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The most important day of his professional life, Clemson's receiver coach wore jogging pants and a sweatshirt. At the 7 am staff meeting which did not seem to be different from any other 7 am staff meeting that preceded it, he gave daily devotion because it was his turn . "There was not one thing that seemed out of place or strange," he says now.
The date was October 13, 2008. It was a Monday. Last Thursday, the Clemson team expected to win the first ACC title among the Tigers since 1991 had lost 12 to 7 at Wake Forest, falling to 3 to 3 this season. In his office that morning, the Clemson head coach learned a lesson he would always take with him. "You can not lose to Wake Forest on Thursday night," says Tommy Bowden. "You can not do that."
Bowden had first met Athletic Director Terry Don Phillips around six in the morning. Although semantics remain open to debate, most of the conversation is not. Phillips had the intention to dismiss Bowden at the end of the season. After thinking for a moment about what Phillips had said, Bowden met his boss again. "If I'm the reason we're not successful, I have to retire now," Bowden recalls. Then the two men began to discuss who would lead the Tigers for the remaining seven weeks of the season. "I said," I would recommend Dabo myself. When I said that, he just sat in his chair and calmed down, said Bowden. "I could tell that I had somehow started to buckle it."
The Tigers had two former senior coaches. Offensive line coach Brad Scott led the South Carolina program from 1994 to 1998. Defensive coordinator Vic Koenning was the head coach of Wyoming from 2000 to 2002. Bowden had just recommended Dabo Swinney , the 38-year-old receiver coach who joined Clemson in 2003 after two years selling commercial real estate. Swinney, a former Alabama walk-in receiver who only started coaching to be sacked from his alma mater with the rest of Mike DuBose's staff at the end of 2000, had not been a coach. Chef nowhere. He had not even been a coordinator. But Phillips had been watching Swinney for five years as well. This idea was not as shocking as Bowden had supposed.
It was a shock, however, for Swinney. He and the other Clemson assistants were summoned back to the staff meeting room around 10:30 am. Bowden told them that he had resigned. "Then he goes out and Terry Don comes in," says Swinney. Phillips repeated what Bowden said. Then he pointed to Swinney. "Dabo, you're in charge," said Phillips. "You call all the shots. I need to see you in my office in five minutes. Then Phillips was gone and all the coaches stayed.
"Suddenly the room has become completely silent," says Swinney. "Everyone is watching me." Swinney told everyone to behave well. He would meet Phillips and report.
In the five minutes before the announcement of the news and the meeting with Phillips, Swinney called his wife Kathleen. "We were fired," he told him. "And it's getting worse. I am acting. "
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You already know how this story ends. Swinney ends up keeping the job and becomes the best coach in Clemson's history. When he celebrates 10 years of becoming Acting Coach Saturday – the only Saturday of the season's Tigers – he will do so with four titles in ACC and a national title in the trophy category. . But before returning to the age of 38 who just announced what he thought was bad news for his wife, let's explore some alternative delays that have almost become reality.
In early 2007, Clemson's offensive coordinator, Rob Spence, was in high demand. He declined the offer to become the offensive coordinator of Minnesota. He also refused to become Nick Saban's first offensive coordinator in Alabama. As National Signing Day approached, Lane Kiffin, the new Oakland Raiders coach, wanted to talk to Spence about the offensive coordinator position. Bowden, fearing to lose Spence, told Swinney that he was next in the list of offensive coordinators.
It was around this time that Saban – who had already mentioned coach Clemson's half-Burmes Burns offerings – called Swinney, whose recruiter reputation extends well. beyond North Carolina. Saban offered Swinney a coaching position and the title of Pass Game Coordinator. Larry Williams, then writing for (Charleston, S.C.) Post and Mail, reported that Alabama had offered Swinney a contract worth $ 230,000 a year, with an incentive program that could bring Swinney's total compensation to $ 300,000. Swinney earned $ 135,000 a year in Clemson at the time.
