CLEMSON — Monday will mark the 17th anniversary to the day when Dabo Swinney was named the interim head coach at Clemson.

After a preseason filled with high expectations, the Tigers opened the 2008 season with a disappointing 3-3 start, including a 12-7 loss at Wake Forest on Thursday, October 9, 2008. Five days later, on October 13, Tommy Bowden resigned as head coach, and then athletic director Terry Don Phillips promoted Swinney to interim status.

Swinney, of course, won the job at Clemson and has been the leader of the Clemson program ever since.

However, a day before Swinney’s anniversary at Clemson, he learned one of his friends and coaching colleagues, James Franklin, was fired at Penn State after the Nittany Lions fell to 3-3 on the season with a third straight loss.

Penn State opened the season as the nation’s No. 3 team. However, after losing to Oregon in Week 4, they have followed that with losses to UCLA and Northwestern.

“That is sad to see, but we, all in this business understand that is part of the business,” Swinney said. “We all understand that, but it does not make it easy.”

Franklin has been the head coach at Penn State since 2014. He finally got the Nittany Lions to the College Football Playoff last year, after several years of falling short.

Penn State advanced to the CFP semifinals in 2024 before being eliminated by Notre Dame.

“He will bounce back,” Swinney said. “He did a lot of good things at Penn State. I have a lot of respect for James and his wife, Fumi, and their two daughters. They are people. Again, I know there is an expectation and all of that type of stuff, but that does not take away the personal side of it.”

Franklin is the sixth head coach to lose his job in 2025. He joins Oklahoma State’s Mike Gundy, Virginia Tech’s Brent Pry, Arkansas’ Sam Pittman and UCLA’s DeShaun Foster, as Power 4 coaches who have already been let go.

“Prayers to them and their family as they transition away from a part of their life, a big part of their life” Swinney said.