Dad's Thumbprint: Swinney has reminder of his dad with him in win over Notre Dame

Swinney had the locket with him Saturday (Photo by Merrell Mann).

by David Hood - Senior Writer - Mon Nov 06 16:30:15 GMT-04:00 2023

Dabo Swinney’s dad Ervil Swinney is never far from the thoughts of Clemson’s head coach, but during Saturday’s victory over Notre Dame, Dabo felt even closer to Ervil.

Saturday’s 31-23 victory over the Fighting Irish was big for a lot of reasons – it broke a two-game losing streak, pushed the Tigers over .500 with a 5-4 record, and was also the 166th victory of Swinney’s career.

Those 166 victories put him a victory ahead of the late College Football Hall of Famer Frank Howard. Swinney had tied Howard's record, which had stood for 54 years, against Wake Forest in early October. Clemson lost its next two games, however, delaying Swinney's taking sole possession of the record until Week 10 vs. Notre Dame.

Swinney, speaking to the media after the win, joked that Howard had something to do with the delay.

"Frank Howard's probably gotten in pretty good with God up there," Swinney said with a smile. "I can hear him now: 'We're going to make this hard on this old boy.' I think Coach Howard wanted to remind everybody that it isn't easy to win, and the credit goes to the players and all these coaches. We've had some amazing, amazing players, and they're all a part of that."

Swinney had a personal memento during the win on Saturday – a locket with an impression of his dad’s thumbprint. Ervil Swinney battled cancer and passed away in 2015. Clemson had Notre Dame on the schedule that season – the Tigers pulled out a win in a driving rainstorm from Hurricane Joaquin – and Ervil wanted to attend the game but passed away before the season began.

The funeral home offered to make the family an impression of Ervil’s thumbprint, and the locket arrived at Swinney’s house the week of that 2015 Clemson-Notre Dame game. Clemson won 24-22, and Swinney remembers that when thinking about last week’s game.

He took it out of its spot at home and took it with him to Memorial Stadium for the game.

"I didn't really know how it would play out, but I knew we were going to win that game," Swinney said of the 2015 contest. "That's why I was so emotional after that game. I just really missed him, and I knew he wanted to be there. And then today, I was thinking about that. So it's the first time I've ever brought my dad with me, if you will. I brought that little thumbprint."