Did Clemson Get It Right With Dabo Hire?

I can tell you with complete confidence whether Clemson has made a good hire or a poor choice by selecting Dabo Swinney in three simple words: I don't know.

I think Nick Saban is about the only "sure thing" there is in college football coaching right now, but even that has lessons to learn. You need the right coach in the right place to have big time success. Saban has Alabama in position to win a national championship in his second season. He won a piece of a national title at LSU in 2003 in his fourth season.

Yet at Michigan State, Saban was 34-24-1 and only won more than seven games once in five seasons. An SEC hit coach was an "also ran" in the Big Ten? That appears to a case of the right coach running the second most important school in the state of Michigan.

You want more proof that nobody knows if this was a good hire?

Imagine if I told you in that after four years in Columbia, Steve Spurrier would be 28-21 with three losses to Clemson. He's shaking up his USC coaching staff again and doesn't appear to have a viable option at quarterback. Spurrier has one bowl win, one bowl defeat and one year when the Gamecocks were left at home. USC is heading back to the postseason this year, likely in Tampa's Outback Bowl. (Again?)

So getting back to Dabo, I just don't know if he's the right choice. And I don't know if he's the wrong choice.

The thing I wanted to hear from Terry Don Phillips wasn't about what Dabo has done with Clemson since taking over the team on an interim basis after Tommy Bowden left.

I wanted to hear what he saw from a coaching talent standpoint about Swinney. "I have had the opportunity to watch Dabo Swinney closely over the last six years both on and off the field," said Phillips. "He is one of the bright young coaches in America."

These are words from the man who hired Les Miles and recommended Mike Gundy as an assistant at Oklahoma State. This is the same athletic director who came to Clemson and attracted Oliver Purnell to take over a moribund basketball program.

So TDP has a track record of spotting good coaches. Then again, as my good friend The Chipster would always remind me, he's due to miss.

So again, I don't know.

I can point out that Danny Ford was a nine-year assistant coach who took over the Clemson program at the age of 30. I can mention that Mike Ditka won a Super Bowl with the Chicago Bears and had never served as a coordinator prior to getting a head coaching job.

And yet the coaching scrapheap is full of assistant coaches who got their chance and weren't up to the job.

So again, and you should be able to say this with me now, I don't know.

But here's what I do know heading into the 2009 season:

- Using the depth chart for the USC game as a guide, Clemson had seven seniors listed in the top 44 players on offense and defense. Both kickers must be replaced.
- QB Willy Korn will finally take over the offense. However, in limited play over two seasons health has become an issue with injuries in each of his first two seasons.
- Here's the 2009 schedule (11 out of 12 games ) from National Champs.net:

Home - Middle Tennessee, Coastal Carolina, Wake Forest, Florida State, Boston College, Virginia
Away - Maryland, N.C. State. Georgia Tech, Miami, USC

So with little consideration of what the teams listed above will have next fall and unless Clemson is tempted by another national showcase against a big power (like playing Alabama in the season opener at a neutral site), Dabo could have a pretty good first season.

It will be fun to find out and Dabo has an amazing story that would make a great script if he can be successful.

But long term, is Dabo going to be Danny Ford or Larry Shyatt?

I..don't.. (you know the rest)