This is gonna be a long post but stick with me.
Dabo Swinney has done something we haven’t seen in the sport ever. Or at least not in 50+ years. He, with zero coordinator or head coaching experience, took over a barely middle of the pack program and got the university to believe in him and his vision with nothing to go off of. It wasn’t just winning games. When he took over Clemson needed massive improvements to facilities and the coaching and recruiting budget etc. Because of that. He built a multiple time championship program in the peak of the Nick Saban Alabama dynasty. Beating multiple blue bloods and massive programs along the way. That’s unheard of in this sport and with Clemson’s fall these past couple years, Dabo really isn’t appreciate for what he did at Clemson and the time that he did it.
Dabo is a first gen college graduate who was a walk on at Bama. His mom was homeless at one point so he had her live with him in his dorm room. He fought and clawed his way every single step of the way to get to where he is today. That is why he had such a passion for the education part of CFB and the doors it can open for players. Because of what it did for him personally.
And that was awesome in the 2000s when he became the Clemson head coach. That was the foundation of his program and his amazing ability to build relationships. It’s how he talked recruits into coming to that tiny school in update South Carolina.
But in the 2020s. CFB has changed more drastically I think than any of us thought it would 5 years ago. CFB is not about using the sport to get an education anymore. It is about using school for players to showcase their talents and get paid. The paradigm has shifted. Which I’m not mad at them for. Coaches, Dabo included, have gotten generational wealth off the labor of players for decades.
So while Dabo wants players at Clemson that want to be at Clemson. Not to chase a pay day…. Dabo, what if I told you those two things don’t need to be mutually exclusive? If Clemson quit paying you tomorrow, would you stay in your job with all the heat and pressure it brings? If Clemson went out and was aggressive with NIL Pay Days- plenty of players would love to run down that hill on Saturdays.
I love Dabo. He deserves a statue at Clemson. The economic impact he has had on the city and school far outweighs whatever he is paid.
He has changed the lives of hundreds of young men. Just listen to what his players and former coaches that have worked under him say about him and his character and how much he cares about them as men.
But with all that said. I do think this may be Dabo’s last year at Clemson. It may be best for Clemson football for him to step aside and let a new generation of life into the program. Do what Saban did at Bama. Stay connected to the program. But realize when maybe it’s best to step aside. Even Spurrier at UofSC recognized it. Granted he did it at an idiotic time, but he still understood it. Dabo will be at Clemson as long as he wants to be. His seat will never get hot from Neff bc even though we like to act like the world is burning, Clemson is top 10 in wins this century. It isn’t like Clemson is a 6 win program. This isn’t a he should be fired post. This is a Dabo should do the hard thing- the thing that is best for Clemson. And retire.
Anywho who cheers for Clemson or isn’t a troll knows how much he is loved and appreciated. This is not an attack on Dabo the man. The man who his players love, who raises millions every year for breast cancer, the man who is the most accomplished active coach in the sport.
But the sport he wants to coach, the sport Mack Brown wants to coach, the CFB of the 1990s-2010s. Isn’t the sport it is today.