ACC Network is set to air a one-hour special featuring two legendary coaches – Clemson’s Dabo Swinney and Bill Belichick, now of course the head coach at North Carolina.
ACC Huddle Special: Dabo Swinney & Bill Belichick debuts on Wednesday, May 28 at 7 p.m., when you can see Swinney, the two-time national champion, and Belichick, the six-time Super Bowl winning head coach, share stories about their careers and coaching philosophies ahead of their first season competing against each other in the ACC, as well as discuss a number of other topics.
Their wide-ranging conversation is hosted by College GameDay host Rece Davis. In one excerpt released ahead of the special, Davis asked Swinney what it was like when he heard the news that Belichick would be taking the job at UNC.
“I was excited, honestly,” Swinney said. “I think it’s great for our league. Certainly, probably surprised like everyone else. Because he’s arguably the best to ever do it and to do it at the highest level, the NFL, and he’s so close to the all-time winningest record there. So, I was probably surprised at first like everyone. But then it was like, wow, this is Bill Belichick coming to the ACC. So, I thought it was pretty cool.”
In the excerpt, Swinney asked Belichick, “What would be one thing you would say to a coach or a group of coaches of being able to maintain the competitive stamina, the thrill to go win again?”
“Having the right people and having the right culture,” Belichick answered. “Because you need people that want to keep achieving that goal. Even though we hit that one, it’s like – I think (Tom) Brady, (Tedy) Bruschi used to say, ‘Which ring do you like the best? The next one.’ You just don’t stop. It just keeps going. You just keep going, and I think it’s getting people that believe in that and believe in the culture.”
Belichick also had a question for Swinney about the origins of his famous “Bring Your Own Guts” speech.
You can check out what Swinney had to say about that in the video below:
Swinney is entering his 17th full season as Clemson’s head coach, while Belichick makes his college coaching debut Monday, Sept. 1 against TCU. The two coaches will face off for the first time in their careers when Clemson visits North Carolina on Saturday, Oct. 4.
Following is a trailer for the upcoming ACC Network special:
—Photo credit: ESPN/ACC Network