Swinney's appreciation for this moment was 14 years in the making

Swinney speaks to the media at the ACC title press conference.

by David Hood - Senior Writer - Fri Dec 02 16:30:38 GMT-04:00 2022

CHARLOTTE, NC – Dabo Swinney is celebrating 14 years of being the head coach at Clemson with another trip to Charlotte and another chance at an ACC Championship.

Back on December 1st of 2008, Swinney’s interim tag was removed and he was named as the head coach of the Tigers. A lot has transpired since that time, and Swinney delved into that and myriad topics during Friday’s preview news conference at Bank of America Stadium, the site of Saturday’s game against North Carolina.

“Well, good to be back in Charlotte. Sat at home and watched this last year, so it's good to be back here and have an opportunity to represent the Atlantic, which I think is the only division in college football or at least Power Five to have six teams with seven-plus wins, so super excited about winning our division and earning an opportunity to be in this game,” Swinney said. “It really is special, this time of year when you're playing and there's a trophy being handed out. We're excited, again, to be here and be a part of a great venue and represent this league.

“We want to congratulate Coach (Mack) Brown and his staff and all their team. Same thing, they're a division champion. They earned their way here. It's special. These opportunities are unique, to get these opportunities, especially when you look back historically.”

Swinney said remembering what happened 14 years ago resonates in the present.

“I got hired 14 years ago yesterday, as a matter of fact, and at that time it had been a long time since Clemson won a championship,” Swinney said. “I have such a great appreciation for the opportunity to be here and all that goes into earning the way here. It's hard. It's hard to win. Really proud of our team for their season that they've had, to get to this point, and again, look forward to a great match-up tomorrow night, and want to thank Subway for being a sponsor, and then also all the people who make this happen.

“There's a lot that goes into making a game like this special for the teams involved. There's a lot of logistics, a lot of moving parts, from the locker rooms to the field, et cetera, et cetera. I appreciate everybody's efforts to make this a great venue and a great experience for both teams, and look forward to competing and hopefully playing our best.”

The Tigers missed last year’s game and Swinney said there is always an appreciation for this opportunity.

“Yeah, absolutely. Like I said, I got this job, and we went to the championship game my very first year in '09,” Swinney said. “It was in Tampa for whatever reason that one time. It was like a one-off. We got beat. I just remember what a big deal it was to get there, and then we weren't there in '10, we got back in '11 up here and we won it. Then we weren't here in '12, '13, '14. We had good teams, really good teams, but we weren't here, and then to get back here in '15, it was such a big deal. Then I guess six years in a row we were here. You just put your head down and go to work, and you see what happens. We're just very blessed to have had the opportunity. Last year we came up short. We competed, we were in it all the way down to that last weekend, but didn't work out for us.

“I'm proud of our guys this year, undefeated in the league, and man, we had to play a lot of great quarterbacks. It seemed like everybody we played all year had a great player at quarterback. I think we led the league in ACC play in scoring. Our guys did a lot of good things to earn their way here, and we certainly last year watching it, the ol' Kenny Pickett fake slide, I was home watching it like everybody else and certainly missed the opportunity to be in this game. Everything for us has come through winning this league. You can't win it if you're not in it. So we're really thankful and have a great appreciation for this weekend and for everyone.”

Swinney continued with his memories of that day he was hired full-time as head coach.

“Oh, man, it's crazy. My wife sent me a picture of her and our three boys at the press conference. They were just these little boys,” Swinney said. “Now Will has come to Clemson and won a National Championship and won five ACC Championships and now he's working out of Charlotte here and living in Greenville and on his -- and Drew is about to get married in March. He's a senior. Then Clay, who was asleep in that picture at the press conference, he didn't really care. He's now a freshman at Clemson. So it's just crazy how time flies. Just like that. I was hoping I'd be here one or two or three years and hang on and see what happens, and now we're here 14 years later. It's been an unbelievable blessing. Clemson is an amazing place. It's where I was supposed to be and when I was supposed to be there, and thankful for it.”

The final question of the press conference was what he liked most about being at Clemson.

“What I like most about Clemson is honestly probably the simplicity of life and the quality of life that we get to have there. It's rare. It's just my profession, this is what I do, and I want to compete to be the best. I want to compete at the highest level,” he said. “I get to do that. We have this little small setting, and Monday through Friday is just kind of -- it's very simple. It's very simple. Again, and there's a quality of life there that you really -- until you live there, it's hard to really explain. But there's this quality of life that I think is rare and lost, and there's this simplicity of life that's the same -- there's this unbelievable energy that comes from being -- just living in a college town, but yet on the weekends we get to compete at the highest level. That's what I love the most about Clemson.

“Then the people that are there. It's just been a wonderful place. Again, I've been there 20 years at Clemson. Moved there February of '03, so in our 20th year, and it's been -- and I thought I'd be there a year or two. In fact, I did a three-year interest-only note at like 2.7 percent and I bet on myself because Kath was like, 'What are we doing?' And I was like, in three years I'm either going to be making more money or we're moving -- we're gone. So here I am now 20 years later and we're still there. It's special.”