Clemson Tigers head coach Dabo Swinney revealed that he quit his job early on during his tenure with the team.
Over the years, Clemson Tigers head coach Dabo Swinney has become one of the best and most respected coaches in college football.
Swinney has had a lot of success during his tenure as Clemson's head coach. He has won championships and won a lot of football games. However, that success almost never happened.
Following the passing of former Athletic Director Terry Don Phillips on Tuesday morning at the age of 78, Swinney told a story about how he actually quit the Tigers' head coaching job just a few days after being hired.
When Swinney was named the head coach, he had been with the program for five years. He knew about the challenges and problems that Clemson was facing and wanted to see change.
“I had an understanding of what some of the problems were and what needed to change, if we were going to have a chance. So, I kind of laid all of that out and everything was good on Sunday,” Swinney said. “But a couple of days later, it was, ‘We are not going to be able to do that, and we are not going to be able to do that and maybe next year.’ So, I am over there like (shaking my head)."
He revealed that he packed up his office after the disagreement.
“It was a come-to-Jesus-moment. It did not go well, and it was kind of a big blow up. I packed my office up. I hadn’t even hardly unpacked my office.”
Just an hour and a half later, while he was still packing up his office, Phillips came to talk.
“He starts yelling at me. He said, ‘Sit down! Come over here and sit down!’ That was the maddest I had ever seen him,” Swinney said. “So, I sat down.”
“I knew we were not going to be successful if we were just going to keep doing things the same way,” Swinney said.
Phillips seemed to respect Swinney's approach and the two sides were able to work things out and the rest is history.
“You fight for what you believe in,” Phillips said, according to Swinney. “I am glad we were able to get this worked out.”
Since taking over as the team's head coach back in 2008, Swinney has led the program to a 187-53 record. He has also won two National Championships.
