Tommy West
"WHAT TOMMY SAID"...
Year-By-Year with Tommy West Year
School (assignment)
Record
Bowl
Conf. Finish
1979
Ole Miss (running backs)
4-7-0
-
7th
1980
Appalachian St (receivers)
6-4-0
-
3rd
1981
Appalachian St (Offensive Coor.) 3-7-1
-
7th
1982
Clemson (OLB)
9-1-1
-
1st
1983
Clemson (OLB)
9-1-1
-
NA
1984
Clemson (OLB)
7-4-0
-
NA
1985
Clemson (OLB)
6-6-0
Independence
3rd
1986
Clemson (OLB)
8-2-2
Gator
1st
1987
Clemson (OLB)
10-2-0
Citrus
1st
1988
Clemson (OLB)
10-2-0
Citrus
1st
1989
Clemson (OLB)
10-2-0
Gator
3rd
1990
Tennessee (running backs)
9-2-2
Sugar
1st
1991
Sou. Carolina (Defensive Coor.)
3-6-0
-
NA
1992
Sou. Carolina (Defensive Coor.)
5-6-0
-
4th (E)
1993
UT-Chattanooga (Head Coach)
4-7-0
-
8th
1993
Clemson (Head Coach)
1-0-0
Peach
NA
1994
Clemson (Head Coach)
5-6-0
-
6th
1995
Clemson (Head Coach)
8-4-0
Gator
3rd
1996
Clemson (Head Coach)
7-5-0
Peach
2nd
1997
Clemson (Head Coach)
7-5-0
Peach
5th
1998
Clemson (Head Coach)
3-8-0
-
NA
2000
Memphis (Defensive Coor.)
4-7
-
T7th
2001
Memphis (Head Coach)
5-6
-
T7th
West's Bowl Participation
1974
Liberty Bowl
1990
Sugar Bowl
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Gator Bowl
Gator Bowl
○
1973
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Astro-Bluebonnet Bowl
1989
As a Head Coach 1993
Peach Bowl
1995
Gator Bowl
1996
Peach Bowl
1997
Peach Bowl
Independence Bowl
1986
Gator Bowl
1988
Citrus Bowl
1989
Citrus Bowl
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○
○
○
○
○
○
1985
○
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As an Assistant Coach
○
○
○
○
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1972
○
○
○
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As a Player
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(Q&A with Tommy West following spring practice 2002.) About the U of M offense: "I really like the "spread" offense and the more we practice it, the more I like it. It allows us to be aggressive on offense by putting pressure on the defenses we face. This offense allows us to use tempo and our skill athletes to attack the entire football field." About the U of M quarterback Danny Wimprine: "I thought that Randy (Fichtner, Offensive Coordinator) did a really good job of bringing Danny along last season. When we opened the season, he was not ready to be the starter. We worked him behind Travis Anglin and Neil Suber and by mid-season, he was getting more and more reps. Once he became the starter, you could see him improve from game-to-game as he picked up the offense and learned to read the defense. This past spring he did a great job. He improved his short throws and gained more accuracy on his deep balls. In fact, Danny didn't throw an interception until the final series of the spring game." About the U of M offensive line: "I think that as we started to improve last season, it was because of the improvement of the offensive line. We made some changes in the line early in the fall and really had a good group of players in place by the latter part of the season. In fact, we did not give up a quarterback sack during the final four games of the 2001 season. We have several of the veterans back from last season including Jimond (Pugh) at center, Wade (Smith) at left tackle, Doug Whittaker at right tackle and Joe Gerda at guard." About the U of M defense: "This football program has always taken a great deal of pride in their defensive unit and for many years, the defense has been nationally ranked in numerous categories. We were young last year having lost six starters from the 2000 unit. We had three new starters in the front, a new inside linebacker and two new starters in the secondary. Now we have eight starters back for 2002 and quite a few young players who were able to see action last fall. I look for us to be a more aggressive defense with a great deal of speed." About the U of M kicking game: "Again, we were young last year on our special teams. We had to play two true freshmen with our punting unit and early on it showed. I made it a goal of recruiting this past winter to shore-up the special teams units and I believe that we did just that. James Gaither is back as our punter (he received freshman AllAmerica and all-conference honors) but we signed another punter, another deep snapper and a kicker among our class of 2002. I think that the best way to improve is to have competition at every position. About the first year's freshman class: "I'm very happy with the 2002 class. It's a tribute to the hard work of the staff that we signed such a great class. We have been ranked in the top 50 by two national recruiting services and number one in Conference USA. If you can keep having the top recruiting class in your league, then it stands to reason that soon you should start winning the conference championship. It was pleasing to land the top defensive player in the state of Tennessee (Willie Henderson), the two-time Atlanta Offensive Player of the Year (Maurice Avery), the top running back in Arkansas (DeAngelo Williams), the top tight end prospect in Louisiana (John Doucette) and one of the nation's top junior college receivers (Tavares Gideon)."
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