Finebaum is still mad that Dabo didn't take the Bama job when Nick retired.

May 23, 2024, 3:27 AM

Finebaum interviewed Dabo after Clemson stomped a greasy spot out of Bama when Trevor was a freshman. It might help to remember PF and all the ESPiN talking heads called Bama's team the GOAT every year for half a decade.

Finebaum was Introducing Dabo and pointing out that previous to the last few seasons Clemson was 'inconsistent.'

PF:
It is not inconsistent anymore. We're speaking of Clemson University and the head coach, Diablo Swinney, joins us. Just name the Home Depot coach of the year. Coach, thanks for being with us. We were talking about the conversation we had a year or two ago when you left the Alabama staff, you were out of coaching. Back then when you were in sales in the Birmingham area, did you ever think that 15 years later you'd be the national coach of the year and have the number one team in the country?

Dabo:
You know I, I've always dreamed big I can tell you that uh... I don't know specifically uh, I thought that ... you know my dream and hope was to get back into coaching uh... that's been fifteen years ago uh... been at Clemson and just finished my thirteenth season here.

But 01 and 02, after spending 13 years in Tuscaloosa, those were two great years for me. I really miss coaching, but I was patient and hopeful that the right opportunity would come along. I had a couple doors closed that I really thought that that's where I was going. But you know, the Good Lord always has a different plan.

You know, next thing I know I get a call from Tommy Bowden to come to Clemson. And I had no idea when I came here I would be here 13 years. I was thankful to get back into coaching and start my career again and be able to come in a good place and work with a bunch of good people. But it's just been a blessing. It really has. I mean, right place at the right time and I've worked hard my whole life.

I'm just thankful that I was here to be the interim. I had a chance to leave the year before to go join Coach Saban in 07, but I stayed here. A year and a half later, I'm interim head coach.

I wouldn't have had that opportunity had I left. So I'm really thankful and appreciative of all the players that stepped up and really have gotten it done for me. So, because I'm just an extension of those guys and now seven years as the head coach, I'm really proud of the program we've built, how we've done it. And I think that we have been as consistent as anybody and we're not going away. We're gonna be a very consistent program for years to come. And I'm excited about that.

FB:
Coach Dabo Swinney with us. Just finished practice as Clemson gets ready for the Orange. But one last question on that, Coach, because I know not everyone may have heard the previous interlude we had. So you leave the Alabama staff. You were, I mean, how difficult was it to even get interviews back then? I mean, I know you were trying to get back in the game, but it didn't work out. I mean, were you, what type of jobs were you trying to get?

Dabo:
When I first, when Coach Debose (SP) got let go and they didn't really keep anybody, Mal Moore asked me to kind of stay for a couple weeks, which I did. And I thought he might have a chance for Coach Fran. And I met with him, and he was hopeful to keep me. But it didn't work out, because he was loyal to his guys. And I get that. He didn't know me. And so I was kind of the last guy out of the building, if you will. And that was a difficult time. But,you know I really, I just knew that God had a plan. And I ended up trying on a couple of jobs. I tried to get the Notre Dame job. Urban Meyer was the receiver coach at Notre Dame.

And he had just gotten hired as the head coach at Bowling Green. And so Coach Stallings and Mal, everybody really tried to help me and I tried hard and thought I was gonna have a chance but I really couldn't get the first base with Coach Davis there.

I was frustrated with that at the time because I thought I had a really good resume and had done things the right way. But at that time, if you take yourself back, all of a sudden you're 30 years old and you've had a pretty good career. The next thing you know, having Alabama is not good to have on your resume because it wasn't a good time at Alabama, there were a lot of sanctions coming and things like that and so I had a couple of doors closed on me.

I wrote a lot of really prominant people and sent resumes and did the things you're suppose to do and, you know, a lot of those people never really wrote me back and to this day, I've never forgot that. And to this day that's one of the things I try to pride myself on, I don't care if it's Joe Schmoe from Okamo (SP) I try to at least respond and say, you know, I don't have anything open but, good luck to you. And uh, you know, I grew a lot in that time and a lot of people don't know this but I was, It was actually three different times going back to Alabama.

