2018 Allstate Sugar Bowl Video: Clemson coach Dabo Swinney

2018 Allstate Sugar Bowl – Clemson Head Coach
Dabo Swinney Quotes – 12-30-17

COACH SWINNEY: Good morning. I hope everyone is enjoying your trip here to New Orleans. Today is a fun day. It’s fun for our players to have an opportunity to come. And first time they’ve been in the Dome [Mercedes Benz Superdome]. So it’s a chance to come in here and see the Dome and hang out with y’all a little bit. It’s a Thursday for us. That’s our mindset as far as getting ready for the game. So today’s a big day.We’ve had good practices here. I like the focus and the mindset that I’ve seen in practice. As a coach, that’s kind of how you gauge the readiness of your team. These guys are well prepared for what they’re going to have to compete against Monday night.
But today’s a big day in our preparation. It’s what we call Team Thursday where we kind of bring it all together. We’ve been prepping for a long time. And I know the guys are starting to get excited. But we really have to start honing in and each player individually, coaches, everybody, really locking it in and getting themselves ready to go. Because this week is moving fast.
Really have enjoyed our time. Appreciate the Sugar Bowl folks. Made it a great experience for us, but, really, just ready to go and can’t wait to see this place filled up and run out here and compete against the best of the best.

Q. Coach, you make a demanding and, at times, a grueling profession look fun. And how are you able to be yourself but also be successful at what you do?
COACH SWINNEY: Well, first of all, I don’t know how to be anything but myself. So I personally don’t think you can be very successful if you don’t just be who you are. So, I mean, that’s how I got here. I’ve just always kind of embraced who I am. I don’t really worry about anything else, just try to trust my instincts.

But, to answer the rest of your question, I love what I do. I mean, I think, when you love what you do, you’re passionate about it and you have fun. I love what I do. I love being with the players. And I love competing. I love being a part of a team. I love having an opportunity to help impact and shape young people’s lives through the game of football.

So I don’t look at it as a I mean, your job is demanding. Everybody’s job is demanding. You’re shaking your head. Not so? (Chuckles). I think, if you’re really passionate about what you do, your job can be so called “demanding.” I don’t look at a clock. I don’t think about a schedule. I just wake up every day, and I’m excited to go to work. It’s something that I’m really passionate about, and I love where I work.

So I think that I’m very fortunate in that regard and very blessed to get to do something that I chose to do a long time ago. I made a decision in 1993 that I was going to coach. And that’s what I wanted to do. And I’ve enjoyed every second of it.

Q. What makes Hunter Renfrow so great as a player? And what does he mean to your program?

COACH SWINNEY: Well, Hunter [Renfrow] means a lot to our program. He’s a junior now. And I know he seems like he may have been around here for a long time, but he’s a junior. He’s just a great young man. He’s a great leader. He’s an inspiration to his teammates. I think he’s an inspiration to a lot of people because he’s just kind of an ordinary guy. Most of y’all would walk right by Hunter Renfrow and never think he’s Hunter Renfrow. I think he’s a great inspiration from that standpoint.
You know what? It’s not always how you look on the outside. He’s not the biggest, obviously. But you can take what you have and still find a way to be special in your own right. And I think that’s what he’s done. I mean, he was 155 pounds when he got to Clemson, weak as a noodle. And he’s just accentuated his strengths. He’s always quick, always fast. He’s got the fastest shuttle on the team. His explosiveness is what makes him special. And then he’s brilliant. He’s a brilliant football player. He played quarterback in high school.
He wasn’t a receiver. Now he’s really become a complete player at receiver. He really understands route running, and he understands defense. He understands influence. He understands technique and break points and how to set things up. And then he’s got outstanding ball skills. And he has this grit and will to get the ball, will to get the extra yard, will to get his job done that is I think that’s what makes him special. And I think that’s also what inspires his teammates.
I think he epitomizes our program. I said that last year. I think the epitome of our program was the last play in the national championship. You have a five star quarterback throwing the game winning pass to a walk on receiver. We’re going to play the best guy. And the best guy is the guy that earns it and does it on the practice field. It’s not the highest recruited guy or who other people think should be the guy. It’s the guy that earns it. And that’s just embraced by everybody in our program.

