Clemson Coach Dabo Swinney grabs AP Coach of the Year honors.
The Associated Press on Monday named Clemson’s Dabo Swinney the college football coach of the year after he led the Tigers to an unbeaten regular season and the Tigers’ longest run as the No. 1 team in the country.
Swinney received 35 of 60 votes from the AP top 25 media panel. Iowa’s Kirk Ferentz was second with 10. Michigan State’s Mark Dantonio and Houston’s Tom Herman each received five votes. Oklahoma’s Bob Stoops received three votes, and Notre Dame’s Brian Kelly and Florida’s Jim McElwain each had one.
“I am very honored to receive the AP National Coach of the Year award,” Swinney said in a statement. “Football is a great team sport and any individual honor is a result of having a great group of players and staff. I am blessed to have student-athletes and coaches that believe in what we do. This award is a reflection of their hard work and commitment.”
Swinney is the first Clemson coach to win the award, which was first handed out in 1998, and the first Atlantic Coast Conference coach since Jim Grobe from Wake Forest in 2006. Last year’s winner was TCU’s Gary Patterson.
Behind Swinney, the Tigers (13-0) won the Atlantic Coast Conference and enter the College Football Playoff as the top seed. Clemson will face fourth-seeded Oklahoma in the Orange Bowl semifinal on Dec. 31. Clemson’s last and only national title was 1981.
The Tigers were No. 1 in the AP poll for the final five weeks of the regular season and in each of the six playoff rankings. Clemson had never previously been No. 1 in the regular season.
Swinney, 46, is in his seventh season leading Clemson after being promoted from wide receivers coach in 2008. Since going 6-7 in his second full season with the Tigers, Swinney has won at least 10 games each year.