Clemson’s Swinney failed before he earned success
Believe it or not, Clemson coach Dabo Swinney has as much to teach about dealing with failure as he does about finding success.
He shared a story at Fiesta Bowl media day last month that he’ll be able to fall back on after losing the national championship game to LSU 42-25 on Monday night.
“You’re not gonna win ’em all,” he said, reflecting on the 2010 season.
That was his third season running the program in Death Valley, and he had finished 6-7 after losing the Meineke Car Care Bowl. No one knew that within a few years he would make Clemson the class of college football with its current run of five consecutive playoff appearances, including two national championships.
“Usually, when you get a job, it’s for a reason,” he said.
‘I had a lotta them calls’
He meant that coaches don’t get fired when they’re winning games and bringing in big-time recruits. The
new guy typically has some building to do when he steps in.
“We won six games, and that was a tough year,” he said. “But that was the year that I felt like we really grew the most. And that’s hard to say, but we lost five games by six points or less, two of them in overtime.
“But the strength of our team, the chemistry of our team, the culture, I can just see that we were just on the right path. And then we came back the next year and won the league.”
Then he had a new challenge.
“We had to learn how to handle success,” he said. “We were 8-0 and then we kinda (stumbled) to finish. But we won the league. We won 10 games. We stunk it up in the bowl game that year, but we still took a big step forward.”
Clemson lost three of four to end the regular season, including a loss to rival South Carolina. West Virginia blitzed the Tigers 70-33 in the Orange Bowl.
But Swinney focused on the positive.
“We hadn’t won the ACC in like 20 years at that point,” he said.
“And then we just kept rollin’. In ’12, we won 11. In ’13, we won 11. In ’14, we won 10. In ’15, we went to the national championship. It’s just kinda all part of it, but that one year in 2010, was just a part of our growth as a program.”
It sounds easy now. But at the time, he remembers critics saying he didn’t know what he was doing and that he didn’t deserve the position. It started when his name was being floated as a candidate.
“I had a lotta them calls before I ever even took the job,” he said.
‘I don’t think I was a very popular hire’
He can laugh about it today. It wasn’t too funny back then.
Swinney took over halfway through the 2008 season, after Tommy Bowden had gotten off to a 3-3 start.
Swinney was elevated from wide receivers coach to interim head coach.
He went 4-2, including a win over rival South Carolina. His interim tag was removed immediately after the season. He then lost the Gator Bowl to Nebraska.
“I don’t think I was a very popular hire from a perception standpoint,” he said.
Those angry Tigers roared anew in the six-win 2010 season.
But Swinney kept working. He didn’t give up. And he’s made Clemson into a national power, even with the loss to LSU.
Swinney is 2-2 in national title games. He’ been in the mix every season since 2016. Who wouldn’t be pleased with such results?
He doesn’t hear as much from those early critics, anymore.
“It’s all worked out,” he said.
Believe it or not, he knows as much about dealing with failure as he does about finding success.