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| Is Barker Doing Push-Ups? |
Goal 1: Win Another National Championship In Football
Clemson has not only failed to win another National Championship in Football under the leadership of James Barker but has also failed to so much as win the Atlantic Coast Conference. The program has also failed to win 10 games in a season, which has been accomplished by every team in the ACC this decade sans UNC, UVA and Duke. The crowning achievement of this ten year period is a Peach Bowl victory over Tennessee and advancing to the ACC Championship Game last year. It is safe to say that Clemson will fall short of Barker's goal as Clemson was out of the national championship picture this year after dropping their second game of the season in Week 4. Even if a goal of winning another National Championship is a bit ambitious, Clemson under Barker hasn’t even gotten remotely close to achieving this goal over the last ten years.
| Years | Wins | Losses | Ties | Win % | ACC Titles | 10 Win Seasons | National Championship |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1980s | 86 | 25 | 4 | 75% | 5 | 4 | 1 |
| 1990s | 69 | 47 | 1 | 59% | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| 2000s | 79 | 47 | 0 | 63% | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Goal 2: Go To 2 Final Four’s in Men’s Basketball
Clemson has also failed to go to two Final Four’s under the leadership of James Barker. I will be the first to admit that this goal was ambitious considering the fact that Clemson had not been to a Final Four in their history prior to Barker taking over in 2000, but Clemson again has not even come close to accomplishing this goal. Clemson not only hasn’t gone to a single Final Four, but hasn’t been to an Elite Eight, Sweet Sixteen or Round of 32 either. The crowning achievement since 2000 has been 3 NCAA Tournament 1st Round exits. Again, by pretty much every metric, Clemson under Barker has failed to even get close to achieving this goal.
| Years | Wins | Losses | Win % | NCAA Births | NCAA Wins |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1980s | 176 | 127 | 58% | 3 | 3 |
| 1990s | 164 | 143 | 54% | 3 | 2 |
| 2000s | 178 | 139 | 56% | 3 | 0 |
Goal 3: Win 2 NCAA Championships in Olympic Sports
This goal is the only goal that Clemson has any chance of achieving under Barker, but Clemson will have to pick-up another National Championship to go along with the National Title that Men’s Golf won in 2003. A closer look at the Olympic sports programs under Barker show that overall Olympic Sports programs are on weaker footing now than they were prior to Barker talking over in 2000.
The Men’s Baseball and Men’s Golf programs are the two programs that have found success under Barker, although, both also had a lot of success prior to Barker. Baseball has been to 3 CWS since Barker took over in 2000 after going to 4 CWS in the decade prior to Barker. The program has remained on pretty solid ground not really getting any better, but not getting any worse either. The golf program was strong throughout the decade prior to Barker taking over in April of 2000 having won the ACC 3 times. The program continued that strength in the early part of Barker’s tenure winning the ACC in back-to-back years in 2003 and 2004, along with a National Title in 2003. However, the program has taken a minor step back in recent years failing to win the ACC since 2004. The only program to really show marked improvement over the last decade compared to the previous decade is Women’s Tennis.
On the other hand Men’s Soccer, Women’s Soccer and Women’s Basketball have really fallen off the cliff in recent years. Men’s Soccer won the National Championship in 1984 and 1987 to go along with numerous ACC Championships and Tournament Appearances in the 80's and 90's. Since then, Clemson has only been able to manage a single ACC Championship since 2000, which happened in 2001, to go along with a Final Four appearance in 2005. The Tigers have had losing records in the last 3 seasons and project to have their 4th losing season in a row. They are currently sitting at 3-7-2 on the season.
Women’s Soccer was founded in 1994 and found immediate success going to the NCAA Tournament every year from 94 until 07. Since then, the Lady Tigers have only had ONE victory against an ACC team since 2007. The current squad is also currently on a 10 game losing streak after winning a combined 8 games in 2008 and 2009.
The Women’s Basketball team under Jim Davis's leadership went to the NCAA Tournament every year except 1995 including an Elite 8 and 3 Sweet 16 appearances in the decade of the 90s. The program nosedived after Davis was fired and haven't gone to the NCAA Tournament since 2002 nor have they had a winning record since the 2003-2004 season.
A couple other programs who have not seen the same success under Barker are Men’s Track and Field and Men’s Tennis. Men’s Track and Field won the ACC Indoor Track & Field Championships 7 times and the Outdoor Track & Field Championships 5 times in the decade of the 90's. The success continued early in the 2000's, but Clemson, despite still being a good program, hasn’t won the Indoor Championship since 2002 and hasn't won an Outdoor Championship since 2004.