Bowden could not match the salary, but he could get closer. He knew he would also need a title to soften the deal and keep Swinney. Scott, the former head coach of South Carolina, was already an assistant coach. "J & # 39; had associate head coach, "said Bowden with a chuckle. "Do not ask me what it is." The title may not have a precise definition, but it had the desired effect. "Tommy had promoted me. I knew that I had the opportunity to grow with him. He had verbalized his plan for me, "says Swinney. "I did not know Nick. There were more unknowns. I did not know most of the employees he was putting up. "
Imagine a world in which Swinney accepts Saban's offer. Swinney and Kirby Smart would have been coaches to the position in 2007. Alabama's recruiting machine, which was about to build a great class all-time in 2008, would have undoubtedly added the best recruiter to the South before this recruitment cycle. Clemson would have replaced Bowden by someone else and, given the success rate of the recruited coaches, this person would probably no longer coach at Clemson. Assuming that Captain Applewhite, the offensive coordinator, also left after the 2007 season as he had done in our calendar, Swinney would likely have held the position of offensive coordinator in Alabama in 2008, when Smart became defensive coordinator. Swinney, along with all the good young assistants who worked for Saban in Alabama, would have been vying for a head coach position at one point.
Where could he have finished? Presumably he would have stayed in the South. Would he have replaced Urban Meyer in Florida after season 10? Or will Muschamp follow season 14? Would he have been hired in Tennessee after Kiffin's release in January '10? Or after Derek Dooley's shot after season 12? Could he have been a candidate in Auburn after the dismissal of Gene Chizik? (Smart was.) Or would he have been hired to direct the show to Clemson after Bowden's successor was (most likely) fired?
We will never know because Swinney said no to Saban. But this is not the last time Swinney has nearly left Clemson. Eleven months after refusing his Alabama position, Swinney was in Myrtle Beach, S.C., observing the practice of a high school star game when his phone rang. It was Bowden. Go back to Clemson, said Bowden. Bowden was about to take the Arkansas post and he was not sure he would take everyone with him. But he knew that he wanted to take Swinney. So Swinney drove five hours through the state. He told his wife, who started to prepare to move. Swinney was sleeping, assuming he would be in Fayetteville the next day. The Arkansas plane was in Clemson, just waiting to recover Bowden and all the staff he had decided to bring. The next morning, Swinney woke up ready to call the pigs. But Bowden had told Clemson that he would stay if the school met certain contractual requirements.
So Swinney waited. And waited. "At the eleventh hour and the 58th minute, they decided to stay," says Swinney.
A few days later, it happened in Arkansas.
You know how this finished too.
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Bowden's reward for staying at Clemson was a contract extension that lasted until 2014. His salary went from $ 1.3 million a year to $ 2.2 million a year if he reached certain goals. He also increased pressure on Bowden. He probably had another year of half-star C.J. Spiller. Defender Da'Quan Bowers, the state's first rookie and one of the top-ranked rookies in the country, was on his way. Florida State's Bowden father's program, which ran the ACC in the 1990s, was mired in what the Seminoles now call "the lost decade." It was time to win the conference – otherwise.
Under his previous contract, Bowden would have owed $ 500,000 had he been fired after the 2008 season. The new company announced a simultaneous buyback of about $ 3.5 million. But nobody was particularly worried about the number, because it was the year. Clemson was ranked # 9 in the Associated Press Pre-Season poll, higher than any other ACC team. The Tigers will open the season at Atlanta's Georgia Dome against number 24 Alabama, who had been 7 to 6 in Saban's first season. Of these six was a loss to Louisiana-Monroe. To what extent could the Crimson Tide improve in a dead season?
It's a lot …
We now recognize that the 34 to 10 victories won by Alabama tonight are the beginning of a new era for college football. So? This was an example of something called Clemsoning.
