad as it was in the 1990s, especially 1998, the best way to describe the program is mediocre — not good and not terrible, just mediocre. However, if this current staff, including its head coach remains in place, I’m afraid it will dip below mediocre to the level that N.C. State and North Carolina have found themselves in during recent seasons.

At least, head coaches Tom O’Brien and Butch Davis are making strides with the Wolfpack and Tar Heels, respectively, and the hiring of David Cutcliffe at Duke is further proof that the coaching talent in the ACC is rising and that Clemson must get on the train or fall further behind. The train of talent, coupled with facilities improvements, doesn’t mean a thing if the wrong conductor is driving it.

Clemson fans are accused of being spoiled, but considering this program hasn’t won an ACC title since 1991, hasn’t had a 10-win season since 1990 and hasn’t appeared in a BCS bowl while Wake Forest, Boise State and Utah have in recent years, I don’t think there’s been enough success to justify that assumption. What Clemson fans should be accused of is being tired of mediocrity, tired of excuses from its coaches, tired of a defeatist attitude exhibited just from looking at the demeanor of its players and coaches and tired of a coaching staff that exhibits the true definition of insanity, continually trying the same things — the bubble screens, the go-for-broke pass plays and the lack of defensive pressure — while expecting different results.

The legendary late Clemson head coach Frank Howard once quipped that he retired because of health reasons, the reasons being that the alumni were sick and tired of him. That now applies to Bowden, and that’s why the administration must step up to the plate and make the unpleasant but necessary decision to relieve him of his duties at least by the end of this season. The players deserve better, the fans deserve better but, most importantly, the Clemson football program deserves better.