As he walked through the hall on the second floor of the WestZone following a disappointing defeat at the hands of archrival South Carolina, a deject Dabo Swinney saw his wife coming down the hall to tell him that then athletic director Terry Don Phillips was in his office.

The Gamecocks had just waxed Swinney’s Tigers 29-7 to conclude the 2010 regular season at 6-6.

“I was like, ‘Well, it was a nice two-year run,’” Swinney said on Friday.

Swinney, whose top-ranked Tigers will host No. 16 Florida State on Saturday in Death Valley with the ACC Atlantic Division title at stake, wasn’t sure what to expect when he walked into his office. The room was dark with the exception of one light, and sitting on the couch in the shadows was Phillips.

“What was in my mind, my mind was totally opposite of what I got,” Swinney said.

Swinney knew Phillips had a lot of pressure on him as well. He hired Swinney just two years before, taking a chance with the young coach who had not been a coordinator prior to being hired following a turbulent 2008 season.

“Terry Don looked at me and said, ‘Dabo let me tell you something. I know it’s a tough time and there is going to be some negativity, there is going to be some criticism and there is going to be this and that,” Swinney recalled. “‘But here is what I want you to know. I’m more confident right now, at this moment that you are the guy for this job and that you will be successful, than I was before I hired you. That’s all I have to say.”

Phillips’ belief in Swinney ultimately led Clemson to believe in him. Now on the eve of perhaps the biggest game in Clemson football history, that belief was shown with the ground breaking of the new football facility on Friday which will be built next to the current indoor practice facility and existing practice fields across from Jervey Gymnasium.

The new 140,000 square-foot facility recently received final approvals from the Clemson Board of Trustees and all government agencies. The $55 million project will be financed completely by the athletic department and IPTAY, including $19.5 million of athletic revenue bonds along with private support.

Plans for the complex include a new locker room, meeting rooms and coaches’ offices along with strength and conditioning, sports medicine and dining areas.

“Coach Swinney had a vision for a football facility near the practice fields that included every amenity available to have for a top notch football program,” Clemson’s Director of Athletics Dan Radakovich said. “Today we are going to take the first step in construction. These first steps were taken by Coach Swinney and his desire to be the best.”

The plans for the new facility actually began when Radakovich approached Swinney one day and asked him what they could do to continue to build Clemson’s brand. It was a shot in the dark, but Swinney saw it as an opportunity to show his new boss some pictures he drew that paved the way for what transpired on Friday at the indoor practice facility.

Swinney asked Radakovich, who was about to go on a trip to Europe at the time, to take the pictures with him and just think about it.

“I can sell this,” Swinney told Radakovich. “This is what is best for our players. This is what’s best for Clemson. This is best for all of our athletic department. Everybody is going to get better because of this.

“I really thought he was going to take that piece of paper, throw it away and just laugh and come back and say no way.”

But he didn’t.

Swinney likes to tell his team that “every dream starts with a dreamer.”  Well, Swinney’s dream for Clemson is coming true.

“Ain’t it good to be a Tiger,” Swinney said to Clemson University’s Board of Trustees, IPTAY and the donors who gave to the project.

“It’s been an emotional year,” he continued crying. “It’s been quite a journey.”