"The closer the date of broadcast was, the more the chorus of compliments went up until we thought the crescendo was the last stanza," wrote columnist Ken Burger in Post and mail. "Instead, we find ourselves saying that it's more or less the same thing. Tommy Bowden's teams always find a way to play below their potential and disappoint when expectations are high. "
Steve Spurrier, then coach of his rival, South Carolina, chuckled at Bowden's reward when he signed on to recruit Jamie Harper. Harper, a real freshman, was promised the first postponement of the season. (Remember it was a team that C. J. Spiller and James Davis were on the list.) Harper handed the ball to Clemson's second play. He felt immediately. Alabama cashed with a goal.
One game, the Tigers were a laughingstock. They bounced back with wins against The Citadel, NC State and South Carolina State. But they then fell 20 to 17 in Maryland on September 27th. Twelve days later, they played at Wake Forest on a Thursday night.
One day after defeat against the Demon Deacons, Bowden announced his plan to replace starting quarterback Cullen Harper and replace him with Willy Korn, a much vaunted Byrnes High rookie in Duncan, SC. Three days later, with a little push of Phillips, Bowden went to the bench.
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We left Swinney on the phone with his wife, dreading being able to steer a sinking ship for seven weeks before starting a job search. Remember how he had five minutes to go to this meeting with Phillips? Once in AD's office, he did not receive the message he expected.
Swinney brought his notebook. He had been keeping a book from the head coach since he was last on the Alabama support staff in 1993. He explained the philosophy he instilled in a program if anyone ever let him direct it. He said that he would first need to be coordinator. But it was not a head coach job, Swinney thought at that moment. It was a seven-week childcare concert.
Swinney still did not understand what he was doing. Minutes after meeting Phillips, he did it. Here is Phillips' statement that Swinney will never forget: "I do not want you to be the acting head coach. For the next seven weeks, I want you to be the head coach. And I want you to think, walk, talk and act like a head coach. I want you to do what you think you should do to fix us. "
Phillips spent this meeting making Swinney accountable. The AD had paid much more attention than Swinney had realized. He had noticed how Swinney was training on the practice field. He knew what recruits Swinney had landed. He noticed how Swinney built relationships in the community. Phillips promised a nationwide search for Bowden's permanent successor, but he also promised Swinney something: whether it's 6-0, 0-6 or somewhere in between, Swinney would get an interview for the post .
After leaving AD's office, Swinney sequestered herself for 45 minutes in a room as small as a closet. "I had a flood of thoughts," says Swinney, "and I just took notes." The meeting with Phillips had changed everything. Terror had been replaced by hope. Was not that what Swinney had wanted for 15 years? Why be afraid? "I did not have time to think about failure," says Swinney. "Or even be afraid. I was pure adrenaline. "
Swinney met individually with all the coaches. He made only one change. Convinced that he had no chance if the offense found no spark, he dismissed the Spence coordinator and transferred Billy Napier from end to end to quarterback. Swinney and Napier, 29, call plays. This left two places available on the staff. Swinney has elevated attacking assistant Mike Dooley to the coach of the tight ends. Meanwhile, Swinney had noticed GA defenseman Jeff Scott in the same way Phillips had seen him. The two men had worked closely on the management of the Clemson camps. Swinney saw himself very much in Scott, who had dropped out of his full-time assistant coach position at Presbyterian College FCS and had lost some of his salary to become GA because he was worried. I had only done what he had at that time because he was Brad Scott's son. After Bowden informed the staff that he had finished, Jeff Scott had called his wife Sara to inform him that he could be unemployed later in the day. Instead, Swinney made Scott the coach of the receivers. So Scott called Sara again. "I told him I had better news," he says.
