PLAYING EXPERIENCELettered three years at Alabama (1990-92); also a member of the 1989 team … member of the 1992 National Championship team … Academic All-SEC and SEC Scholar-Athlete Honor Roll member in 1990,92.
BOWL PARTICIPATION AS A PLAYER1990 Sugar Bowl … 1991 Blockbuster Bowl … 1991 Fiesta Bowl … 1993 Sugar Bowl.
EDUCATIONB.S. degree in commerce & business administration from Alabama in 1993 … master of business administration from Alabama in 1995.
COACHING EXPERIENCEGraduate assistant coach at Alabama (1993-95) … wide receivers/tight ends at Alabama (1996) … tight ends at Alabama (1997) … wide receivers at Alabama (1998-00) … wide receivers at Clemson (2003-06) … assistant head coach/wide receivers at Clemson (2007 – Oct. 13, 2008) … interim head coach/offensive coordinator at Clemson (Oct. 13 – Dec. 1, 2008) … head coach at Clemson (2009-present).
BOWL SEASONS AS AN ASSISTANT COACH1994 Gator Bowl … 1995 Citrus Bowl … 1997 Outback Bowl … 1998 Music City Bowl … 2000 Orange Bowl … 2004 Peach Bowl … 2005 Champs Sports Bowl … 2006 Music City Bowl … 2007 Chick-fil-A Bowl.
BOWL SEASONS AS A HEAD COACH2009 Gator Bowl … 2009 Music City Bowl … 2010 Meineke Car Care Bowl … 2012 Orange Bowl … 2012 Chick-fil-A Bowl … 2014 Orange Bowl … 2014 Russell Athletic Bowl … 2015 Orange Bowl … 2015 CFP National Championship Game … 2016 Fiesta Bowl … 2016 CFP National Championship Game … 2018 Sugar Bowl … 2018 Cotton Bowl … 2018 CFP National Championship Game … 2019 Fiesta Bowl … 2019 CFP National Championship Game … 2020 Sugar Bowl … 2021 Cheez-It Bowl … 2022 Orange Bowl … 2023 Gator Bowl.
HEAD COACHING RECORD170-43 (.798) in 16 seasons (15 full seasons) at Clemson … 103-23 (.817) in ACC regular-season games at Clemson … 8-1 (.889) in ACC Championship Games at Clemson … 12-8 (.600) in bowl games at Clemson.
PERSONAL DATABorn Nov. 20, 1969 in Birmingham, Ala. … married to the former Kathleen Bassett … the couple has three sons (Will, Drew, Clay). BIO An illustrious coaching heritage is embedded in the foundation of Clemson football. At the dawn of the 20th century, the Tigers were led by future College Football Hall of Famer John Heisman. Hall of Famers Jess Neely, Frank Howard and Danny Ford followed in Heisman’s winning tradition. Now entering his 17th season (and 16th full season) as Clemson’s head coach, Dabo Swinney has already carved his name into that foundation, elevating himself amid a pantheon of Clemson greats as both the program’s all-time winningest coach and the first in program history to lead Clemson to multiple national championships. Swinney enters the 2024 season as the nation’s active leader in winning percentage among head coaches with at least 10 years of experience. His 170 wins are the most of any active coach whose entire head coaching tenure has come at one school, and he has produced 83 NFL Draft picks and 18 first-round picks, both the most of any active coach since his hire. Swinney’s stratospheric start to his head coaching career placed his record not only among Clemson legends but also among the names of the winningest leaders in the 150-plus years of major college football. Swinney coached the 200th game of his career in the 2022 Orange Bowl, and his 161-39 record through 200 career games positioned him alongside College Football Hall of Famers Bob Stoops and Robert Neyland for the fifth-most wins through 200 games in FBS history. His 161 career wins at the time also passed Stoops for the second-most through the first 15 seasons of a career in FBS annals despite Swinney being limited to only seven games in his first season while serving in an interim capacity. Swinney surpassed the legendary Howard as Clemson’s all-time winningest coach on Nov. 4, 2023, in a 31-23 defeat of No. 12 Notre Dame at Death Valley. The win was the 166th of his career in only his 209th career game. The win sparked Clemson’s five-game season-ending winning streak as the Tigers jumped from 4-4 to 9-4 and finished ranked in the AP Top 25 for a 13th consecutive season, tied for the ninth-longest streak in poll history. Swinney’s 2022 squad went 11-3 and returned the Tigers to the ACC throne, earning a 39-10 win in the ACC Championship Game against North Carolina to give the Tigers their seventh ACC title in eight years. Clemson became the first program in an active Power Five conference to win seven outright titles in an eight-year span since Alabama won eight out of nine SEC titles outright from 1971-79. Clemson’s 2022 squad extended its streak of consecutive 10-win seasons to 12, the third-longest streak in FBS