Clemson fans should forever be grateful to [former AD Terry Don] Phillips for sticking to his script eight years ago, when he took a chance on a 38-year-old receivers coach, a guy who had never even been a coordinator.
That guy was Dabo Swinney, who was so under the radar at the time as a legitimate head-coaching candidate that Phillips admits some of the Clemson board of trustee members didn't even know who he was.
"It's a good thing that I had a president [Jim Barker] who trusted me and had a wonderful relationship with our trustees," Phillips said. "I'm pretty sure there were reservations, because on paper, Dabo didn't have the credentials that a lot of these other folks we talked to did. But Jim accepted my recommendation, stood behind it with the trustees, and the rest is history."
As an old defensive lineman who played under Frank Broyles at Arkansas, Phillips jokes that he never used to watch receivers in practice until Swinney showed up at Clemson.
"I just kept hearing about this energetic receivers coach we had and found myself wandering over to his side of the field," Phillips recalled. "I liked the way he coached his players, how he was tough on them, but was always teaching them and always there for them outside of football. It's not a facade with Dabo. He genuinely cares, and his players sense that."
So over time, Phillips began making mental notes. He noticed how the players were always milling around Swinney's office when they weren't on the practice field or in class.
"And not just receivers, but players from all positions," Phillips said. "Kids migrated to this particular coach, and that caught my eye."
With Swinney as the point man, the Tigers started signing high-profile recruits, including C.J. Spiller, whom they had struggled to even get to campus for visits in the past. After Swinney took over the Clemson summer camps, the number of players also began to explode.
"Everything he touched was successful," Phillips said. "There was just something about him, and when Tommy [Bowden] resigned, it was the perfect opportunity to let Dabo audition for the job the rest of that year."