Dabo Swinney and his assistant coaching legacy

Oct 30, 2023, 1:05 PM

When Dabo was hired as the full time coach a fellow Tiger friend said that he would have a difficult time hiring top flight assistants because he had no street cred as a coach having never been a coordinator or HC at some other school at any level.

From the outside, that statement made a TON of common sense. However, very few knew what was on the inside. TDP seemed to know and we ended up with Dabo as the HC. (I for one am thankful for that!)

Then, amazingly, Dabo was able to slowly build his staff with very solid known commodities from the coaching ranks. We all marveled over the years how he was able to get the next guy that was just what we needed at the time and an improvement as well.

Napier to Morris
Steele to Venables
Cauldwell
Brooks
Reed (which has been as big of a staff get as he has had in my opinion).

Then as success began taking shape Dabo looked for up and coming guys to be mentored into his program so that he had some continuity of program. He actively worked to make the staff sound to poaching from other schools.

When it did happen he had what he thought were mentored guys ready to make their name.

He has gone from hiring older assistants to mentor himself to hiring younger assistants for him to mentor.

How long does it take to make your name as an assistant coach? How long do you allow them to develop when it is no longer as a helper but as the actual position coach?

These are tough questions posited against the backdrop of continuity of program goals. The wrench in the system is losing games that should not be lost because of self inflicted mistakes.

How long?

Well we found out that Streeter was on a short leash.
Goodwin has been very good so far. Most that oppose Goodwin simply miss the intensity of Coach V, but Coach V had his share of issues with calls and a lot of times just getting a call in on time. Winning helps you forget those kinds of things.
Riley in his first year? Disappointing but what is happening on the inside?

Position coaches -
Austin, Grisham, Richardson....How long? to balance recruiting to program continuity to wins and losses via performance per the position group.

These are tough questions for someone to consider with no skin in the game and even more so for Coach Swinney. I don't know how long he will tolerate this ineptitude, but we are about to find out.

I don't want anyone else trying to right this ship other than Dabo. I know he will make mistakes and I know he will say to much crap in press conferences but I also know he wants it more than anyone and has much more at stake than any of us.

The Best is yet to come - lets just hope it not too long from now!

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Re: Dabo Swinney and his assistant coaching legacy

Good post.

I think Dabo assumed he had the right type quality in the wings yet we find that results on the field are indicating that is not the case. so how long does he let it marinate.....the natives are restless.

I think with Goodwin, he has hit it and the rest of the defensive staff seems to be on point for success. For offense - not so much

Riley was a energy shot but has failed short term and it remains to be seen for the longer term.

Spiller is a question mark in my mind. Backs could be better and certainly need to be better on ball security, but how much is it Spiller vs something else. He has gotten better recruiting after kind of dropping the ball at first. so does he solidify himself and take a step up or have we seen his best shot.

Richardson - well I just don't know. My gut says he is more suited to an analyst role than field spot. Our TEs don't block as well as they should but they are not the problem overall.

Austin - recruiting has gotten better, but has evaluation or fundamentals gone backwards. Getting through to a kid is as important as what gets through.

Grisham - this is a former pro player that seems like he doesn't know what to tell his players. Something is wrong here.

Overall that offensive coaching line up is dang young. at least two of the four should be older savvy hard nosed coaches.

Right now - if I am making the call - Spiller stays, Richardson stays, Grisham is let go and Austin gets demoted and Dabo brings in an old school OL coach to further mentor Austin and a mid career WR coach that has some real pedigree with recruiting and placement.

lets see what happens.

As for dollar commitment football to basketball - I think it is more that Football (as a sport) drives the money rather than a school administration decision to starve the BBall financially. Football is revenue King. Dabo earned those raises with on field and scholastic success. Dont forget early on he gave part of his raise to his assistants and it was not until additional success on the field that the assistants got payment increases on their own contracts.

IPTAY is football fan driven.

Dabo Swinney and his assistant coaching legacy

Re: Dabo Swinney and his assistant coaching legacy

Dabo Swinney is so talented and can do it without experience

Re: Dabo Swinney and his assistant coaching legacy

Good post.

LOL

Re: Good post.

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