Swinney was let go as part of a staff-wide clearing following Alabama\u2019s 2000 season. When Alabama hired Dennis Franchione to take over the program following DuBose\u2019s resignation, Dabo Swinney thought he would be retained, just as he had been when DuBose took over for head coach Gene Stallings. To top that, Swinney even had a good relationship with AD Mal Moore. However, Alabama chose not to retain any assistants from the DuBose era.<\/p>\n
\u201cI stayed around for a little while and kind of helped him [Franchione] transition recruiting, and then he called me in and, like, any great coach, I mean, he was loyal to his guys, and he had his guys kind of coming, and he didn\u2019t have a spot for me. And so yeah, that was a pack-up of 13 years of stuff, and it\u2019s like, \u2018Well, man. God, what do you have for me now?\u201d Swinney added.<\/p>\n
After Alabama fired him, many people called him and sympathized with Swinney because he was the father of two kids and had gotten no calls, even after applying to every possible place.<\/p>\n
\u201cIronically, I tried hard to get the receiver job at Notre Dame because Urban Meyer was the receiver coach at Notre Dame and left to go to Bowling Green,\u201d the Clemson head coach remarked.<\/p>\n
Despite having eight years of coaching knowledge and experience, they didn\u2019t hire Swinney, and at that time, broadcasting was not that popular. That phase was really frustrating for Swinney, but he remained calm and hopeful. As a result, his unemployment didn\u2019t last long. Obviously, he didn\u2019t get any coaching job, but a former Alabama strength and conditioning coach, Rich Wingo, hired Swinney as a shopping center leasing agent.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s February, and I get a call. You know, we had a phone with an antenna. She (his wife Kathleen) was like, \u2018It\u2019s Rich Wingo,\u2019 and I was like, I jumped up. I\u2019m like, \u2018Coach Wingo, I\u2019m in trouble. I\u2019m 31 years old.\u2019 And he\u2019s like, \u2018Dabo, what are you doing?\u2019 And I\u2019m like, \u2018Well, I\u2019m not doing anything.\u2019 He offers me an opportunity,\u201d Swinney recalled. \u201d He saw me as a freshman. And this is 12 years later.\u201d<\/p>\n
In 2001, the president of AIG Baker Real Estate hired Dabo Swinney. The Clemson head coach worked at that real estate development company for roughly two years. He achieved success and worked with amazing people there. His team did projects in Olathe, Kansas; Las Vegas, Nevada; Grand Junction, Colorado; and Hoover, Alabama. Swinney even did a project in his hometown.<\/p>\n
However, without any prior experience, Swinney accomplished a lot.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m like, \u2018I don\u2019t know.\u2019 He [Wingo] goes, \u2018I\u2019m not hiring you because you know that.\u2019 He said, \u2018I\u2019m hiring you because of who you are,’\u201d Swinney said.<\/p>\n
Those achievements weren\u2019t enough for Swinney, though, as coaching was his passion.<\/p>\n\n\n
\nImago<\/p>\n
\u201cI would just say, like, \u2018God, I want to coach.\u2019 I feel like there\u2019s this void in my life because I think when you really have experienced impact in people\u2019s lives and transformation in people\u2019s lives and the joy that comes from that, it\u2019s hard to kind of fill that void,\u201d Swinney added. \u201cBeing out of coaching made me a better coach, and that\u2019s something I experienced as a young coach.\u201d<\/p>\n
That phase made Swinney more fearless and ready to take on any challenge because he had lost the thing he loved most and learned to prioritize life over success. But this journey wasn\u2019t easy for Swinney.<\/p>\n
Football Faith was the key for Dabo Swinney<\/h2>\n After his long Alabama tenure, Dabo Swinney experienced a totally new industry. At 31, he saw a different perspective on life. However, staying away from coaching for nearly 18 months was difficult for the Clemson head coach. Every single day, he prayed to God.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy prayer was, \u2018God, I just I want to coach, but I only want to coach if that\u2019s your will for me,’\u201d Swinney said. \u201cI don\u2019t want it to be my will. I want that to be your will for me. And if it is your will, then I pray that you will take me to a place where I can raise my kids. I was very specific. Lord, I pray that you will take me to be a part of a staff that has a head coach who loves you, who will allow me to be a good father and a good husband. And I was very specific about what I prayed for.<\/p>\n
\u201cI prayed\u2014I literally prayed that for 18 months. But then I would wrap it up, and I\u2019d say, \u2018But if that\u2019s not your will, Father God, if that\u2019s not your will, I pray you\u2019ll just help me fill that void with some other way and just help me to be great today,’\u201d continued Swinney.<\/p>\n
God listened to his prayer in 2003. That year, Clemson head coach Tommy Bowden hired Dabo Swinney as WRs coach. Interestingly, Bowden called Wingo first because Swinney was making so much money.<\/a> However, that opportunity was more than anything for Swinney. Now, the coach is entering his 18th season with the Tigers as head coach.<\/p>\n<\/div>\nRead More<\/a> Tami Menjivar<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Sure, Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney\u2019s coaching career began at Alabama as an 18-year-old graduate assistant, but his roots with the Tide go way back. He spent time as a walk-on wide receiver there, too. However, following a disastrous 3-8 season, he had to leave the program. Once Alabama head coach Mike DuBose resigned under<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":910750,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27046,3790,40033],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-910749","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-they","category-football","category-me"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/910749","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=910749"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/910749\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/910750"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=910749"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=910749"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=910749"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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