11 minute read
Living Inside-Out
DABO SWINNEY
Advertisement
BY KEVIN MERCER
During his 13 years at the helm of the Clemson football program, head coach Dabo Swinney has established the Tigers as one of the preeminent programs in the nation. He’s done it by leading with faith that “just oozes out of him.”
Lawrence’s big day: April Trevor 29, 2021, the first night of the NFL draft.
It was his name that NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell read as the first overall pick by the Jacksonville Jaguars, who hope that one day Lawrence is mentioned alongside Brady and Montana as one of the greatest quarterbacks ever.
As the highest drafted Clemson player in history, Lawrence owned the spotlight. Yet behind the scenes, for Lawrence’s college coach, Dabo Swinney, April 29 was simply the latest validation of the college football program he’s established at “Death Valley.”
“We know [reaching the NFL is] a goal for every young person,” Swinney
said during the “Sports Spectrum Draft Special” in April. “We just want to make sure that they know when they leave this place, that they’re going to be great men and they’re going to have great lives. They don’t have to be a pro football player to do that. That’s great, but we want to keep the right perspective as they go chase that.”
It appears Swinney has discovered a paradox: The best way to win as many games and produce as many NFL stars as Clemson does every year is to emphasize player development outside of football.
Under Swinney’s leadership, it’s common to see current Tigers players giving back to their community at local schools and food drives, or former players returning to campus years later as a closeknit family of loyal Tiger alums. In the Fall 2020 semester, the football program also posted its highest-ever in-season GPA, surpassing the previous mark set in 2018 (under Swinney as well).
Everything seems to be running like a well-oiled machine, and Swinney sits as its driver. All of it would have been hard to imagine only 13 years ago.
Then, Swinney was a little-known wide receivers coach at Clemson, but when previous head coach Tommy Bowden resigned midseason, Swinney was the surprising pick as the interim coach. The athletic department soon scrapped the “interim” label as Swinney started to win games in bunches. The assembling of one of the country’s most dominant college football empires had begun.
Swinney has gone on to win seven ACC championships (2011, 2015-2020), 140 games and the 2015 AP College Football Coach of the Year Award. More than 100 of his former players have been given a chance to make the NFL, and many have succeeded. And perhaps his crowning achievement came on a Monday night in January 2017, and then again in 2019, when he and his Tigers ascended to the top of the college football mountaintop as national champions.
But what often makes Swinney’s tenure so captivating, and indeed so polarizing, is not his on-field success. It’s his unashamed commitment to living out his faith in Jesus Christ. It’s a faith he shares with Lawrence, and a faith he admires so much about his former quarterback.
“You gotta have the Holy Spirit inside of you and you have to feed that every day. Starve the distractions, feed the focus. Keep your eyes on the Lord in everything that you do; in the good and the bad you gotta put your eyes on Jesus.”— Dabo Swinney
“What I love about him more than anything is he’s faith-driven,” Swinney said on the Draft Special. “He has built his life on a foundation of faith. Great mom and dad. Great people around him, but he’s strong in his faith and he’s an inside-out kid in this world of outside-in.”
Perhaps Swinney enjoys Lawrence’s ability to avoid the influence of the outside world — to live inside-out — because that’s a characteristic he himself displays.
you were in South Carolina or a fan of ACC football, you probably didn’t know much about Swinney when tight end Eric Mac Lain signed to play for him at Clemson in the class of 2011. However, by the time he graduated in 2015, Mac Lain had successfully converted to offensive tackle and played in Clemson’s first of six consecutive College Football Playoff appearances. Meanwhile, “Dabo” had become a household name.
Mac Lain, now a football commentator with the ACC Network, had never before heard Swinney use his “inside-out” quip, but he had certainly seen his former coach live it.
“He comes up with new and fresh stuff, but there’s no question that who he is as a person and everything he’s ever taught us goes right in line with that exact same saying,” Mac Lain told Sports Spectrum. “He is a guy where it’s not like he has to sit there and quote Bible verses or read from the Bible for you to know who he is, what he stands for and what’s most important to him. ...
“He just is such a believer and so passionate that his faith just oozes out of him. He can’t hide it. He can’t be anyone else.”
Swinney isn’t hesitant to be who he is, and who God made him to be. Swinney has always had to be a fighter on the football field and in life, and he applies that mentality to how he spreads the Good News of Jesus.
Unless
— Former Clemson player Eric Mac Lain
Swinney’s bold faith in Christ was on display in the locker room during those early years with Mac Lain, though never forced upon any player. As a believer himself, Mac Lain said Swinney’s influence has pushed him to live a life that God uses to draw others to Himself. Swinney competes, coaches, motivates and respects people through the lens of faith, so much so that people often wonder why he’s different than most.
“I hope that people ask that question (about me as well),” Mac Lain said, “and they find the answer as to why.”
the lights on rising celebrities grow brighter, the temptation grows stronger to downplay, soften or even hide their faith in Jesus. Not so with Dabo.
In 2017, the world watched as ESPN interviewed Swinney moments after his team overcame his alma mater, Alabama, with a last-second touchdown to win a wild national championship, 35-31.
“Only God can do this!” an emotional Swinney said. “... I’m thankful to the good Lord and all my players.”
Clemson was back on top in 201819 after throttling Alabama, 44-16, to cap the first 15-win season in college football’s modern era. Leading the charge was a freshman quarterback named Trevor Lawrence.
After the game, in the same manner as two years earlier, Swinney gave glory to God.
