FORMER HEAD COACHES Frank Dobson (1911-13) Frank Dobson was a professional baseball player before coming to Clemson, as he was the property of the Pittsburgh Nationals. Walter Riggs, President of the Clemson Athletic Association, thought it was unfair to keep shuffling coaches year after year. Riggs offered Dobson a three-year contract, which was the first contract offered and signed by a Clemson coach in any sport. At Clemson, Dobson coached football, basketball and baseball. He was Clemson’s first basketball coach, leading the Tigers to their only undefeated season in history in the inaugural season 1911-12, (4-0). In 1912-13, Clemson finished the basketball season with a 9-5 record. He was head baseball coach in 1911-1913. John Erwin (1913-15) John Erwin is one of only two former players to serve as coach in Clemson basketball history. During his two years as coach, he led Clemson to a 4-8 record overall. In Clemson’s first game ever on February 9, 1912, his brother James scored 58 points against Butler Guards, still an all-time single-game scoring record. He scored all 58 points on 29 field goals, no free throws. He played the center position for the Tigers. John and his brother were also tennis standouts at Clemson. A.H. Ward (1915-16) Audley Ward was a professor in agronomy and farm machinery at Clemson. During the 1915-16 season he coached the team on a volunteer basis and the Tigers had a 2-6-1 record. Country Morris (1916-17, 1919-20) In the fall of 1916, Morris was an assistant football coach and head coach of both the basketball and baseball teams. After the 1917 footballl season he enlisted in the Navy for World War I. Upon his discharge in 1919, he came back to Clemson to coach the baseball and basketball teams. After leaving Clemson he was an athletic director, coach, and manager of pro baseball teams. He also coached sports at the University of Maryland. Morris had a fine 16-8 record in his career, including a 10-3 record in games played at Clemson and 13-1 in the months of February and March. Jiggs Donahue (1917-19) Edward Donahue had to be one of the most organized men in the country. During the 1918-19 school year, Donahue was head coach of four Clemson sports: football, basketball, baseball, and track. During his four years at Clemson, he was basketball and baseball coach for two seasons, and head track coach for one season. He was an outstanding athlete at Washington & Lee, as he played in the backfield on the football team and played catcher on the baseball team. Upon graduation, he was an assistant coach in football and head coach in baseball and basketball. At Clemson, Donahue had a 6-3 record, including 5-0 in games played in February. Larry Conover (1920-21) Conover was a line coach for the Clemson football team in addition to serving as head basketball coach. He played center for Penn State’s football team and lettered in football in 1916 and 1917. Conover had a fine 10-4 152
mark at Clemson, including a perfect 6-0 in games played at Clemson. E.J. Stewart (1921-23) E. J. Stewart was head football coach for two years at Clemson, 1921-22. However, he coached more than one sport during his stay at Tigertown. In the spring of 1921, Stewart coached the baseball and track teams while conducting spring football practice. In the fall, Stewart’s football team went 1-6-2, but he improved to a 5-4 slate in 1922. He went on to coach the track teams in 1922 and 1923. He also coached at Nebraska and the University of Texas. At Nebraska, he led the Cornhuskers to a combined record of 11-4 in 1916-1917. They also won the Missouri Valley Conference title both seasons. After leaving the University of Nebraska, he entered the automobile business as President and Treasurer of the Stewart Motor Co. Because of the economic conditions at the time, he decided to go back into coaching. At Clemson, he had a 19-19 record, including 12-6 in the month of February and 12-7 at home. Bud Saunders (1923-25) Bud Saunders graduated from Missouri in 1911, with a bachelors degree in Law. At Missouri, he played football and basketball. He wanted to play two other sports, but a conference rule at the time forbid an athlete from participating in more than two sports. Saunders was football coach at Knox College before coming to Clemson. In football, Saunders coached for four seasons, 1923-1926. He also coached the basketball teams in 1924 and 1925. His best season in football came in 1923, as he led the Tigers to a 5-2-1 slate. He was 6-28 as a head basketball coach at