William Christopher “Dabo” Swinney. I bet you didn’t know that was his whole because I certainly didn’t. He’s made quite the name for himself since becoming a head coach back in 2008. He was meant to be a coach and I say that because he truly loves the x’s and o’s when it comes to the game of football. He’s so descriptive when speaking about the game. For his recent success, he was awarded with a new contract. A massive deal that includes ten years and $93 million which makes him the highest paid coach in college football.
Dabo is the second best head coach in college football behind you guessed it, Mr. Nick Saban. He took over as the football program’s head coach midway through the 2008 season after Tommy Bowden was relieved of his duties. In the beginning, it was a struggle for Dabo and the Clemson Tigers. When 2011 came, he led them to a ten-win season and their first ACC conference title since 1991. In 2015, he completed his best season as the Tigers head coach. He led them to the division title, conference title and trip to the national championship where they fell short to Alabama. The following year in 2016, he was given a six-year contract extension and had another great year by getting Clemson back to the national championship game and won the whole thing getting revenge on Alabama. 2018, coach had a decision to make. Do you keep Kelly Bryant as your starting quarterback or do you put in the big name phenom Trevor Lawrence? He decided to make that change at quarterback and they ended up completing an undefeated season along with beating Alabama again for the national title for the second time in three seasons.
Coach has had some big names play at Clemson. DeAndre Hopkins is one and he’s become a big name in the NFL. Then, there’s Deshaun Watson. How about Christian Wilkins, Dexter Lawrence and Clellin Ferrell? Those three were all selected in the first round of the 2019 NFL Draft. In his tenure as Clemson’s head coach, he has a record of 116-30, seven ACC division titles, five ACC Championships & two national titles.