history. In 2021, Swinney’s final win of the season in the Cheez-It Bowl was his 150th career win in his 186th game as head coach. In terms of games played, Swinney became the sixth-fastest coach in FBS history — and the fourth-fastest in the modern era — to earn 150 career wins, trailing Urban Meyer (176), Gil Dobie (180), Barry Switzer (180), Fielding Yost (184) and Joe Paterno (184). At the conclusion of that season, only 16 coaches in FBS history including Swinney had accomplished the feat within 200 games, and 14 of the 16 were College Football Hall of Fame inductees, with the lone exceptions being Swinney and Meyer, both of whom are not yet eligible. Though other seasons resulted in more hardware, analysts and observers opined that 2021 might have been Swinney’s best coaching job, as the Tiger mentor guided his team through adversity and attrition to overcome a 2-2 start to finish 10-3. Clemson entered that October as one of 28 Power Five teams with two or more losses, yet concluded the season as one of only two of those 28 programs to finish the season having reached 10 wins. In 2021, Swinney’s team played seven one-possession games, one shy of the school record, and went 5-2 in those contests. The squad’s success came in spite of tremendous turnover and attrition, as 48 different players earned at least one start, eight more than in the pandemic-impacted 2020 season. Only 23 Tigers played in all 13 games, and only four offensive or defensive players started all 13. Between injuries and transfers, he held aloft the 2021 Cheez-It Bowl trophy following a game Clemson finished without the services of 30 scholarship players from its initial fall roster. A year earlier, Swinney’s squad accomplished its “double-double mission” in 2020, going 10-2 in a condensed season to give Clemson 10 consecutive 10-win seasons. Clemson became only the third program in FBS history to accomplish the feat and became the first school to win 10 games in 10 straight seasons as a member of the ACC, as only the final nine of Florida State’s record 14-straight 10-win seasons came during the Seminoles’ tenure in the ACC. The pandemic-affected 2020 campaign was a historic one for the Tigers both as a team and individually, as quarterback Trevor Lawrence ascended to become the winningest quarterback in school history (34-2) and running back Travis Etienne added the ACC’s all-time rushing crown (4,952 yards) to his arsenal of school and conference records. Etienne’s versatility as a rusher and receiver earned him consensus All-American honors as an all-purpose selection, while Lawrence became the second Heisman Trophy finalist in program history, tying Deshaun Watson (second in 2016) for the highest finish in Heisman Trophy voting in school history. The prolific backfield duo under Swinney’s tutelage helped guide Clemson to its sixth consecutive outright conference title with a 34-10 win against Notre Dame in the ACC Championship Game. That day, Clemson and Oklahoma’s six-year streaks of outright conference titles made the two programs the first among current Power Five programs to win at least six straight outright titles since Oklahoma (12 from 1948-59) as part of the now-dissolved Big 8 Conference. The conference title helped Clemson secure its sixth College Football Playoff berth, becoming the first program ever to reach the postseason tournament in six consecutive seasons. Clemson is 6-4 all-time in College Football Playoff games, the second-most wins of any program since the format’s inception. Clemson finished 2020 as the nation’s No. 3-ranked squad, the Tigers’ sixth consecutive top-four finish in the AP poll. In doing so, Swinney joined Bobby Bowden (13), Pete Carroll (7) and Bud Wilkinson (6) as the only coaches since the AP Poll’s inception in 1936 to record six consecutive top-four finishes. In that stretch, Clemson appeared in the top five of 57 consecutive AP Polls, the second-longest streak in poll history. Clemson entered the third decade of the 21st century in 2020 after Swinney helped author one of the most prolific 10-year periods in the history of the sport. Clemson posted a 117-22 record under Swinney’s leadership in the 2010s, and the program’s 117 wins trailed only Penn (124 in the 1890s) and Alabama (124 in the 2010s) to tie for the third-most in a decade in major college football since 1890. Clemson’s 117 wins in the 2010s represented the first 100-win decade in Clemson history. Before a pandemic-shortened season in 2020, Clemson won at least 12 games in five straight seasons from 2015-19, tied for the longest such