Men’s Tennis, which was dominate in the 80's winning the ACC 9 times, hasn’t been able to duplicate that success under Barker failing to win a single ACC Championship in the 2000's. The Tigers have only had one winning record in the ACC in the last 5 seasons, a 6-5 mark in the 06-07 season.
Overall, Olympic Sports have gotten worse under Barker in the last decade, and it looks like Barker will again fall short of a very realistic and attainable goal of winning two National Championships in Olympic Sports.
| Years | ACC Regular Season Championships* | ACC Championships | National Championships |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1980s | 20 | 40 | 2 |
| 1990s | 9 | 27 | 0 |
| 2000s | 4 | 15 | 1 |
All Signs Point to 0 for 3 on Barker's Athletic Goals
All signs are pointing to Barker going 0 for 3 on his personal goals for athletics, and although failure is never acceptable, it is easier to accept if the person responsible for achieving these goals is doing everything possible to make sure that these goals are accomplished. However, looking at Barker’s actions, I do not see a person who is doing everything in his power to achieve these goals. Barker never had a solid plan to accomplish any of these goals and never did anything to adjust and modify course when it looked like the Clemson might need a change of direction to accomplish these goals. Barker has even instituted policies that are counteractive to achieving these goals like the AARC, which made recruiting quality players harder, and siphoning almost three million dollars a year from the AD and moving it to the general academic fund.
The support simply does not exist from Jim Barker for Clemson to reach its potential athletically. Over ten years have passed since Barker was named Clemson’s President, and the time has come for new leadership. Clemson needs a leader that will continue the progress of the university academically as well as rebuild the athletic department and improve the university athletically. Clemson has the greatest fans in the country, and they deserve the best leadership. They deserve a President that will work to bring Championships to Clemson and not a President that gives lip service to wanting a championship caliber athletic program, but is unwilling to do anything to facilitate winning.
Great article, but you failed to mention Swimming's success or none successes under Barker.
ReplyDeleteThanks.
i don't even think golf is technically considered an olympic sport, so 0-2 on that one.
ReplyDeletePresident Barker has done a very good job elevating Clemson’s national reputation. He wanted top 20 and got to #22 from 38 ten years ago. Clemson is first and foremost an academic institution and that is and should be the first priority. Of course the quality of the entertainment Clemson can offer to their alumni and other fans matters. It is a huge source of revenue and can’t be ignored or discounted.
ReplyDeleteMy observation is that TDP is not the man for the job and Barker unconditionally supports him. I think TDP prefers to bring kids to Clemson who will benefit from the exposure to an excellent academic institution and then to see them succeed later in life. That is a good motive and the benefit of college athletics for 99% of student athletes. Achieving your maximum potential is also what sports teaches and that is where TDP does not succeed. He also is not a good administrator.
If anyone looks closely at how the swim team decision was so thoroughly botched, along with the Bowden, Purnell and other decisions, they will see he does not have the total skills needed to operate a national sports program. By allowing TDP to stay in such an important role, President Barker hurts what would otherwise be a very good record.
I am hoping someone is sending this to Barker. I wish someone would interview him on the state of Clemson athletics and bring to his attention the utter demise of a once prominent athletic program under his and TDP's watch. It seems that both Barker and Terry Don want Kobe beef on McDonald's value meal prices.
ReplyDeleteAll Olympic Sports including Swimming were included in the table.
ReplyDeleteIf you look at sports like swimming and cross country on the surfurce in terms of Championships neither has really accomplished much in either the decade previous to Barker or the decade after Barker, so it isn't really crucial to the arguement in either a positive or negative way.
Dr. Phillips has said, ..."please know that I talk very little about championships - however, I do speak about performance consistency. The championship talk comes primarily from others - however, competitive consistency is the key toward championships."
ReplyDeleteBefore the majority of Clemson's teams can be consistenly competitive they first have to get to where they are competitive.
Didn't mention swimming which was very successful in the 80's (2 Olympians and multiple ACC individual champions),somewhat in the 90's, and although not placing high at ACC's recently, still had a number of All Americans, and the 2008 ACC Woman Swimmer of the Year.
ReplyDeleteBarker announced on April 30th- through AD Terry Don Phillips- the phasing out of swimming over the next 2 years with no prior warning (after classes were out and only 16 swimmers present). The process was flawed and based on poor information, and inaccurate data.