Clemson. A.A. Gilliam (1925-26) Gilliam was an assistant football coach for the Tiger football team and coached the freshmen team in 1925. As Clemson’s head coach the Tigers had a 4-17 record. Josh Cody (1927-31) Josh Cody, fondly known as “big man,” will always be a favorite to Clemson fans. Cody, a big man in stature at 6-2, 220 pounds, led Clemson to victories over South Carolina for four straight years in football. He is the only coach in Clemson history who has been around more than two years who never lost a football game to South Carolina. He also defeated Furman three straight years. Cody had a 13-0-1 record in home games and had a 72 percent winning mark overall, fourth best in Clemson history. Cody coached Clemson for five seasons, the longest tenure for a Clemson basketball coach in the first 25 years of the sport at Clemson. He had a 48-55 record, including 32-13 at home. Cody passed away on June 17, 1961. Joe Davis (1931-40) Joe Davis was a graduate of Southwestern University of Memphis. For 36 consecutive years Davis and former Clemson Head Football Coach Jess Neely were one of the most acclaimed coaching tandems in college football, nine years at Clemson and 27 seasons at Rice. Davis became Neely’s chief football aide in 1931 at Clemson. He also coached the basketball team, compiling a 10186 record in nine seasons. He left Clemson as the school’s all-time winningest basketball coach and is still fourth in Clemson history in victories. Davis still has the best winning percentage in road games in Clemson history, as his 4452 road mark was a 46 percent winning mark. His best basketball season was the 1934-35 team that finished with
a 15-3 record overall for a .833 pct, an all-time Clemson record. At Rice he coached basketball for six seasons and won or shared three consecutive SWC championships in 194345, then added another tri-championship in 1949. The 1945 Rice team, led by two-time All-American Bill Henry, finished with a 20-1 record and is generally recognized as one of Rice’s greatest teams ever. Rock Norman (1940-46) Rock Norman was one of the state of Virginia’s great natural athletes during his day and one of the greatest produced by Roanoke College. Norman spent 51 years in the coaching profession, 34 of them coaching track, basketball, and football at Clemson, The Citadel, Furman and the University of South Carolina. His last college experience was an 18-year stay at Clemson where his track teams won 49 meets and lost 24. At one time his teams won 17 consecutive meets. He spent six seasons as head basketball coach at Clemson, a position he also held at three other colleges. Norman won state track titles at Clemson in 1940, 41, 42, 43, 49, 51, 57. He has been enshrined in the South Carolina Athletic Hall of Fame, the Roanoke College Hall of Fame and the Clemson Athletic Hall of Fame. On the hardcourt, Norman had a 32-70 record at Clemson. Banks McFadden (1946-56) McFadden was a consensus All-American in both football and basketball in the same calendar year (1939). He is the only Clemson athlete to accomplish this feat and is one reason he was named the nation’s most versatile athlete for 1939. McFadden was elected to the National Football Hall of Fame in 1959 and received the Distinguished Alumni Award form Clemson in 1966. He was a charter member of the Clemson Athletic Hall of Fame and South Carolina Athletic Hall of Fame. He is the only Clemson player to have his jersey retired in two sports. He was the top scorer and All-American on Clemson’s only conference postseason basketball championship team (1938-39). McFadden coached the Tigers for 10 years, tied for the longest tenure in Clemson basketball history. He was Clemson’s coach when the Tigers entered the ACC and he had an 85-131 overall record. His best season was in 1951-52 when the Tigers had a record of 17-7, a 71 percent winning percentage. That team had an 11-4 conference record, still the most wins in school history in league play. McFadden’s Tigers improved their league record five straight years between 1948-52, the first coach in NCAA history to do that. He passed away in June, 2005. Press Maravich (1956-62) Press Maravich was the first coach in school history to guide the Tigers to the championship game of the ACC Tournament. Clemson made a dream run in 1962, Maravich’s final year at Clemson. He defeated four top 20 teams in his career, the first Clemson coach to beat a ranked opponent. That first ranked win came in his first year, a 96-94 overtime win against eighth-ranked N.C. State.