Clemson's ascent to the brink of college football blue-blood status almost never happened.
While announcing the passing of longtime Clemson athletic director Terry Don Phillips, yesterday, Dabo Swinney shared an interesting story rooted in conviction around how he tried to quit two days after his ascent from ace recruiter and assistant to the replacement for Tommy Bowden, who resigned six games into the 2008 season.
Asked about his most memorable battle with his well-liked former boss, Dabo shared how he tried to walk away at one point.
"Oh boy. Uh well uh I'll probably write about this in my book one day. But, I quit two days after I got the job. Literally quit. Packed my office up."
Dabo goes on to share that the Sunday after their win over rival South Carolina, a 31-14 victory in his final game as interim head coach, he came in to lay out the his vision and plan for the entire program and how he wanted to run it as the new head Tiger, with details that included the first 100 days on the job.
"You know, again, I'm 38 years old. I don't even know what I'm doing. I just know what I want to do, and I know what needs to be done in the moment that I was in. Everything goes great."
Following his introductory presser on Monday or Tuesday, Dabo recalls learning they had been selected to play in the Gator Bowl and just a day or two after that, he and AD Terry Don Phillips faced off in a big battle. Phillips wore the hat of the longtime athletic administrator, and Dabo as the young first-time head coach who was handed the keys to an ACC program that had underachieved for far too long.
But, as Dabo shares, without that head-to-head battle with the AD that chose to elevate him, there's likely no Clemson - at least as we know it today.
"Two days after that, that was probably the that was probably the biggest battle...and honestly, I'm probably not the head coach here if it didn't happen because we probably we wouldn't have made it. We wouldn't have been successful, I can tell you that."
Swinney goes on to share there were still some walls up at Clemson that needed to come down for them to have a chance at being as successful as Dabo's vision. With just over five years under his belt at Clemson up until that point, Dabo had seen firsthand what needed to change and had the advantage of not walking into the situation blind, as many coaches do.
"I had an understanding of what some of the problems were and what needed to change if we're going to have a chance. So, I had kind of laid all that out and everything was good on Sunday. But a couple days later, it turned into, 'Well we're not going to be able to do that,' and 'We're not going to be able to do that. Maybe next year.' It was a come to Jesus moment. It didn't go well, and it was kind of a big blow up. I packed my office up - and I hadn't even hardly unpacked in the office - but I packed the office up."
Dabo says he called his wife to share that he just quit, and he wasn't willing to be there if they weren't willing to do what it takes to be successful. He felt like at 38 years old, with some kids, he could go out and get another job. His wife hung up the phone and as he was finishing the last of the packing, Terry Don walked back in.
"I don't know hour and a half later or so, Terry Don walks back in. He kind of cooled off and he just he starts yelling at me. He said, 'Sit down. Just come over here and sit down.' It's the maddest I'd ever seen him too," Dabo shared, adding that two others came into the room (one with a notepad and one as the peacekeeper) as well and he had Woody McCorvey en route to Clemson from Starkville to accept a position on staff that didn't exist yet.
When asked what he needed to stop packing the office and stay at Clemson, Dabo opened by sharing he needed a chief of staff job for McCorvey (who has been on board as a right-hand man for Dabo since 2009), and Dabo laid out a few other things to help with the program's infrastructure. Following an emergency board meeting the next day, Dabo felt like he got everything he needed and the focus shifted to preparing for the upcoming Gator Bowl.
Terry Don came into Dabo's office after the dust settled and shared with him, "This is why you're going to be a great head coach. You fight for what you believe in, and I am glad we were able to get this worked out."
Phillips, who served as the AD at Oklahoma (1995-2002) and then at Clemson (2002-12) passed away earlier this week at 78 years old.
Hear Dabo's full recollection of that pivotal moment in his career in the clip.