Note: The following appears in the Texas A&M gameday football program.
Editor’s Note – This story was written by former Clemson Sports Information Director Brent Breedin, who serviced the athletic department in that capacity from 1951-55.
At Clemson, seasons that end with a nine have been incredibly eventful. There have been 12 seasons in school history that have ended in nine, and eight of the 12 have seen a head coach in either his first or last year with the program.
We have had Clemson’s first bowl team and first top-20 squad, three top-12 seasons, Clemson’s first bowl win over a top-10 foe and the program’s first ACC Atlantic Division championship.
With a No. 1 preseason ranking for the first time in 2019, hopefully that trend of firsts continues. Another national championship would make Clemson just the third program to win the national championship (AP) three out of four years, joining Notre Dame (1946-49) and Alabama (2009-12).
Here is a rundown of the “9” seasons that have had a significant impact on the program’s 124-year history.
1899
Engineering Professor Walter Riggs, who coached the Tigers’ first season in 1896, also coached the 1899 squad when the athletic department ran out of funds for a full-time head coach. He actually coached the Tigers without pay! Clemson’s 4-2 record was outstanding, but there was a 34-0 loss to an Auburn team coached by John Heisman. Having followed Heisman’s career, Riggs persuaded Clemson to hire Heisman as his replacement for the 1900 season. Four years later, Georgia Tech hired Heisman away from the Tigers after a 73-0 Clemson win over the Yellow Jackets. Two years later, Heisman beat the Tigers 17-10. He is one of the first examples of how coaching makes a difference.
1909
Clemson’s 1909 team under Bob Williams posted a 6-3 record. The season was highlighted with back-to-back shutout wins over South Carolina (6-0) and Georgia (5-0). It is the only time Clemson has had a shutout victory over South Carolina and Georgia in one season.
1919
Clemson finished the 1919 season with a 6-2-2 record, the best winning percentage (.700) for a Tiger team during the first 32 years of the program. The only two losses were to Georgia Tech and Auburn, who finished the 1919 season with a combined 15-4 record.
1929
Josh Cody brought Clemson to a new level between 1928-30, totaling eight wins each season, the only time Clemson had three straight seasons of 8+ wins until 1977-79. The 1929 team featured Covington “Goat” McMillan at tailback and Bob Jones at end. Both went on to be assistant coaches at Clemson under Jess Neely and Frank Howard.
1939
Five years of IPTAY support culminated in Head Coach Jess Neely’s ninth Clemson team, a squad that had a record nine wins behind All-American Banks McFadden and All-SoCon selections Joe Blalock, Shad Bryant and George Fritts. The only loss (7-6) that year took place at Tulane. The No. 12 Tigers’ season included a victory over No. 11 Boston College and Head Coach Frank Leahy in the Cotton Bowl. Leahy is still the second-winningest coach in college football history on a percentage basis, trailing only Knute Rockne. Clemson’s final ranking for 1939 is listed as No. 12, but there was no post-bowl poll in those days. Clemson would have been ranked much higher had there been a poll in January 1940. Neely left Clemson for Rice at the end of the season, leading to the hiring of Assistant Coach Frank Howard, who served as the leader of the program for a record 30 years.