Dabo Swinney went to the athletic director’s office expecting a pep talk. He got a battlefield promotion. Tommy Bowden, who’d coached Clemson for 9 ½ seasons, had resigned under pressure that morning in October 2008. Swinney figured AD Terry Don Phillips would say, “Do the best you can and try to get the next guy to keep you.”
Instead Phillips said (according to Swinney): “I’ve watched you for 5 ½ years, and I think you’re ready for this job” – meaning interim head coach.
Swinney wasn’t Clemson’s offensive or defensive coordinator. He was the recruiting coordinator and receivers coach. That Philips soon made him permanent head coach called to mind Georgia’s naming of Ray Goff – a running backs coach and recruiting coordinator – as Vince Dooley’s successor. Meaning: A choice made not with the head but the heart.
Goff lasted seven seasons. He should have been fired after five. He wasn’t ready and never grew into the job. Not long into his career as a head coach, Dabo – let’s dispense with calling him “Swinney,” since nobody does – seemed just another overmatched recruiter, a Goff or a Ron Zook. His Tigers lost four of their first five games against Georgia Tech. When finally they won the ACC, they were beaten 70-33 by West Virginia in the Orange Bowl.
As Ray Goff became Ray Goof, Dabo was seen as something of a dodo. A nice guy, yes. A demon recruiter, yes. But a builder of great teams?
On Wednesday, the day before No. 1 Clemson was to face Oklahoma in the College Football Playoff, the accidental coach was asked if he’d ever felt in over his head. Dabo offered a lengthy answer, as Dabo tends to do. The abridged version:
“There was a moment. (The promotion to interim coach) happened on a Monday, and I’m pretty sure I didn’t sleep Monday and Tuesday, and then Wednesday there was a lot happening in a short amount of time. I come to the office on Thursday morning. It was about 5:30, and I probably had about two hours of sleep and I just was overwhelmed when I got up. It was dark and I was driving to work. I always pray when I go to work, and I had a moment of just, ‘Man, I don’t know if I can do this.’ I mean, I was just worn out, emotional and all those things …
“I pulled into the parking lot. I had prayed all the way to work for wisdom and confidence and clarity, and my lights hit the curb, and the No. 88 lit up on the curb in that particular parking spot – that was my college number – and it was just like God was tapping me on the back, putting His arms around me and saying, ‘Listen, I’ve got you. You’re right where I want you to be, and don’t doubt that. Let’s just keep moving forward.’
“I called my wife when I got in that morning to let her know that, and I really didn’t have any doubt. I just got my mind back on what He called me to do and went back to work.”
The Lord, it must be noted, helps those who help themselves. After the 70-point Orange Bowl, Dabo fired defensive coordinator Kevin Steele and hired Brent Venables away from Oklahoma. (Small world, eh?) Venables’ defense ranked No. 1 in the nation last season; it’s No. 7 now. When offensive coordinator Chad Morris left last winter for SMU, Dabo promoted Tony Elliott and Jeff Scott to co-coordinators. The Tigers ranked 58th in total offense in 2014; they’re 11th now.
As much as social media loves Dabo’s goofy postgame “dabbing,” there’s a gravitas to him that wasn’t evident in previous years. He no longer acts surprised when his Tigers beat somebody good. (His response to the 25-24 victory over LSU in the 2012 Chick-fil-A Bowl was the definition of “over the top.”) He recruits talented players and develops them. He replaced Tajh Boyd, the best quarterback in school annals, with Deshaun Watson, who’s even better.
In sum, Dabo has become a darn good coach. He’s 46 and he has grown into a job even he didn’t think he’d get. He was a walk-on at Alabama who worked his way into a scholarship, and he has worked like crazy to justify Terry Don Phillips’ leap of faith. Clemson isn’t here in spite of Dabo Swinney; it’s here because of him.
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