Oh, don’t be thrown by the title of this column. I’m not saying Clemson should fire Tommy Bowden. Not necessarily, anyway. We’re among friends, though, so let’s talk – was this Saturday’s game not typical?

The Tigers’ shameful second-half performance Saturday was in so many ways a microcosm of Bowden’s nearly 10-year tenure. It reeked of ill-preparation, inexplicable deviations from previously successful schemes and an overall lack of consistency.

It was several months ago when I called out South Carolina’s Steve Spurrier for making statements I believed were mere mechanisms of deflection – ways to talk about things other than the Gamecocks’ failures.

Bowden, it seems, is no different. Sports writers and fans have been subjected countless times over the years to Bowden’s references to teams like Southern California, Georgia and Texas and some of their struggles. He’s even gone so far as to say that he was “in the same situation that Mack Brown and Mark Richt are,” when defending another less than impressive performance.

Can we be honest here? Bowden, while never directly placing the blame on others’ shoulders, has always found a way to insulate himself from criticism in one way or another. He went through a period of time in which he changed coordinators like most of us do boxer shorts. He’s conjured up statistics to divert the public’s attention from his overall record. He’s tried to lower the bar and provide a readymade excuse by noting teams’ dismal records that have shared the 2008 squad’s offensive line situation. He’s compared his shortcomings to powerhouse programs’ losses. He’s made it the players’ jobs to motivate themselves. While he has in fact verbally taken responsibility for Clemson’s failures, he has been nearly politician-like with his deft touch in the field of damage control.

My point is this – it’s time for a change. Bowden’s hands-off coaching style, in which success is almost solely predicated upon the delegation of responsibilities to capable assistants, is not working for Clemson. There is no motivation. There is no intensity. There is no urgency. There must be a change. Either Bowden adopts a new coaching philosophy that involves more physicality, intensity in schematics as well as motivation, and more hands-on coaching, or Bowden has to go. There must be no more finesse, no more excuses. No more deflecting or dismissing of criticism.

Clemson University is not getting a fair return on its multi-million dollar investment. The Tigers’ football program is currently being held hostage on one side by an unjustified buyout clause and by mediocrity on the other. Clemson donors, fans and alumni must ask themselves some tough questions. Firstly, has Bowden peaked in Tiger Town? Is this, as all indictors strongly point to, the best anyone can realistically expect the Tigers to be under Bowden? And if he has peaked, is this level of success something you Tiger fans are comfortable with?

Bowden has been given 10 years to prove that his style of coaching will work at Clemson. It doesn’t. Now he must show his ability to adjust. Can he give this squad a tougher persona? Can he stop using national championship programs with which Clemson has nothing in common as points of reference to somehow substantiate desperate excuses?

The point is, we’ve all seen Bowden’s ability to recruit, to spur fundraising efforts, to improve facilities. We’ve also been made fully aware of his abilities as a politician.

Now Bowden must prove himself a coach, and not just a coach’s son.