Clemson’s Dabo Swinney wins Bryant Award for second straight year.
Don’t wake up Dabo Swinney.
Two days after winning the College Football Playoff national championship, the Clemson coach added the Paul “Bear” Bryant College Coach of the Year Award on Wednesday night.
“I am officially dreaming,” Swinney said in an emotional speech to the crowd at Toyota Center after becoming the second two-time winner of the award that honors the late legendary Alabama coach.
Even Bryant would undoubtedly give a tip of his houndstooth hat in approval of Swinney winning the award.
Growing up in rural Alabama, Swinney idolized Bryant and watched “The ‘Bear’ Bryant Show” every Sunday morning. Swinney was a walk-on receiver at Alabama, playing for Gene Stallings, and part of the Crimson Tide’s 1992 national championship team.
“Coach Bryant was my hero,” Swinney said.
Swinney captured his first national title as a head coach Monday, with Hunter Renfrow catching a 2-yard touchdown with one second left to beat Alabama 35-31. The triumph came a year after Clemson was denied in a 45-40 loss to the Tide in the championship game.
“At the end of the day, I have to believe coach Bryant was even smiling the other night,” Swinney said.
Repeat winner
Swinney is the first back-to-back winner and joins Boise State’s Chris Petersen (2006 and 2009) as the only two-time recipients of the award presented by the American Heart Association in honor of Bryant, who won six national championships at Alabama and died of a heart attack shortly after his retirement in 1983.
“I just assumed I didn’t have a chance to win it. I didn’t think you could win it back-to-back years,” said Swinney, who has produced a 28-2 record the past two seasons. “This is the cherry on top for the week I’ve had.”
There admittedly hasn’t been much time for sleep since Monday, and Swinney hasn’t even been back home yet, making a stop Tuesday in Nashville, Tenn., for the American Football Coaches Association convention.
“I didn’t go to bed the first night. I didn’t get back to the hotel until 3:30 a.m.,” Swinney said. “I had family and friends and we were sitting on the 12th floor (of the team hotel) overlooking the bay. We literally watched the moon set and the sun rise. I didn’t want to go to bed.”
After coming close a year ago, Swinney said Clemson put the 2016 schedule on a wall in its football complex that was the shape of an elephant, which happens to be Alabama’s mascot.
“How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time,” Swinney said.
Not an easy road
There were a few close calls, including narrow wins over Auburn and Troy to begin the season, and the Tigers needed overtime to put away North Carolina State. That was followed by a threepoint win at Florida State.
Clemson’s only loss was to Pittsburgh 43-42 on Nov. 12.
Behind Heisman Trophy runner-up quarterback Deshaun Watson, Clemson captured its second consecutive Atlantic Coast Conference title under Swinney and steamrolled Ohio State 31-0 in the playoff semifinals to set up a rematch with Alabama.
“We were on the road to Tampa all year,” Swinney said of the site of the championship game. “We had a couple of detours and a flat tire on the way, but we got there.”
For Swinney, the celebration will continue through the weekend. The Tigers hold their team banquet Saturday, the same day as a parade in Clemson, S.C.
“That parade is something I dreamed about for a long time,” he said. “We actually planned it before the game because we planned to win.”
The other finalists for the award were Wisconsin’s Paul Chryst, Minnesota’s P.J. Fleck, Penn State’s James Franklin, Southern California’s Clay Helton, West Virginia’s Dana Holgorsen and Colorado’s Mike MacIntyre. Alabama’s Nick Saban and Oklahoma’s Bob Stoops were originally finalists for the award but were disqualified because they could not attend the event.