Belief Sets Clemson Apart

When Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney thinks back nearly 12 years ago to when he first took over the head coaching duties from then head coach Tommy Bowden-- following a 3-3 start to the 2008 season--the difference in what happened before that day and what has happened ever since can be boiled down to a single word—belief.

CLEMSON—When Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney thinks back nearly 12 years ago to when he first took over the head coaching duties from then head coach Tommy Bowden-- following a 3-3 start to the 2008 season--the difference in what happened before that day and what has happened ever since can be boiled down to a single word—belief.

“Just the biggest difference is just belief,” Swinney said. “If I had to just say one thing, just to peel it all back, is we have an attitude of belief in who we are and what we do and how we do it.

“That was my No. 1 thing when I got the job was really creating the right mindset. It’s been a process over the past eight years in establishing the right kind of culture and the type of consistency that we want to have. But, if I have to say one things, it’s just belief.”

It is that kind of belief that has made Swinney one of the winningest coaches in college football.

In only 12 seasons at Clemson (11 full seasons), Dabo Swinney has carved his name into that foundation, elevating himself amid a pantheon of Clemson greats by becoming the first coach in program history to lead Clemson to multiple national championships.

Swinney and Clemson’s 2018 season was one for which statistics and superlatives accumulated in historic fashion. The Tigers became the first major college football team in the modern era (and the first since the Penn Quakers in 1897) to finish a season with a 15-0 record.

Accolades also accumulated for Swinney, who earned his second career ACC Coach-of-the-Year selection and brought home the Woody Hayes Award as national coach- of-the-year. Less than a week after winning the national title, he also won the Paul “Bear” Bryant Award, becom- ing the first three-time winner in the award’s history. With the 2018 Bryant and Hayes Awards, Swinney has now won national coach-of-the-year honors from at least one organization in five of the last seven years.

Even with the list continuing to grow of accomplishments seemingly week-by-week, for Swinney every victory and failure has been a part of the journey that has led the Tigers to the point they are now at.

“One day at a time, understanding that you’re going to have success, you’re going to have failures,” Swinney said. “It’s just all part of the journey. You know, it doesn’t happen overnight, and just staying—keep the main thing the main thing. Continue to stay focused on the core values that were set forth in the program from day one and what the vision was laid out to be, and that’s what our focus has always been. Nothing has changed as we go into year nine.”