“For me personally, J.O.Y. comes from focusing on Jesus, Others and Yourself,” Swinney told ESPN. “There are so many great coaches that are so deserving of a moment like this that never get the chance to experience it. To get to do it once and now to get to do it again, it’s just a blessing and it’s just simply the grace of the good Lord to allow us to experience something like this.”
He continued later, “All the credit – all the glory – goes to the good Lord. ... You can’t write a Hollywood script like this. Only God can do this, and that’s a fact.”
The Baylor men’s basketball team popularized the J.O.Y. acronym on the way to a national championship this past April, and Swinney said he’s discussed the concept with Bears head coach Scott Drew. Both title-winning coaches agree that instilling a culture of J.O.Y. is not only the best way to lead a group of college athletes, but the way God desires His people to approach every situation in life. It’s the way to find true joy in Christ regardless of life’s obstacles.
past spring, legendary NFL coach and fellow Christ-follower Tony Dungy presented Swinney with the Uncommon Award at the 2021 Arise With the Guys men’s event in Minnesota, stating that Swinney was one of his heroes. As the two coaches talked, Swinney went into detail about his own journey in life, from a difficult upbringing in Alabama, to becoming a believer at 16, to his current superstar status.
A video tribute from Lawrence and many former players, including Swinney’s son, Will, served to introduce the two-time national title-winner.
“I want to thank you, Coach Swinney, for how you’ve impacted me on and off the field,” the newest Jaguars quarterback said in the video. “... Your faith has been such a good example for me and I’m sure for so many other of my teammates and people that interact with you.
“You’re a great example of consistency and I think that’s what this world needs more than anything, is just consistent leaders with faith, and you’re the epitome of all those things.”
So how, in the pressure-cooker that is big-time college football, does Swinney avoid the temptation to moderate and conform? How does Dabo live inside-out?
“You gotta have the Holy Spirit inside of you and you have to feed that every day,” Swinney told Sports Spectrum. “Starve the distractions, feed the focus. Keep your eyes on the Lord in everything that you do; in the good and the bad you gotta put your eyes on Jesus. It’s just that simple. He wants to have a relationship with you. You can’t have a relationship with Christ if you don’t talk to Him and you’re not connected. So I just try to keep the main thing the main thing.
“... I gotta have an unshakeable belief. I gotta believe in the Word. I gotta believe that Jesus is who He says He is. I gotta believe that He has a plan for my life. I gotta believe that when it stinks and I don’t like what’s going on, all things work together for good.”
As This
TO SUBSCRIBE: CALL 866-821-2971
Photo by Phil Ellsworth / ESPN Images, AP Photo/Sean Rayford
2021, Swinney and Clemson will have a chance to win it all again. The Tigers are not the preseason national title favorites, but neither were they in 2016-17 or 2018-19.
The monumental task of replacing Lawrence will fall on sophomore D.J. Uiagalelei, and as Uiagalelei goes, so go the Tigers. The former five-star recruit performed admirably after stepping into the starting position for two games as a true freshman a year ago when Lawrence tested positive for COVID-19. Uiagalelei completed 30 of 41 passes for 342 yards and two touchdowns in a come-frombehind win over Boston College, and the following week, he amassed 439 yards on 29 completions with two touchdowns in a 47-40 loss at Notre Dame in double overtime. Uiagalelei didn’t throw an interception and also rushed for a touchdown in both games.
Clemson will also be without receivers Amari Rodgers and Cornell Powell, but welcome the return of potential superstar receiver Justyn Ross after missing the 2020 season. The Tigers will look different in the ground game as well. Two-time ACC Player of the Year and two-time consensus AllAmerican running back Travis Etienne was also a first-round pick (25th overall) by the Jaguars.
There will be some new faces at the skill positions and along the offensive line, but the Tigers remain
In the prohibitive favorites in the ACC, largely thanks to their talented and experienced defense. Many expect the defense to dominate, especially along the line with four returning starters who could rival the defensive line from the title-winning team in 2018-19. Clemson’s path to the title begins with a blockbuster opener against Georgia in Charlotte, North Carolina, on Sept. 4. The Bulldogs are also a preseason top-five team. Yet, even with as busy as he is and with expectations as high as they are year-in and year-out in Clemson these days, Swinney makes sure to put his spiritual armor on and stay connected to
20 SPORTS SPECTRUM
TO SUBSCRIBE: CALL 866-821-2971
AP Photos/Sean Rayford, Mike McCarn, Rick Scuteri
the vine, his Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. He reads devotionals (sometimes with his coaching staff), remains in prayer and fellowships with other believers.
It’s what Swinney has been doing since the age of 16. It’s who he is, it’s how he leads a football team and it’s why he’s not afraid to live inside-out.
“No matter how much money, how much recognition, how many awards, national championships, Dabo is still Dabo,” Mac Lain said. “He’ll never change and the things that are important to him, from the first day he got the job — from a character standpoint, from a human being standpoint — still are today.”
As Swinney said on the “Draft Special,” “My job is to coach football and I am passionate about that. I am far from a perfect person, but I’m thankful that I got a God who will forgive me every single day, and He’s unconditional. His love is unconditional.
“I know where I’m going to spend eternity. That gives me peace and it frees me up. And I know that God has put me here for this reason: to do what I do, and I just try to do it in a way that pleases Him and glorifies Him.”
Dabo Swinney and quartereback Trevor Lawrence celebrate winning the Fiesta Bowl to advance to the 2019-20 CFP National Championship.