Q. Can you share what you remember from 25 years ago on this field? And could you have imagined that 25 years later you would be surrounded by so many of the same people?

COACH SWINNEY: No. (Laughter). Only the good Lord would have a plan like this. I would have never imagined anything like this. I would imagine maybe being on the Alabama side, because that’s kind of how I grew up and spent 13 years in Tuscaloosa and was a part of two Sugar Bowls, but never in my wildest dreams.

As a kid, I had a buddy who I played baseball with at Hoover ballpark. His parents, they had tickets to go to the Alabama Arkansas Sugar Bowl. I was 10 years old. So I made that trip, first time to come to Louisiana. I was blown away by Bourbon Street. In fact, my mom gave me a picture at Christmas of me tap dancing with a street guy that was a tap dancer collecting money. All these people gathered around. Here I’m this 10 year old tap dancing on Bourbon Street I never forgot that decked out in all my Alabama stuff.

I remember coming in here I don’t know. I probably sat up there somewhere and watched the Alabama Arkansas game. I didn’t get to see many Alabama games as a kid, but that was an impactful experience for me.

And then, ten years later, 1989, I’m a player at Alabama. And I’m here for the Alabama Miami game as a freshman. That was just an unbelievable experience. And then, my senior year in ’92, we’re back here. It was a magical week, season, everything.

But I do remember the time with my teammates. The game was a blur. It was almost like it was moving in slow motion. I mean, I was a starter on special teams. The fourth play of the game I was in the game. And I don’t know which way we were going, but David Palmer we almost took the punt all the way back. And it was our first possession offensively. It was like, I don’t know, inside the ten or something, ended up having to kick a field goal. But the game was just surreal.

Alabama folks remember it was a long time since Alabama won a national championship, since ’79. So this was 1992. So it was a big deal. It was the 100th year. It was pretty special.

But what I remember about it was a couple things. I will never forget George Teague’s play. I watched it live, and I still can’t believe I watched that. I mean, it’s still, to this day, one of the most unbelievable plays I’ve ever seen in my life. It was just crazy, but it happened. I remember that.

I remember there was three or four minutes to go in the game. And I came out of the game. They put some other guys in. I was like, well, that’s it, you know? I remember standing on the sideline just literally like a kid just soaking it in, like, this is my unless the Dallas Cowboys were going to call me, I was probably going to be done. So this was going to be my last play, you know? I’d played forever. I’d lived my dream. And I just wanted to just kind of soak it in. And I really did.

But I remember, I stole a game ball. The managers run the balls in and out. So I said, “Hey, I need one of them. I’m a senior. I’m taking a ball.” And I held onto that ball. And it was so funny. Because, in the paper the next day back then you had to look at the paper. There was no Internet. If you wanted to see a picture, you had to look at the paper. Then you had to write the guy, you had to write him a note and say “Hey, will you send me that picture?” You couldn’t just text it or whatever.

So the next day in the paper there was a big picture. And it was me and Sherman Williams. I ran all the way around this stadium high fiving all the Alabama folks. And it’s so funny. In that picture, I got that ball locked down. That’s the best ball security you’ve ever seen. I got that ball locked down. And I got it to this day. I have kept that ball forever just sitting in my house.

So I remember that. And then the locker room, the experience in the locker room, the joy of being with your teammates and just knowing that you got it done. That’s the greatest moment that you could experience as a player. Because, at the end of the day, that’s what it comes down to. That’s what everybody’s going to remember is those relationships, just the togetherness. And that was a special team. We had a 25 year reunion this year, and it was special then. We got back together, and it’s like it was yesterday.