streak in the modern era and only two seasons shy of Penn’s record seven-season streak from 1892-98. Clemson won 69 games in that five-year span, the most in a five-year stretch in the AP Poll era. In 2019, the Tigers earned their fifth-consecutive College Football Playoff berth following their fifth-consecutive ACC title, becoming the first team in college football history to win five straight conference championship games since conference title games were created in 1992. Clemson posted a 14-1 record that year, earning its fourth appearance in the College Football Playoff National Championship Game in five years. Prior to the season finale, Clemson extended its school-record winning streak to 29 games, tied with Florida State (2012-14) for the longest streak in ACC history and for the 12th-longest in FBS history. Clemson dominated the vast majority of its 2019 opponents, including an eight-game streak of wins by 30 or more points to break the longest streak in the AP Poll era, surpassing the previous mark of seven games set by 2011 Houston and 1976 Michigan. Clemson also produced the 2018 William V. Campbell Trophy winner (known colloquially as the “Academic Heisman”) in Christian Wilkins and won the program’s first AFCA Academic Achievement Award. Clemson repeated as AFCA Academic Achievement Award recipients in 2019, becoming the only school in the country to repeat and doing so while appearing in the national championship game in both seasons. Swinney and Clemson’s 2018 season was one for which statistics and superlatives accumulated in historic fashion. The Tigers became the first major college football team in the modern era (and the first since Penn in 1897) to finish a season with a 15-0 record. The list of “firsts” was long and distinguished. Clemson became the first program to win four consecutive Atlantic Division titles, and with a 42-10 win against Pittsburgh in the ACC Championship Game, it became the first program to win four straight ACC titles outright. Clemson’s 15 wins included a school-record 12 against teams who finished with winning records. Clemson won by an average margin of 31.1 points per game, the best in the nation and the second-largest in school history, trailing only a 35.3-point average margin in 1900. Among the seasons it passed was a 30.4-point average margin in 1901, a season in which Clemson won one of its five games by a score of 122-0. Clemson set school records in points (664) and total offense (7,718, also an ACC record). The defense held opponents to 13.1 points per game, leading the country in scoring defense for the first time in school history. A critical point in the season came four games into the campaign. Following a 49-21 win at Georgia Tech in which true freshman quarterback Trevor Lawrence threw for four touchdowns in reserve, Swinney and the coaching staff elected to name Lawrence the starter, supplanting senior Kelly Bryant, who had led the Tigers to a 16-2 career record as a starter. With Lawrence leading Swinney’s Tigers, Clemson took flight. After a dramatic come-from-behind 27-23 win against Syracuse in which Lawrence exited the game with an injury, Clemson rattled off 10 consecutive wins of 20 points or more to conclude the season, including blowout wins of No. 3 Notre Dame in the Cotton Bowl and No. 1 Alabama in the College Football Playoff National Championship. Seven players earned first or second-team All-America honors, including a school-record three players who collected consensus honors. The 2018 Tigers produced a team-record 18 All-ACC picks and became the first team to produce the ACC Player of the Year, ACC Offensive Player of the Year, ACC Defensive Player of the Year, ACC Offensive Rookie of the Year and ACC Coach of the Year in a season since Florida State in 1997. Accolades also accumulated for Swinney, who earned his second career ACC Coach-of-the-Year honor and brought home the Woody Hayes Award as national coach of the year. Less than a week after winning the national title, he also won the Paul “Bear” Bryant Award, becoming the first three-time winner of the award. Including the 2018 Bryant and Hayes Awards, he has won national coach-of-the-year honors from at least one organization in five of the last 10 years. The 2018 season was preceded by a 2017 campaign in which Clemson was on a mission to prove that it was built to last. Swinney guided the team to a 12-2 record, an ACC title and a College Football Playoff berth despite having only six scholarship seniors and losing players who accounted for 77 percent of the offense during