Swinney Has Bright Future

By MikeBullock  |   Thursday, December 10, 2009  |  Comments( 0 )

Clemson Tigers
Got something to say?

Sign Up and be the first to comment on this article!

When the interim tag was taken off of Head Coach Dabo Swinney’s title last December, it ushered in a new era for Clemson. Having spent the last ten years under Tommy Bowden, son of the legendary Bobby Bowden, Clemson was ready for change. Swinney was just the man to bring it.

While many think being a head coach is simply knowing your Xs & Os and calling plays, a head coach is far more than that. A head coach needs to lead, inspire, teach and motivate the entire coaching staff, as well as the players. If a head coach treats his position as just a job, the team will spiral into defeat after defeat. Fortunately for Tiger fans, Swinney gets that.

In the first month of his tenure, Swinney helped the team bond with the Clemson student body with an “All in” practice where students were allowed to watch and, on a limited basis, participate. This gave the students a sense of what it was like to play football at a high level, and brought the players into a deeper sense of community with the student body at large.

After that, Swinney took the team to Greenville Children's Hospital where they met with young men and women fighting cancer. This is the sort of life changing event you don’t get from phoning it in, and not only did it help the patients at the hospital, by brightening their day with a visit from a beloved team, it further cemented the idea in the players’ minds that they were part of the community at large, that went far beyond the boundaries of their campus.

This level of commitment to the team, not just as football players, but as young men who need to fully understand their place in a larger world, is what lays the groundwork for a coach to be able to motivate players to deliver far more than they believe they’re capable of doing.

And deliver they did.

In Swinney’s first full season as a head coach, Clemson landed an ACC Atlantic Division title, came one touchdown shy of snatching an ACC Conference Championship and narrowly missed the team’s first Orange Bowl berth in decades. Those team achievements were built on the backs of individual achievements, as the honors for players from running back C.J. Spiller to defensive back DeAndre McDaniel and many in between continue to pour into the Tigers offices.

While the Tigers will lose Spiller, backup quarterback Willie Korn and a few others this offseason, Swinney’s track record and ability to inspire should be more than enough lure in replacement talent from the high school ranks, as well as transfers from other colleges.

Having done this well in the first season, it’s obvious coach Swinney’s best days are ahead of him.
Got something to say?

Sign Up and be the first to comment on this article! (0)

Article Tools Share!   |  RSS  |  Bleacher Report About Bleacher Report