When Swinney met the Clemson players, he sent all the other coaches and staff out of the room. He leveled with the players. He had a chance to get work done permanently and he wanted to know where he could count on them. He knew that Clemson had a morale problem, related to the controversy on the quarterback, so he proposed a deal. Anyone who does not want to play for Swinney can leave the team, receive a scholarship and come back when the new coach is hired. No questions asked. The one who showed up at the training that night was in the long run. "That's where All In comes from," says Swinney, referring to the motto that continues throughout his term. "Basically, I told the team what the DA had said to me. I wanted them to know what he had said. Later, at his first press conference as acting coach, Swinney repeated his new favorite phrase.
He also said: "You are watching a coach who has nothing to lose. We will put everything on the line. And that could be a seven-week career, but it's going to be fun. "
After Jeff Scott came home that night, he spun on Sports Center. He noticed a statistic attached to the story of Bowden's ouster. The 29 former head coaches of Major University Football did not get the full-time position. "OK, maybe we could make one out of 30," Scott thought.
Five days later, Swinney won his first minor victory by not putting himself face to face as he ran with the team down the hill to Death Valley. He did not do so well once on the field. Georgia Tech won 21-17. Between them, Clemson's assistants had estimated that they had to score 4-2 in order to keep their jobs. Nobody was particularly optimistic about his visit to the state of Florida on November 8th. That meant Clemson had to win at Boston College on November 1st.
The Tigers started off pretty well, taking a 17-0 lead over Harper, who had found the starting position over the past week. But the Eagles fought back and took a 21-17 lead with 8:43 to go. The delay after touch was extremely long for Scott, sitting in the press gallery, questioning the potential long-term consequences of this blown lead.
"I'm sitting in the playing area thinking that the next few minutes of this game will probably determine the next 10 or 15 years of my career," said Scott, who is now the co-offensive coordinator of Clemson. "Fortunately for us, we had someone named C.J. Spiller."
Spiller sent the ensuing kick to 64 yards from Boston College's 15-yard line. Four pieces later, Harper found Aaron Kelly for a four-yard touchdown. The Tigers scored another goal and won 27-21. "You would have thought we would have won the national championship that day," says Swinney. "It was like," We believe, we have a chance and we are on our way. "It was the wind in the sails that we needed."
As expected, Clemson fell to Tallahassee. But the Tigers' effort against a superior enemy also impressed Phillips. They beat Duke and Virginia over the next two weeks, holding a match in Death Valley against rival Gamecocks that could seal the post for Swinney. The Tigers left no doubt on their lead, with a 24-0 lead and a 31-14 win.
That day, Swinney was convinced he had done enough. "I knew I had a good run," he says. "Once we won the game against South Carolina, no one came to tell us," You have the job. "But I had a lot of winks."
These winks turned into handshakes the next day. Phillips offered, and Swinney agreed. As with what would become typical of Swinney, his introductory press conference lasted a long time. He preempted three quarters of The bachelorette on the local ABC affiliate. Bowden and his wife laughed at not having seen the essentials of his favorite show and Bowden criticized Swinney for his long breath during a congratulatory call.
Phillips might have made Swinney the intermediary even though Bowden had not suggested it. But one thing is certain: Swinney finally succeeded because he had prepared himself from the beginning. It reminded him of Tuesday during his second year at the Redshirt in Alabama, when he was told that he could leave the scouting team for a one day trial with the same offense. . If he played, he could play this Saturday. Swinney passed this test because he was also studying the Alabama offensive when he was not learning to lead others. And that taught him a lesson that would prepare him for Monday, October 13, 2008.
"If I had not been prepared to be head coach – as prepared as possible – then that opportunity would have escaped me," says Swinney. And if he had not thrown himself into his position as coach-receiver and spent his time looking for a coordinator position, then Phillips might not have offered the opportunity in the first place. "If your job is to go get the donuts, dude, you bring the freshest donuts and the hottest coffee," says Swinney. "And you do it in a way that everyone notices. "This guy has the best donuts in his area's history." And that's how you have to do things. "
So on Saturday, bring the freshest donut you can find to Dabo Swinney, the coach who turned a seven-week job into a dynasty.
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