Swinney excited for return trip to Austin after first two were winners in his book

Dabo Swinney is headed back to Austin, where he had a key moment in his career.

by David Hood - Senior Writer - Dec 12, 2024, 7:00 AM

Dabo Swinney hasn’t spent much time in Austin, Texas, but when he does, big things happen.

Clemson’s head coach will return to Austin next week. His Tigers will play the Texas Longhorns in the first round of the expanded College Football Playoff. The game will be held at 4 p.m. on Dec. 21st at Texas’ Darrell K. Royal Stadium and will be broadcast on TNT.

Swinney’s quarterback, Cade Klubnik, played high school football at Austin’s Westlake High School and Swinney made the trip during Klubnik’s senior season to watch him play.

However, Swinney’s first trip was one he didn’t think would happen. Swinney was named the Tigers’ coach (permanent) on Dec. 1st of 2008, and as the new year began in 2009, he reached out to coaches across the country, hoping to stop in for a learning visit.

He either didn’t hear back from those coaches or they told him no.

Enter Mack Brown. Brown coached the Longhorns from 1998-2013 and won the National Championship with Vince Young in 2005, and he didn’t hesitate to let Swinney and his staff visit Austin.

"I actually called around to a lot of coaches, and the only guy that would let me come visit was Mack Brown. And he didn't know me," Swinney said earlier this week. "I remember calling out there and he was like, 'Congrats, I kept up with your season, it was really cool to see you get the opportunity. Yeah, come on out.' So I brought my whole staff — strength staff, defense, offense and we went out and spent two and a half, three days there."

The Longhorns would reach the National Championship that season, eventually losing to Alabama, and Swinney and his staff spent parts of four days in Austin asking, ‘How do you build a championship program?’”

"That trip was life-changing for me," Swinney said. "I got the job as the interim in the middle of the season, and got the job in December. Now you're getting going, putting your staff together, we signed our first class — 12 guys. I was just looking to go learn. I didn't know much about being a head coach other than what I had done as an interim and what I thought, I had a lot of thoughts in my head. I just felt like I needed to go learn.

"He took us all to lunch, we spent a lot of time meeting, but I was hoping I might get maybe an hour with him — he spent several hours with me one-on-one, and I had a lot of questions. Some of it was just confirmation — 'OK, I'm not crazy, I'm thinking the right way.' A lot of it, I couldn't even get the question out of my mouth, he could read my mind and he had the answer."

Brown detailed to TigerNet one of the reasons he allowed Swinney to visit.

“Two of the most important people in Dabo’s life - Coach (Gene) Stallings and Woodrow McCorvey - are two of my best friends and two people that I admire more than anybody else,” Brown said. “The first thing you have to do is surround yourself with really good people. That’s two of the best. Coach Stallings is tough and leads him. He talks to him about what to do and what not to do. Woodrow just runs everything. He’s just kind of behind the scenes. He’s got this personality and Dabo and I are like this.”

Swinney has never forgotten the time Brown spent, helping a new coach learn his way.

"As a young coach, 39 years old, it was transformational that he took the time to pour into me," Swinney said. "He didn't have to. It gave me maybe a different way to think about a few things, as well. He went way above and beyond. I've still got my notes, about seven or eight pages of notes that I took that really helped me when I got back to Clemson, as far as being a head coach, having some confidence in what I thought we needed to do moving forward."

As for Brown, he didn’t hold back his feelings for Swinney when he returned to North Carolina to coach and his Tar Heels had to face the Tigers.

"I don't like Dabo Swinney, I love Dabo Swinney," Brown said. "Wish we didn't have to play 'em, though. But I love him."