It’s all about faith, and perspective, for Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney.
Clemson’s 38-10 win over North Carolina on Saturday marked Swinney’s 300th game on staff at Clemson, including both his time as an assistant coach and head coach, but just his third-ever game on the road at UNC.
In 2010, Swinney’s second full season as Clemson’s head coach, the Tigers fell to 2-3 after a 21-16 loss to the Tar Heels in Chapel Hill. Fast forward to the present, and Clemson once again sits at 2-3 after Saturday’s win in Chapel Hill.
However, how Swinney felt with a 2-3 record in 2010, is remarkably different than how he feels with his team at 2-3 now.
“It’s been a long time. This is my 300th game, and I’ve only been [to UNC] three times now,” Swinney noted during his postgame press conference Saturday. “I was telling the team, the first time I was up here in ‘10, 15 years ago, we left here 2-3. And I was really frustrated and disappointed and mad, and to be honest with you, probably not as mature in my faith as I needed to be at that time. And the reason I have perspective like I have now is because I had no idea what God’s plan was when I left here in 2010 at 2-3, thinking I’m probably going to be fired. I had no idea what God’s plan was over the next 14-plus years.
“And that’s why I as I sit here right now, once again at 2-3, man, I’m happy. I never thought I’d be happy to leave anywhere 2-3, but I’m happy today. But I also have a much more mature perspective of knowing that hey, you know what, God’s good all the time.”
Swinney went on to mention North Carolina head coach Bill Belichick’s encouragement prior to kickoff, with Belichick telling him during pregame that Clemson was “five plays away from being undefeated.”
“You have highs, you have lows, and football’s hard,” Swinney said. “Coach Belichick told me that before the game. He said, ‘Coach, you’re five plays away from being undefeated.’ He’s watched a lot of tape in his day, and I appreciated his encouragement there.”
As the famous saying goes, “You are what your record says you are,” and Swinney knows that. But moving forward in the season, he hopes his team can build off Saturday’s win.
“At the end of the day, we are what we are,” he said. “But to see a group of guys fight and pick themselves up and go play a great game was fun. So, it’s one game, but hopefully we can build some confidence, build some momentum, build some morale, build some competition. A lot of guys got to go play and compete, and we got a lot of stuff on tape. I can’t wait to watch the tape. I think 76 guys got in the game. So, just really happy for the team, and they deserve it.”