And I had not been here in 25 years. The last time I had been in this place was 25 years ago until I don’t know if it was March or April. But we came for the Manning Award and literally drove in here onto the field and got out of the car. So 25 years later, we had just won the national championship at Clemson and first time I had been back in this dome. So it’s pretty special to be here.

Growing up in Alabama, the Sugar Bowl has kind of always been your dream. Certainly, as a coach, I didn’t know if I’d ever have the opportunity to be a coach in the Sugar Bowl. So this is a dream come true for me to have an opportunity to coach in this game.

Q. While we’re going back in time a little bit, you were a young assistant when Jeremy Pruitt played at Alabama. What do you remember about Jeremy as a player and what’s allowed him to climb the ranks of the coaching position?

COACH SWINNEY: Well, Jeremy transferred in from Middle Tennessee, I believe. And I think I was a GA maybe his first year or so, and then I was full time maybe when he finished it up. And I think he might have been a GA for maybe one year, student coach or something, before he moved on.

But, you know, the biggest thing I would say about Jeremy [Pruitt], he’s a very smart player, an instinctive player, a tough guy. His dad was a long time high school coach. I knew Jeremy for a long time when he got into high school coaching. So he was a high school coach for many years and ended up over at Hoover with Rush [Propst]. So I would see those guys all the time. I had that area. So I watched him as a defensive coordinator in high school do an unbelievable job.

And then I have watched him as he moved back to Alabama and then competed against him at Georgia, at Florida State. So he’s a great coach. And he’s been well groomed. I think he’ll do a good job at Tennessee.

Q. What is your assessment of Alabama’s tight end Irv Smith, Jr., and the threats he may pose?

COACH SWINNEY: Is he from Louisiana?

Q. He’s from New Orleans.

COACH SWINNEY: Yeah. Good player. I mean, he’s just another one of those guys that kind of fits the mold, big, strong, physical guys. They’ve been playing a couple guys all year.

All you got to do is watch our games the last couple years. They like to get the tight end involved, especially in the action game. I think he’s got a bright future. He fits the mold for what they want in their system. They want big, strong, physical guys but guys that can also bring a presence in the passing game.

Q. You received a visit from Chad Jasmin yesterday at practice. I was just wondering what it was like to see him again. Did he bring back a lot of memories from your first season at Clemson?

COACH SWINNEY: It was good to see Chad [Jasmin]. This is the first time we’ve signed a kid from Louisiana since I’ve been the head coach and when we got Travis [Etienne]. So we had some fun kind of talking about that.

But Chad is great. I still remember running the trap with him on third and long against Tennessee in the Peach Bowl in 2003. He was a tough, hard nosed football player. I was only around him a couple years. When I first came to Clemson, he was finishing up. But I’ve always liked Chad. It was good to see him yesterday.

Q. You were talking about Coach [Jeremy] Pruitt before. You’ve had pretty impressive stability at the coordinator position, especially through these playoffs the last few years. How do you think that has helped you establish some chemistry with those coordinators through this process?

COACH SWINNEY: I think it’s great. I think any time you have continuity with good people, I think that’s a positive. We’ve had a bunch of good people that have been a part of our organization the last nine years now. I’m very thankful for all of them who’ve come through our program. On my first staff, I had Kevin Steele, who was tremendous. He’s an unbelievable coach and was very helpful in helping us establish a good foundation at Clemson.

Billy Napier was a young guy, a GA, that did a really nice job for us, now is a head coach.

So I value all the people who’ve come through our organization. And from time to time, you have some change. And I’ve always embraced that, too. I mean, last year, we didn’t lose a coordinator, but I lost two of the best coaches in college football Dan Brooks who was, man, I mean, he was a rock. He’d been my deep tackle coach from day one. Marion Hobby had been my D ends coach for six years, is now the D line coach for the Jags. Those two guys were big shoes to fill.