For more than 20 years, Clemson had not one 10-win season. For 20 years, the Tigers failed to win an ACC Championship. For 20 years, Clemson was an average football program, longing for the days when it used to rule the ACC and spit out 10-wins annually like Danny Ford did with chewing tobacco.
Then came along Dabo Swinney, a former player and coach at Alabama, who originally came to Clemson as an assistant coach. Like Frank Howard and Danny Ford before him, Swinney was an Alabama guy who was never a coordinator, but like Howard and Ford, he had the vision and the plan to take Clemson to the next level if ever got the shot.
“Well, I think the big thing is we all dream big, we talk about dreaming big, dream the dream,” Swinney said.
Swinney’s dream is to win a national championship at Clemson. When he first said that the day he was officially announced as head coach, people around the country laughed at him. Clemson, as mentioned before, had not been relevant in college football in almost two decades. The facilities were not up to par and the culture wasn’t what it needed to be.
But Swinney had a plan, and even when that plan was challenged, such as the 6-7 2010 campaign, he did not panic. Instead he asked for a little patience. That patience is paying off for Clemson, for the football program, for the fans and for Swinney.
In 2011, Clemson broke through and won its first ACC Championship in 20 years, while also garnering its first 10-win season in 21 years. However, Swinney pointed out doing it one time was not good enough. His plan, to make sure the Tigers did not wait another 20 years for a championship.
He wanted to build a consistent winner, one that expects to win at least 10 games every season, a program that expects to challenge for championships, one that would be considered one of the elite programs in the country.
Since 2011, the Tigers have posted five straight 10-win seasons, one of only two teams in the country to do so. They have a 56-12 record in that time, including a 14-win season and two 11-win seasons. They have been ranked inside the top 15 every year and last year won another ACC Championship, won a second Orange Bowl in the last three years and played for the national championship.
So who is laughing now?
“I guess the thing I would say is it is one thing to dream about something, it’s another thing to experience it,” Swinney said. “It’s been a long time since we’ve had a team at Clemson that has had a national championship experience, and all that comes with getting that experience, the run of that, the pressure of that, 10 straight weeks.
“You’re getting everybody’s ‘A’ game every single week. You’re No. 1 in the country. Oh, by the way, we have another layer. We have a College Football Playoff. When Clemson won the national championship in ’81, they were 12-0. All 12-0 got us was a ticket to the ACC championship game, when you win that, you get a chance to go to a playoff, win that and get a chance to go to the national championship.”
So as the 2016 season gets ever so close to kicking off, Swinney’s dream to one day win a national championship at Clemson is closer than anyone, other than himself, ever imagined.
The Tigers return an offense loaded with talent, including the best player in college football in quarterback Deshaun Watson. They have the experience from players who played in big games on defense to get the job done, and they have a coaching staff that is mixed well with both youthful and veteran coaches who know how to push the right buttons at the right time.
“This team has an experience that’s different than any team I’ve had in the past,” Swinney said. “I think, again, we all learn from what we go through in life, the good and the bad. The failure is just as important, if not more important, than the success.
“Last year was just another step in our journey. Again, I think the guys coming back, they know what it takes. Again, it’s one thing to think you’re good enough, but it’s another thing to know that you’re good enough.”