the 2016 national championship season. While Clemson was ranked No. 5 in the preseason AP Poll, few expected the Tigers to be ranked No. 1 in both polls and the College Football Playoff ranking entering the bowl season. In fact, Clemson was not even the preseason choice to win the ACC Atlantic Division. Despite a setback in the Sugar Bowl to eventual national champion Alabama, Clemson finished ranked No. 4 in both polls. Swinney was inducted into the Alabama Sports Hall of Fame following the season. The Tiger-record six wins over top-25 teams in 2017, also a national best, included a school-record four on opponents’ home fields and five away from home. The defense, including three defensive linemen, featured four All-Americans, helping Clemson finish in the top four in the nation in scoring defense (No. 2) and total defense (No. 4). Clemson led the ACC in the four major defensive categories (scoring, total, rushing, passing), a first in conference history. The 2016 Tigers lived up to their hype after compiling a 14-1 record and earning a spot in the College Football Playoff for the second-straight year. Along the way, Clemson knocked off five top-25 foes. Clemson defeated the top two teams in the national polls in consecutive games in the College Football Playoff at the end of the season. The Tigers blanked Ohio State, 31-0, in the Fiesta Bowl, the first shutout suffered by head coach Urban Meyer in his career and the first for Ohio State since 1993. The Tigers then earned a rematch with No. 1 Alabama, and for the first time in school history, took down the top-ranked team in a second epic battle with the storied Crimson Tide program. Quarterback Deshaun Watson’s touchdown pass to Hunter Renfrow with one second left on the clock gave Clemson a dramatic 35-31 national championship victory in Tampa, Fla. Swinney received the Bear Bryant Award as national coach-of-the-year for the second consecutive season. Swinney coached Watson to two record-setting seasons in 2015 and 2016. The two-time Heisman Trophy finalist became the first player in FBS history to total 4,000 passing yards and 1,000 rushing yards in a season in 2015, and he followed by setting an ACC record with 41 passing touchdowns in 2016. Watson won both the Davey O’Brien Award and Manning Award in back-to-back seasons. Swinney guided Clemson to the No. 1 national ranking in every College Football Playoff poll in 2015 and led the Tigers to their first national championship game appearance under the new format after his team defeated Oklahoma, 37-17, in the 2015 Orange Bowl. The Tigers led Alabama in the fourth quarter of the championship contest, but came up just short (45-40) in an epic game in Glendale, Ariz. Following the team’s 14-1 record and No. 2 final ranking, he was the recipient of 10 national and two ACC Coach-of-the-Year honors. In 2015, a then-Tiger-record 17 players were named to one of three All-ACC teams, including all five starting offensive linemen for the first time in school history. In 2016, 15 players were honored, including a school-record three first-team All-ACC offensive line selections. The 2012, 2013 and 2014 seasons were also noteworthy, with three top-15 final rankings. With a 40-6 Russell Athletic Bowl victory over Oklahoma in 2014, Swinney became the first coach in history to win three bowl games in consecutive seasons over teams whose head coaches had previously won the national title. He upped that mark to five years in a row in 2016. Clemson capped off the 2013 season with a thrilling 40-35 victory over No. 6 Ohio State in the Orange Bowl. Clemson had an 11-2 record after finishing 7-1 in ACC regular-season games. It marked Clemson’s first back-to-back 11-win seasons in school history. For the fourth time in his first five full seasons as head coach, Swinney was a finalist for the Liberty Mutual National Coach of the Year in 2013. The 2012 season (11-2) gave Clemson back-to-back 10-win seasons for the first time in 22 years. Its seven conference wins in the regular season were then a school record, and Clemson was co-champion of the ACC Atlantic Division. With Clemson’s thrilling 25-24 win over No. 7 LSU in the 2012 Chick-fil-A Bowl, the Tigers finished the season ranked No. 9 in the USA Today poll. It was Clemson’s first top-10 finish in one of the two major polls since 1990. Clemson also reached the 11-win mark for the first time since its 1981 national championship season. Swinney’s 2011 squad, which ended the season ranked No. 22 in the nation, captured Clemson’s first ACC title since 1991 when it beat No. 3 