Dabo Swinney
Dabo Swinney
December 1, 2008. He had been serving as the Interim Head Coach since October 13, 2008, when Tommy Bowden announced his resignation and left the team. Dabo joined the Clemson staff in 2003 as its Wide Receiver and Tight End Coach.
Background
Dabo was born in Birmingham, Alabama on November 20, 1969 and grew up in Pelham, Alabama. He got his nickname as an infant when his 15-
Player Experience
He attended the University of Alabama and walked on as a wide receiver. He starred on the team from 1990 to 1992 playing for Coach Gene Stallings and on the 1992 National Championship team. During his time at Alabama, he was twice named an Academic All-SEC member.
Coaching Experience - Alabama
After his playing days were over, he spent 3 years at Alabama as a Graduate Assistant Coach from 1993 to 1995. In the meantime, he earned his MBA at Alabama. From 1996 to 2001, he was a full-time assistant coach at Alabama in charge of wide receivers and tight ends. In 2001, he and the entire staff under Coach Mike Dubose was fired. He then spent 2 years in private business in Alabama.
Then in 2002, his former position coach at Alabama, Tommy Bowden, made him an offer to join the Clemson staff as a wide receiver coach and he joined the team in 2003. He took over the position as Recruiting Coordinator and has been very instrumental in getting a large number of outstanding players to commit to Clemson. In fact, in 2006 he was named as the fifth best recruiter in the country by Rivals.com! Nick Saban, the new Alabama Football Coach offered him a chance to return to the team in 2007 but he opted to stick with the Tigers.
Since joining the staff at Clemson, they have been to bowls every year, finished in the top 25 three times, and won at least 8 games four times. The Tigers also won 10 games over top-25 teams including Florida State, Miami FL and Tennessee.
In 2008, the Tigers started out the season with a number 9 ranking and the sportswriter's choice to win the Conference. Things came undone very early with a shellacking by Alabama in the first game and then went 3-3 in its first 6 games. Dabo was then appointed Interim Head Coach and the Team proceeded to go 4-2 in its last 6 games including the crushing win over South Carolina 31-14 in the Battle for the Palmetto State.
National Coach of the Year
On March 31, 2012, Dabo Swinney was awarded the Bobby Dodd Coach of the Year Award, in ceremonies held in Littlejohn Coliseum.
Personal
He is married to the former Kathleen Bassett, whom he met in first grade and began dating in the sixth. Both attended the University of Alabama. They have three sons, Drew, Will, and Clay.
More can be found at:[ http://clemson.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=882281]
Dabo Swinney quoted
- "There's no better place to kill a winning streak than Clemson, S.C." - after snapping Auburn's streak at 17 games on September 17, 2011. (Lopresti, Mike, "Quotebook", USA Today, Arlington, Virginia, Monday 19 September 2001, Volume 30, Number 3, page 7C.)
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Preceded by: Tommy Bowden | Clemson University Football Coaches | Succeeded by: Incumbent |