In September, Dabo Swinney was named honorary head coach of the 2019 Allstate American Football Coaches Association Good Works Team for his leadership in the Clemson community and commitment to giving back.

Last Wednesday, the Tigers’ coach was surprised by one of his former players – current Houston Texans star quarterback Deshaun Watson – with a trophy for being selected as the honorary coach of the AFCA Good Works Team.

“That was awesome. It was a great day,” Swinney said during his weekly press conference Tuesday. “I really had no idea. I didn’t even know they had a coach for that team, first of all. I knew about the team. I knew that I was nominated for that a while earlier, and Ross (Clemson Assistant Athletic Director for Football Communications Ross Taylor) told me one day. I was like, ‘Oh that’s cool.’ But I had no clue that was going on. But it was really neat. We had just had our grant luncheon that day, which was pretty cool. That was a great day already.”

Watson gave Swinney a heads up that he would be in Clemson during the Texans’ bye week and wanted to come see his old coach.

However, Swinney certainly did not expect Watson to present him with the AFCA Good Works award in front of the entire Clemson football team before its team meeting Wednesday.

“Deshaun had called me the day before, and he was like, ‘Hey, what are you doing tomorrow?’” Swinney said. “I’m like, ‘Well, we got practice. It’s Wednesday.’ And he was like, ‘I’m going to be in town. I just wanted to drop by and see you and see if you were there.’ And I said, ‘Yeah, I’ll be here. That would be awesome.’ He was like, ‘I know y’all are on the road and we’re off this weekend, so we don’t have a game. So I just want to swing through and want you to meet my girlfriend.’ I’m like OK, great! I said, ‘What time you coming?’ He was like, ‘I’ll probably get there about 2.’ I said, ‘Oh that’s even better. Our team meeting’s at 2:10.’ I’m just hook, line and sinker. I’m like, ‘Yeah man, that’d be awesome. We’ll get you up in front of the team for a few minutes. They’d love to see you.’ ‘Oh yeah, that sounds great!’ Just hoodooed me.

“So anyway, that was a cool day. So sure enough, I pumped him up and introduced him to the team. He says a few words, and he’s like I’m really here to … So, that caught me off guard.”

Swinney is the sixth member of the Clemson program all-time to earn an AFCA Good Works Team distinction, joining Robert Carswell (1999), Nick Eason (2000), Xavier Dye (2009), Sean Pollard (2018) and Watson himself (2016).

Since 2009, the Swinney family and Dabo’s All In Team Foundation have given nearly $5 million back to communities and programs in the state.

Swinney is very appreciative of Watson going out of his way to make him feel special.

“That was a cool moment, and I really appreciate him taking the time to do that,” Swinney said. “He actually was on his way to vacation for a few days to get away with some friends. So, that was pretty cool that he took the time to come do that personally.”

We are pleased to announce a new partnership with Fanatics.  This is great news for Tiger fans as they have the officially licensed Clemson gear.

The Clemson Insider will get a portion of all sales so get ready for another championship season by ordering your Clemson gear today and help support TCI.