Virginia Tech, 38-10, in the ACC Championship Game in Charlotte, N.C. It gave Clemson its first 10-win season since 1990. For his efforts, Swinney was named Bobby Dodd National Coach of the Year to become the first Tiger head coach to win a national coach-of-the-year award since Ford in 1981. In 2010, Swinney became just the second Tiger coach to lead Clemson to a bowl game in his first two full years as head coach, joining his predecessor, Tommy Bowden. The 2010 schedule was one of the most challenging in school history, as nine bowl teams were on the regular-season slate and two of the four non-conference opponents were ranked in the top 25. In Swinney’s first full season as head coach at Clemson in 2009, he led the Tigers to their first ACC Atlantic Division title. The Tigers came just six points short of winning their first ACC title in 18 years. Swinney was named ACC Coach of the Year by Sporting News and was a finalist for the Liberty Mutual Coach of the Year. In October 2008, Swinney was named Clemson’s interim head coach, replacing Bowden, who had been his position coach as a player at Alabama and was Clemson’s head coach since 1999. He led the Tigers to a 4-2 record during the rest of the 2008 regular season, including a win over South Carolina in the regular-season finale to earn a Gator Bowl bid against Nebraska. On Dec. 1, 2008, his interim tag was removed and he was named the program’s head coach. At the time, there had been 28 interim head coaches at the FBS level since 1970, and those coaches had combined for a 26-86-2 record. Only one of those 28 interim coaches posted a winning record, and that was Swinney. When he was hired as head coach, he became just the second interim coach to be elevated to the head coach position at the same school during that time period. Swinney hit the ground running in his first week as interim head coach, as he prepared for a 5-1 Georgia Tech team. He had to reorganize his staff and regroup his team and the fanbase in just five days. While the Tigers lost by four points, he accomplished many goals in that first week through his outstanding leadership. One of the most impressive demonstrations of unity came during the team’s “Tiger Walk,” which has since become a staple of Clemson’s game day routine for both the team and fans. With an initial hire date of Oct. 13, 2008, Swinney is the senior member of ACC head coaches and enters the 2024 season as the fifth-longest-tenured head coach in the FBS. He is one of three active coaches with an FBS national championship to his credit (Mack Brown and Kirby Smart) and one of only two with multiple national championships at college football’s highest level (Smart). Clemson’s success on the gridiron has been matched by its prowess in the classroom, as prior to the NCAA suspending APR reporting during the COVID-19 pandemic, Clemson was one of only three programs to earn top-10 percent APR recognition from the NCAA in at least nine of the previous 10 years, joining Duke and Northwestern. Clemson’s 99 percent mark in the NCAA Graduation Success Rate’s metric released in 2023 for the 2016 cohort was the highest ever recorded among public Power Five football programs in the 19 years the NCAA has tracked the metric. Swinney has demonstrated his dedication to the community through Dabo’s All In Team Foundation. Since 2009, the Swinney family and Dabo’s All In Team Foundation have given more than $11.1 million back to communities and programs in the state. In its inaugural year, the foundation made the first contribution to the cancer fund established for former Boston College linebacker Mark Herzlich, and many schools followed its lead during the remainder of the season. In 2023, the foundation distributed roughly $1.7 million in financial support to its core focus areas, with $1.18 million of that total being distributed to roughly 275 deserving organizations and non-profits through the foundation’s grant program. In total, the foundation’s grant program has issued more than $7.38 million to worthy applicants since its inception. Swinney was named as the honorary coach for the 2019 Allstate AFCA Good Works Team, an honor for which Watson, a former Good Works Team selection, returned to Clemson to surprise Swinney during a team meeting. In the spring of 2021, Swinney accepted the Uncommon Award from Pro Football Hall of Fame Coach Tony Dungy, who presents the honor annually to figures in football who “take the tough road, follow a higher calling and set a higher standard.” The 1993 Alabama graduate joined the Clemson staff prior