Did The Tigers Do The Right Thing?

Did Clemson make the right move in keeping Dabo Swinney as head coach?

When you consider all of the factors at work at this point in time from a football standpoint, and the economics of moving forward with the head coaching position, they just may have lucked out.

Over the past seven weeks what I thought was most appealing about Swinney wasn’t necessarily all of the various spirit-related things he employed but his football sense. It was actually refreshing to see a team with vertical talent on offense use it. I thought it also showed a quality from the top down that this team didn’t let Virginia or South Carolina back into games where in the past they would have under similar circumstances and actually did in Swinney’s first win at Boston College, only to rally for the victory.

There were the other reported interviewees for the job and I’m told other big names were in the mix to some degree. You can weigh the ‘taking a shot at a big name’ angle as opposed to what Clemson did by promoting an inexperienced coach and at least part of the answer won’t be known for a few years.

To pursue an established coach would mean opening the vault at a time when the university is furloughing workers and cutting budgets. That not only would be bad form but not fiscally prudent.

While no one knows how things will play out for Swinney the other part of that is ‘what if you have the guy who can be your long term solution?’ For one, you’re getting him on the cheap now. Secondly, the nightmare scenario would be to let him walk and have him and his skills as a recruiter end up at the archrival down the road (it’s happened before) or he moves on to another coaching job and five years later he’s successful somewhere else.

Swinney had an on-the-job audition for the opportunity and put up a good record to go with it. At least there’s a body of work to review. Many times, an assistant is promoted with only hope and no record to show for it.

Which leads to the point that the one man who shouldn’t be forgotten in all of this is Swinney’s predecessor. Perhaps Tommy Bowden was burned out when he stepped down under pressure in October. He’d likely lost any stubbornness that tells him he’s capable of getting a team to make a late-season run again. Whatever the case, and Swinney pointed this out at his news conference Monday, Dabo Swinney wouldn’t be sitting up there if not for Bowden’s move.

The former coach suggested to athletic director Terry Don Phillips that Swinney deserved his shot. If it works out then Bowden will have made more of an impact on Clemson football than he did in his nine-and-a-half years on the job.