Assistant Rich Rodriguez decided to stay at Clemson instead of leaving for Texas Tech's head coaching job.
"I couldn't say too much because it was his decision," Bowden said Monday. "But I think this was the right thing for him and his career."
Not that Texas Tech, searching to replace Spike Dykes, didn't give Rodriguez first-class treatment during a Dallas interview and two visits to Lubbock, Texas since the Tigers' regular season ended Nov. 20.
Rodriguez felt his immediate future was in Clemson.
"I've been very fortunate that I've had some people call and say we're doing a good job here," Rodriguez said. "I think we have some good things going for us right now."
And a big one is Rodriguez, who Bowden says gives him and the team a "comfort level" heading into next season.
The Tigers ranked next to last in the Atlantic Coast Conference in offense a year ago at more than 304 yards a game. Bowden and Rodriguez's high-power attack bettered that by about 100 yards this season, ranking third in the league behind Georgia Tech and Florida State.
The Tigers passed for 2,713 yards this season, an all-time school record, and still have a game left against Mississippi State in the Peach Bowl on Dec. 30.
Clemson's offense improved in nine statistical categories this past season compared with 1998.
Rodriguez, who joined Bowden at Tulane before the 1997 season, was generally viewed as the can't-miss candidate for Dykes' job.
One newspaper report had the school offering the position to the 36-year-old Rodriguez as soon as state law allowed at 5 p.m. Tuesday.
But Rodriguez says there were too many things going right at Clemson, both with his family and professionally, to get him to leave right now. Rodriguez says he told Bowden and Texas Tech officials Monday.
Texas Tech athletic director Gerald Myers had said the three front-runners for the job were Rodriguez, Oklahoma offensive coordinator Mike Leach and New Mexico State head coach Tony Samuel.
But Samuel withdrew his name from contention last week and Leach has said he didn't expect to be interviewed.
Texas Tech did everything it could to make Rodriguez feel welcome and wanted. "I kept going back and forth about it," he said. "It was a very, very tough decision for me."
And if Clemson keeps getting better, Rodriguez knows he'll have some coaching value in the future.
"My goal is to be a Division I head coach," Rodriguez said. "I may get another chance down the line."
It's easy to pick Rodriguez out at Clemson practices. He's the loudest, wildest, most animated person there, getting in players' faces and sometimes hauling them off the field.
"It's important that our players share the same sense of urgency we do," Bowden said, laughing.
It would have been a blow to Bowden's young program to lose Rodriguez. But the coach said he had several candidates on staff familiar with the offense and his coaching style, including former South Carolina coach Brad Scott, that he could have promoted.
But Bowden says Rodriguez's return means players like quarterbacks Woody Dantzler and Willie Simmons should improve even faster. "Everybody will work a little harder, they'll get a little more efficient," Bowden said. "They won't have to get used to someone else, even if they knew him before."