to the 2003 season. In his first 21 years as an assistant or head coach, the Tigers finished in the top 25 of the polls 17 times and totaled 48 wins over top-25 teams. Swinney coached his wide receiver position to a level of consistency that had not been seen previously at Clemson. He had a wideout finish first or second in the ACC in catches in five of his six seasons as an assistant coach. In his first season, he had three of the top-10 receivers in the conference, a first in Tiger history. In his 21 seasons at Clemson, a Tiger wide receiver has earned All-ACC status in 17 of those campaigns, including a first- or second-team All-ACC selection (Derrick Hamilton, Airese Currie, Chansi Stuckey, Aaron Kelly, Jacoby Ford, Sammy Watkins, DeAndre Hopkins, Artavis Scott, Mike Williams, Tee Higgins, Amari Rodgers) in 16 of those 20 seasons. In 2021, three of his protégés (Williams, Higgins and Hunter Renfrow) recorded 1,000-yard seasons in the NFL, while another (Chansi Stuckey) has gone on to serve as wide receivers coach at multiple Power Five programs. The Alabama native has a reputation as one of the top recruiters in the nation. In 2006, he was listed as the No. 5 recruiter in the nation by Rivals. He signed 38 players in his five recruiting seasons as an assistant coach and was a major reason Clemson’s 2008 recruiting class was rated No. 2 in the nation by ESPN when he signed 11 players. Clemson’s 2020 class finished as a consensus Top 3 class, earning the top ranking from ESPN, a No. 2 rank by Rivals and a No. 3 ranking in the 247 Composite. When Swinney accepted the interim head coaching position at Clemson on Oct. 13, 2008, he described his feelings as “bittersweet” because he was taking over for Bowden, who had been his first position coach at Alabama in the 1989 season. He had also brought Swinney back to the coaching profession in 2003 and has had a profound effect on his life. Both had followed similar paths as players; Bowden was a walk-on at West Virginia, and Swinney was a walk-on at Alabama. Swinney received his bachelor’s degree in commerce & business administration from Alabama in 1993 after lettering three times (1990-92). A walk-on who went on to earn a scholarship, Swinney was a wide receiver on Alabama’s 1992 national championship team. He was also named Academic All-SEC along with being an SEC Scholar-Athlete Honor Roll member in 1990 and 1992. Along with his appearance in the 1993 Sugar Bowl, his Alabama teams played in the 1990 Sugar Bowl, 1991 Fiesta Bowl and 1991 Blockbuster Bowl. Both Sugar Bowls came after winning the SEC title game. After his playing career, he was a graduate assistant at Alabama from 1993-95. He received a master’s degree in business administration from Alabama in 1995. He became a full-time assistant coach at Alabama in February 1996 under head coach Gene Stallings and coached a total of five seasons there on a full-time basis. Swinney was assigned to coach the Crimson Tide’s wide receivers and tight ends in 1996, a season that saw Alabama win the SEC West Division title. The following year, he solely coached the tight ends. In 1998, he coached Alabama’s wide receivers, a position he held for three years. At the end of 1999, Swinney coached the Crimson Tide in the 2000 Orange Bowl after winning the SEC Championship Game. During his time at Alabama, Swinney was a part of six teams with double-digit wins, five top-10 finishes, one national title (1992), three SEC championships (1989,92,99) and five SEC West Division titles (1992,93,94,96,99) as a player and coach. Swinney married the former Kathleen Bassett in 1994. They have three sons, Will, Drew and Clay. Will played for Clemson from 2017-21, appearing in 69 games and holding for 558 career kicking points while also scoring two touchdowns of his own. Drew was a core special teams player for Clemson from 2018-22 who served as the starting holder in his final campaign and caught 14 career passes. Both Will and Drew earned All-ACC Academic Team selections during their playing careers. Clay is a redshirt sophomore on the 2024 Tiger football team. Year Record Bowl Championships 2008 4-3 Gator 2009 9-5 Music City 2010 6-7 Meineke Car Care 2011 10-4 Orange ACC 2012 11-2 Chick-fil-A 2013 11-2 Orange 2014 10-3 Russell Athletic 2015 14-1 Orange, CFP NCG ACC 2016 14-1 Fiesta, CFP NCG ACC, National 2017 12-2 Sugar ACC 2018 15-0 Cotton, CFP NCG ACC, National 2019 14-1 Fiesta, CFP NCG ACC 2020 10-2 Sugar ACC 2021 10-3 Cheez-It 2022 11-3 Orange ACC 2023 9-4 Gator Total 170-43 (.798) 8 ACC2 National

*Courtesy Clemson Media Guide