Clemson’s Swinney gets raise

Clemson’s coach is getting a hefty raise after winning the national championship.

Dabo Swinney and the Board of Trustees agreed to an eightyear, $54 million contract Friday that averages out to $6.75 million a year. It includes $3.2 million in signing bonuses in three installments and a $6 million buyout until the end of 2018.

The deal makes Swinney, who is entering his ninth full season at Clemson, the thirdhighest-paid football coach in the country, behind Alabama’s Nick Saban and Michigan’s Jim Harbaugh.

“What he’s done with our program has been incredible. He means so much to our athletic department, to our university, to our community,” athletic director Dan Radakovich said.

Swinney was paid just over $4.5 million in 2016, before his team beat Alabama to win Swinney’s first national championship. Swinney was paid $800,000 in his first full season with the Tigers in 2009.

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