After he graduated, Hatfield immediately started coaching.  His first head coaching job was at Air Force in 1979.   And, in 3 years Hatfield posted a 8-5 record.  The following year, Air Force went 10-2, winning their first bowl game in 11 years.  On that note, Hatfield would leave to coach at Arkansas, but the excellent season gave him Coach of the Year honors (1983) and set-up a future dynasty for his successor, Fischer DeBerry.

Hatfield brought his success at Air Force to Arkansas from 1984-1989 posting a record of 55-17-1.  In 1988 and 1989 Hatfield won 10 games and the SWC championship.  He seemed destined for a very successful coaching career at Arkansas, but Hatfield saw a bigger opportunity on the horizon.

Hatfield seemed to be a perfect fit for Clemson.  In 1990, we had just fired their football coach were in need of a proven winner - Hatfield was a proven winner.  Clemson was an option school - Hatfield ran the option.  Clemson was one of the premier programs in America and liked to pay good coaches a lot of money - Hatfield, who wanted to coach at a school with such prestige, liked money.  The match was clear, and Clemson hired Hatfield as their coach for the 1990 season.

However, Ken Hatfield picked a bad time to take the Clemson job.  Clemson now had high expectations.  In the four years prior to 1990, Clemson won 3 conference championships and 4 bowl games with a record of 38-8-2 (finishing in the top 20 every year).  

More bad news for Hatfield, the Clemson fans were used to a good-ol' boy for a coach.  Ford was beloved at Clemson, and the mysterious firing of him left the fans hostile.  Moreover, Hatfield had a very different personality from Ford.  He often rubbed people the wrong way -- coming off as a bit of a jerk.

Despite all of this, the first two years of Hatfield's reign were great seasons.  Even though some Clemson fans were expecting a national championship for 1990 because of the sheer talent on the team, the Tigers still finished 10-2 with the 2nd ranked defense in the country.

But, then came the horrific year of 1992.  Starting January 1st, the Tigers lost the Citrus Bowl to California 13-37 which snapped a winning streak of 5 bowl games..  Also, at the beginning 1992 season, Florida State joined the ACC (signifying an extra Clemson loss and no ACC championships every year ever since).  Combine that with a losing season (with two losses at the very end of the year to a Maryland team that finished 3-8 and rival South Carolina), and you have a bus ticket out of town for Ken Hatfield as far as Clemson fans are concerned.

After another disappointing season, Clemson fired Hatfield.  But, his short career at Clemson is far from forgotten.  He is usually regarded as the most despised coach in Clemson history.  The name Hatfield around Clemson is 4-letter-word.  My friend Roy sums up Clemson's attitude perfectly saying, "Everything that Danny took 10 years to build -- that man destroyed in 4."  However, Hatfield was very much a victim of circumstance.  Anyone who followed Coach Ford after the way he was fired and didn't win a national championship, would have been seen as a failure.  Hatfield had the terrible task of following the great Danny Ford.  

Bio found: Clemson Tiger Tales