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Danny Ford led Clemson to its one and only national championship in football in 1981, coaching a total of 11 seasons in Tigertown. He compiled a 96-29-4 (.760) record at Clemson, including a 6-2 bowl record. He was the third winningest coach in the country on a percentage basis after the '89 season. Ford also coached 21 All-Americans and 41 players who went on to play in the NFL.
After graduating from Gadsden High School in 1966, Danny Lee Ford was an All-SEC selection on the field and off the field under Paul "Bear" Bryant at Alabama, where he played in three bowl games. He received a bachelor's degree in industrial arts in 1970 and later received a master's degree in special education in Tuscaloosa in 1971.
After nine years as an assistant coach, Ford had an auspicious beginning to his head coaching career. He debuted with a 17-15 win over Ohio State in the 1978 Gator Bowl. The 30 year-old coach, youngest in Division I at the time, also defeated a college football legend in a contest that truly put Clemson football on the map, as he beat Woody Hayes in the latter's last game.
"When Coach Ford was named coach at Clemson, there were mixed emotions," recalls Jeff Davis, a Clemson Ring of Honor member. "It was obvious that he had so many things to offer. And what he lacked he made up for in working harder than anyone else and communicating his expectations to the players. He blossomed as well as any coach could."
In 1981, Ford helped Clemson reach the summit of college football by winning the National Championship, the first by any Clemson team. His Tigers, who were unranked in the preseason, downed three top-10 teams during the course of the 12-0 season that concluded with a 22-15 victory over Nebraska in the Orange Bowl. Ford, National Coach-of-the-Year in '81, is still the youngest coach to win a national championship on the gridiron. He also led Clemson to a 30-2-2 record between 1981-1983, best in the nation.
Clemson won three straight ACC titles under his guidance between 1986 and 1988. In '89, Clemson registered a 10-2 season and top-12 national ranking for the fourth straight season. Ford, who always wore a block "C" cap on the sideline, closed his career with a 27-7 win over West Virginia in the Gator Bowl. In the decade of the 1980s, Clemson had the nation's fifth-highest winning percentage.
Davis remembers how Ford influenced his life. "Coach Ford had a unique way of conveying a message to his players. He expected his players to have a great work ethic. Because of that, he enabled me to go beyond what I thought I could do. I was also able to effect many others in the same way."
Ford, 51, and his wife, Deborah, have four children, Jennifer, Ashleigh, Elizabeth, and Lee.
