After being defeated by the Longhorns in the first round of the CFP, the Clemson Tigers officially ended their participation this season in the NCAAF. With the main goal of improving the campaign next year, Dabo Swinney decided to bring new faces to his staff and, moreover, proudly highlighted his achievements with the program.
Since his arrival at Clemson back in 2008, the successful coach has achieved 180 wins and 47 losses, numbers highly enviable by anyone. Not only that, he managed to win the National Championship in both 2016 and 2018, and also secured seven playoff appearances.
Despite all these great achievements for the Tigers, Swinney wants more and decided to add former Penn State Nittany Lions coach Tom Allen as the new defensive coordinator for his team. When asked by the press about this decision, the coach expressed the need to continue improving in all areas.
“…but we’re always striving to get better,” Swinney said. “And each and every year we, you know, I try to do what I need to do to, you know, help us do just that. Keep growing, keep getting better. And it felt like I needed to have a change in leadership on the defensive side this year. And so, I decided to make that change.”
Clemson’s last season ended with a positive record of ten wins and four losses. Unfortunately for them, their playoff run was short-lived, as they were decisively defeated by the Texas Longhorns 38-24.
Swinney’s impact on Clemson
Undoubtedly, the name of Dabo Swinney in College Football is one of the most relevant, at least in recent years. His impact was clear, to the point that the head coach himself believes his program is one of the most important in the country.
“You know, I think it’s important to step back from emotional things,” Swinney said. “And, you know, keep a good perspective on the good, the bad, but evaluate you always set your eyes forward on what you got to do to get better. We’ve been to seven CFPs in the past 10 years, six Final Fours, four final twos, and two national championships.
“And I’ve won this league eight out of the last 10 years. So we’ve done a lot of great things, and we’ve created, you know, a high standard and high expectations. And so again, there’s not a program out there that’s been more consistent than us, and we’re really proud of that.”