With last Saturday’s 31-23 victory over number 15 ranked Notre Dame, Dabo Swinney became the all-time winningest coach in Clemson football history with his 166th victory. Throughout the highs, lows, ups, and downs, Swinney has and will always find the joy in winning.
Speaking to the media after Tuesday’s practice, he reiterated that mindset and revealed he had a chance to share that message of positivity with a number of coaches around the country who reached out to congratulate him on such a monumental milestone.
“Yea, that was one of the cool things about last week,” explained Swinney. “I had a lot of coaches, and coaches I don’t talk to, that I don’t really have a relationship with reach out to me. I don’t even know what all I said, but apparently I said something that hit a nerve with some people in my profession. So, if one positive came from last week, I got a chance to meet some new people and a chance to encourage a lot of coaches out there. Some very prominent people, and some prominent former coaches who took it upon themselves to get my number and reach out to me.”
Dabo Swinney
Dabo continued, “Hopefully to encourage and uplift some guys, I think, are kind of in the fight in where they are in their career, in the world, and what’s going on in their profession. That was a cool opportunity that the good Lord gave me last week and thankful for that.”
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As his team prepares for Georgia Tech this Saturday, a 12 noon kick-off at Memorial Stadium, Swinney likes the way his team is trending as they are bolstered by the confidence of a big, and much-needed, victory.
Beleaguered and counted out by nearly every pundit in the national media, Swinney and the Tigers see a prime opportunity to continue building for the rest of this season and for the future.
“I’m excited to be back in The Valley,” said Swinney. “We have two home games left. It’s been an amazing environment all year. Georgia Tech is playing with a lot of confidence. They have won three of their last four (games). They fight until the end.”
Dabo Swinney
Continued Swinney, “Offensively, they are scoring a lot of points. They are creative in what they do and get the ball to their playmakers. On defense, we’ve seen some of these guys and they’re playing hard. They have a couple of guys who are twitchy come off the edge. They do a good job of mixing up their coverages. You never know what you are going to get.”
Swinney is hopeful Clemson will be getting some injured players back in time for Saturday, including running back Will Shipley and defensive end Justin Mascoll.
“He’s trending back,” said Swinney of Shipley. “He was able to go in a green jersey yesterday. We expect to get him back. His head is good.”
Dabo Swinney
On Mascoll, “He’s better. Hopefully no setback. He has been out the last couple of weeks. Hopefully he is ready to go. I know he’s ready to play.”
At the end of the day, Clemson’s success all comes down to how the Tigers practice and prepare. Swinney called everyone within the program to bear following the losses to Miami and N.C. State, and the bell was answered against Notre Dame. Swinney wants to see consistency in the work and effort, and hammered that point home again.
“I always tell our guys, if you flew a drone over our practice and we’re preparing for a national championship game, or you flew a drone over our practice in September and it’s game three against Eastaboga Community College, you shouldn’t be able to tell a difference,” Swinney said. “If you do, we’re not where we need to be.”
Dabo Swinney
It all comes down to best being the standard and Swinney will always hold his team accountable to that concept.
“To truly be great, you have to prepare and play to a standard,” he added. “And that is best here. It’s about doing your best day in and day out whether you are 5-4 or 9-0.”