All three times it just didn't work out. The one time was when Mike Price got the job. Mal Moore and I were very close and he called and said, 'Can you be in my office tomorrow at 10 o'clock?' And I said, 'Absolutely.' And that time he was flying Mike Price in. Y'all don't know, you got time for me to tell you the story?

PF:
You better believe it, Coach.

Dabo:
Okay, he's flying Mike Price in to accept the job. And so Mal calls me and wants me to come down and he says, listen, he's going to hire you. So I'm just tickled ta death. I said I'll be there. So I go down and I'm waiting in Miles office while Mike Price does the...the interview, no not the interview, the press conference accepting the job. When that's over, Mal comes and gets me and takes me to Coach Price's office and stands there. What a nice guy. He comes in, I didn't know him, and he says,
'Hey man, sit down, man. I've heard great things about you.' He's like, 'Listen, can you coach tight ends?' I said, 'You bet I can coach tight ends.'

And he says, 'OK, my one son's gonna coach quarterback, my other son's gonna coach the receivers, you're gonna coach the tightends, we're gonna get this thing going. I'm gonna go back and coach the Rose Bowl, and hey, I'll call you as soon as I get back.

So man, I just, man, I left Tuscaloosa, called my wife, and I said, man, we're going back to Alabama. This is gonna be just great. We're back in, and... So I go back and sure enough they played a Rose Bowl and he comes back and I didn't hear anything. I knew he was back in town obviously, some news and everything. I didn't hear anything from him so I called Mal and Mal was like, 'Awh, everything's okay, he's going to the convention, he's going to call you in as soon as he gets back from the convention.'

So that Friday he calls me and as soon as I answer the phone I can tell if something wasn't right. He just said, 'Listen Dabo, I know what we talked about but I've had a chance to really think this through and I'd love to hire you but both of my sons are really young guys and you're a young guy and I just really think I need a veteran, you know, SEC guy. He says I'm going to hire Sparky Woods to come in and coach the tightends.'

So oh my goodness. I was just, I was just devastated. At that point I was like, well, it's just not God's plan for me. So, I'm just trying to continue to just bloom where I'm planted and try to be good at what I'm doing. All of a sudden, that was in January of 2003, and then literally a month later, out of the blue, on a Friday, is when Tommy Bowden called. I didn't know he had a job. He says, hey, you're actually getting back in coach? I said, yes, sir.

And a week later I'm coaching at Clemson, and I'll never forget this. So now, this is how God works. This is when I quit worrying about things. Literally, this is when I was like, you know what, God knows a lot more than I do and I'm gonna quit worrying about this stuff because, you know, and quit getting upset about things that I don't control or don't work out the way I want them to work out because I'll never forget it. My first, so I come out here, I get to take the job, I coach spring balls, spring of 03, I hit the road in May. I'm so excited to go recruiting. Man, I'm back on the road doing I love to do. You know, I'm a pig in mud. I'm just tickled to death.

I got it started. My phone blows up one day. It was in recruiting uh... season had some Alabama boys coming to go man you hear what's going on right now what's going on in this? They started telling me about you know that situation down in florida and Coach Price and I, and I remember just thinking, so I was like I'll leave had I gotten that job i would have been like their in the middle of that and who knows, who knows if the next guy is gonna keep you and so and here I was at Clemson and I was so, thank You for that.

and then fast-forward uh... uh... the other time i was i was actually going to come with rich rodriguez uh, to Alabama and uh... was literally on that Friday uh... my expectations is that he was going to tell his team that he was going to Alabama and and and I was going to come with him to Alabama and uh... uh... then You know, he decided not to do it and I talked to Mal several times before and after that. And then the next thing I know, Coach Saban calls me but it was like literally like a week before signing day. And it just was a bad time for me. You know, I had a bunch of kids committed and it just wasn't the right time and the right fit at that time. And so, you know, it's just crazy how things worked out but I just, the things that I took are, you know what, you just got to, when things don't work out the way you want them to, sometimes you just have to trust that God's got the will and He's got the perfect plan.

So since that time, I just quit worrying about those type of things and that's how I've lived my life. And then I've had other opportunities to leave Clemson, but this has been a great fit for me and it's been a lot of fun watching it grow. I think that, you know, the best is still out there for us. I'm looking forward to being a part of it.

