Relationships go far beyond football for Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney, and the NBA is no exception. Swinney spoke with the media earlier this week in preparation for the 89^th annual Orange Bowl, sharing about his unexpected friendship with NBA head coach Erik Spoelstra and the Miami Heat coach’s visit to Clemson a few years back.

“He’s a guy that I’ve gotten to know, we have a mutual friend that connected us several years ago,” Swinney said. “He reached out, I don’t know, four or five years ago and wanted to come to Clemson, so that was a really cool day. He flew in for a day with one of his assistants.

“It doesn’t really matter what the sport is, if you’re in leadership and you’re dealing with people, there’s so much you can learn, especially when you’re in a competitive environment. Even though he’s in the pros, especially basketball, those guys are young guys. We’re [both] dealing with young guys and you can get into competitive dynamics, leadership, culture, all those types of things.”

After Spoelstra got a taste of Clemson, Swinney got his own taste of the culture being built within the Miami Heat. The 14th-year head coach and his sons were invited by Spoelstra back in May to attend Game 1 of the NBA Eastern Conference Semifinals where the Heat faced the Philadelphia 76ers on their home court at FTX Arena and won 106-92.

Fast forward seven months later and Swinney found himself once again at FTX Arena, but this time with his entire team and staff. Both times Swinney has found himself in the stands, the Heat has come away with a win — a point Swinney says he jokingly made to Spoelstra when the team was in attendance on Wednesday night for Miami’s 112-98 win over the Los Angeles Lakers.

“That’s how we first got to know each other and then we just stayed in touch over the years,” Swinney said. “We actually came down, me and my sons, to a playoff game last May and that was pretty cool. I’m 2-0 in 2022 and I let him know that last night, so brought some good mojo, but it’s fun. I think that’s what coaches do is collaborate.”

Collaboration not only across sports but also within the college football landscape is something Swinney feels is what makes the coaching profession so unique compared to other industries, while fueling some of the most unexpected friendships for the Clemson head coach along the way.

“That’s one of the cool things about our profession is that we compete, but then we collaborate and always have,” Swinney said. “That’s not the case in most industries, right. Like, Coke doesn’t sit down with Pepsi in a year and say, ‘Well boys, what’d you think?’, you know, let’s see how this goes, but football coaches do that. There’s just so many relationships and that’s what makes the game really unique. Just relationships like that come through collaboration that crosses over through the sports and business world.”