Meanwhile, swimmers dominated the ACC Honor Roll, leading all Clemson sports with 49% of the team named, had 12 4.0 scholar athletes, 5 Academic All ACC students, and once again, the women had the highest GPA among all teams- not to mention leading all sports in community service. Additionally, both teams posted multiple NCAA B cuts- this was a young group building for success.
The swim team boasted 2 years of top 25 recruiting classes (2008-2009, despite a substandard aquatic facility). Even after the announcement, only 1 woman transferred and 1 recruit went elsewhere- on the men's side, everyone, including the entire recruiting class, remained. This alone says a great deal about the character of the young men and women on both teams- they define the true scholar athlete.
Barker's decision, and the process by which he reached it, is everything that is wrong with big time college athletic departments.
As the parent of a swimmer, TDP and Barker's decision making sickens me. Clemson truly is a special place - academics, the traditions, the setting, the size of the school, the positive energy on campus, and even the athletic facilities. Every kid on the team had multiple options of which school to choose PRIOR to choosing Clemson and most had options to leave AFTER the 4/30 announcement. However, the unity of the team is probably why most chose Clemson to begin with.
ReplyDeleteStudent Athletes are incredible individuals who lead schedules that administrators can only imagine.......and they still maintain 3.0+ TEAM GPA's.
I am so proud of the way our kids have handled this situation and I am convinced the team will go out in style.......with or without the support of TDP or Barker.
I've only been involved directly with Clemson and Tiger athletics for 2.5 years. The academics and spirit of not only the athletes but the entire student/parent/alumni is incredible! How the heck do we continue to tolerate "lip service" and the complete lack of leadership and vision that Barker and Phillips exhibit? Apparently they have never fully understood that winning creates opportunity, opportunity for the level of donation and funding that they apparently desire and hold precious. Cutting back on programs is the last thing that should be considered. Parents/alumni of these non-revenue sports are HUGE donors when it comes to participating/supporting all Clemson foundations whether it is a sport or academic mission. Non-revenue sport athletes typically come from wealthier backgrounds and are by far more likely to contribute both time and significant dollars when called upon. Unless of course you dismiss their contribution to the Tiger legacy as meaningless, then it will be left to Barker & Phillips to figure out "what went wrong" and a continuing decline in larger donations.
ReplyDeleteYou also failed to mention the Women's Rowing program. The program started in the mid-90's and has seen greater success every season, with there best year coming in 2009 with a ACC Team Championship, 12th overall finish in the NCAA Championships and an individual national champion in the Women's 4+. However, this program has had an unusual amount of coaching turnover despite its success, and there are some controversial allegations surrounding some of the coaching departures. The success of this program can also be linked to Title IX. As the swim team gets shown the door by Barker and TDP, the rowing program continues to get new facilities and better equipment on a yearly basis to balance out the spending on football.
ReplyDeleteDid you really just bemoan 3 measley million being put towards academics?
ReplyDeleteOne thing I would also like to chime is on is the ACC in general.
ReplyDeleteI would like to think our administration would at least be open to the idea of actively looking into going to another conference, specifically the SEC.
While I reconize I may have my orange glasses on, I feel that Clemson is always on the bad end of horrible calls whether it be football, basketball, and even baseball (just think back to the Duke 'rain delay' disaster and the Duke basketball game when the time keeper didn't start the clock with a few seconds left and we lost).
We always take it on the chin, the ACC will make a formal apology, but that doesn't change the fact it counts as a loss. I would like to see our AD step up the plate and publicly stand up and say enough is enough (Ron Cherry, need I say more). Clemson brings a lot to the table and in fact it is my personal opinion the ACC benefits a lot more of us being in the conference than we do from being in it.
I realize that the SEC is a tough conference, but I believe all of our sports will transition well into it. These are just my personal thoughts, thanks to the creators of this site for allowing a medium for constructive thoughts on our athletics, specifically Barker and our AD.
If sports is most important then the SEC is better. If academics and overall ratings of the conference are most important then the ACC wins easily.
ReplyDeleteUS News' rankings show the ACC has an average ranking of #48 (Clemson is #64) with 10 of the 12 schools in the top 75. The SEC has an average ranking of #99 with only three schools in the top 75.
To go to the SEC would require that Clemson commit even more resources to sports. I think most graduates of Clemson prefer academic achievement and overall value of their degree to be most important.