FB:
This would be the point in the interview I'll refrain from asking if you've ever considered going back to Alabama in the in the future because uh... and that is just an unbelievable uh... conversation, coach, about about Alabama. I knew, knew there were there were there was a there was an interlude or two but I had no earthly idea there were that many, uh, let me ask you uh... considering what you've said, it's so inspirational I think to to so many people but when you look about, when you look around at what you your team and and your staff all of you have accomplished this year. What goes through your mind because you're not done yet, but you've had an amazing run regardless?

Dabo:
It's just been fun. I mean, it's been fun. You know, listen, I've got a great perspective on life. I mean, this is fun. This is a lot of fun. Pressure is when you take your dad to chemo every few weeks, and you know, you watch him go through radiation every day for about eight weeks. Uh, uh, those are, that's tough times. What we do is fun. We work hard. Everybody wants to win. But we just try to keep a good, healthy perspective going through this whole thing.

I think the best part about it is for these young people, when you do things...that other people don't think you can do. I just think that helps them grow into the men that they're capable of being down in their lives and they take so many lessons from that. Because it really is about what you believe. It really is about what you do. People vote on certain awards and people vote on what teams are ranked and all that kind of stuff.

But man, nobody gets to vote on what happens in between those lines. And what happens in between those lines is based on how you prepare, your commitment, your work ethic, how you think, how you nurture each other. Those are the things that matter and our guys git that. They just have had a ball. Our philosophy all year has been, listen, we don't have to win them all. We just need to win the one that we're playing. Let's just find a way to win each and every week. We've been very lucky to have a season like we've had. It's been great that we've been able to stay, for the most part, healthy uh, with some of our key guys and that's always a part of it too. I'm not sure if we could have a better team last year but we were just a MASH unit on offense, at quarterback and the offensive line and this year we've been fortunate.

But just watching these guys prepare and rise to every single occasion that has been presented to them and to not get distracted by things that have nothing to do with how you play the game. We really just focus on how we play and how we play is, we're in total control of that because that's based on what we do Monday through Friday. And our guys have bought into that and it's been a lot of fun.

I mean, these guys have had great leadership and chemistry and you know we got three top ten wins, nobody else can say that in the country. Nobody's giving this team anything and heck we're still number one number one we've been number one pole to pole but we're still the underdog and you know, uh, that's just fine and that's what I tell these guys all time.

We just we'll just keep playing and you know, in the end, if we do things right, hey, we control our own destiny. We don't have to depend on anybody else. But you know, at this point in the season it's been a great year a lot of fun I've only been on one other 13-0 team. I mean, I got a great staff and like Dan Brooks, for example, he's coached at Tennessee, Florida, North Carolina, Clemson; this is his second 13-0 team in his career and he's coached for 40 something years. It's really hard to do and so I want everybody to enjoy, you know, what they've accomplished.

But this is the postseason. Let's go get dialed in on playing the best four quarters. Four great teams. You're not going to sneak up on anybody at this point. You've got to play well. And that's what we're focused on is trying to get this team ready to go play its best.

PF:
Coach, I don't know when we've had a more enjoyable or inspirational conversation. Best wishes and hope you have a great holiday with your family and we'll see you very soon. Thank you so much.

Dabo:
Yes sir, Merry Christmas. Y'all have a good one. Thank you.

PF:
Wow. What a conversation with Dabo Sweeney.

THE END
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
TL;DR:

PF: 'Whatta ya say Dabo?'

Dabo 'I've already told you, I never say never. Rather, I'm going to tell you again how sore I am from the last three times bama bent me over the barrel and ruptured my spleen.

PF: 'Yeah, I member that so I'm not going to ask again. GO BAMA!'

Transcriber's note: I take all the blame for the typos, misspellings and grammar errors.

flag link

military_tech

thumb_down

thumb_up

Finebaum is still mad that Dabo didn't take the Bama job when Nick retired.

To long.

FYI, I keep up with nothing regarding either PF or Espin other than...

Re: Finebaum is still mad that Dabo didn't take the Bama job when Nick retired.

Re: Finebaum is still mad that Dabo didn't take the Bama job when Nick retired.

TigerBoard POTD