Swinney says he didn't come to Clemson to fail, still hasn't achieved what he envisioned

Swinney says he isn't done. Not yet. (Photo by Merrell Mann).

by David Hood - Senior Writer - Mon May 06 07:00:03 GMT-04:00 2024

During his time at Clemson, head coach Dabo Swinney has accomplished the kinds of things that most college coaches can only dream about, and he’s thankful for that. But he also knows God didn’t bring him to Clemson to fail, and he knows he’s not done.

Swinney is entering his 17th season (and 16th full season) as Clemson’s head coach in 2024, and he has already carved his name among the greats as both the program’s all-time winningest coach and the first in program history to lead Clemson to multiple national championships.

Swinney enters the 2024 season as the nation’s active leader in winning percentage among head coaches with at least ten years of experience. His 170 wins are the most of any active coach whose entire head coaching tenure has come at one school.

During an interview this week with Dusty and Danny on SiriusXM last week, Swinney was asked if he could have ever envisioned the success the program has achieved under his leadership. His answer? God didn’t bring him to Clemson to fail.

“Well, I certainly believed that Clemson could be great, and I believed that we had a great future and all those things. I never had any doubt,” Swinney said. “I am a man of faith and I believed that this is what God called me to do. I didn’t think He brought me to Clemson to fail. I was 38 years old. The interim was an amazing opportunity. I had several opportunities before the interim to leave Clemson. Sometimes I have thought about that. I would not have gotten this job had I not been here. I am thankful that the good Lord has guided me along the way and helped me make decisions. I can look back now and maybe things didn’t make sense at the time, to me or other people, but I can see where God was guiding me. I was in the right place at the right time.”

Swinney coached the 200th game of his career in the 2022 Orange Bowl, and his 161-39 record through 200 career games positioned him alongside College Football Hall of Famers Bob Stoops and Robert Neyland for the fifth-most wins through 200 games in FBS history. His 161 career wins at the time also passed Stoops for the second-most through the first 15 seasons of a career in FBS annals despite Swinney being limited to only seven games in his first season while serving in an interim capacity.

“The biggest thing was I had a team that was sitting there at 3-3 in that interim year that just bought in, and they wanted to finish,” Swinney said. “It would have been very easy for those kids to just lay it down. But they didn’t, and we went 4-2 to finish up the regular season and ended up getting the Gator Bowl.”

Swinney has led the Tigers to eight ACC Championships, six straight appearances in the College Football Playoff, won two National Championships and Clemson has appeared in four title games during that stretch.

But he’s not done.

“It’s been an amazing journey. You have to dream big. I dreamed big. So, to ask if I envisioned this? We haven’t quite achieved what I envisioned,” Swinney said. “We still have a lot of work to do. I am thankful for what we have been able to accomplish in the past 16 years. There has been a lot of fun over the last several years, and there is more to come.”