What Clemson coach Dabo Swinney said about being connected to Alabama job

Ahead of Clemson football’s opening 2024 spring practice, coach Dabo Swinney made his first public comments on being connected to the Alabama job.

Swinney, a former Crimson Tide player and coach, was reportedly contacted by the Alabama administration about replacing Nick Saban, who retired in January, but talks never progressed past an initial contact. Alabama ultimately hired Washington coach Kalen DeBoer to replace Saban, one of the legends of the sport.

Asked Wednesday if he had any comment on the situation, Swinney said: “No, other than just I’m happy for Alabama. I love Alabama. That’ll never change. But I love Clemson, too, and I’m happy with my job. And I’m happy for Coach Saban, had a great conversation with him. What we talked about will stay between us. But just focused on what I’m doing.”

Larry Williams of TigerIllustrated.com and David Hood of TigerNet both reported in January that Alabama had reached out to Swinney about its coaching vacancy a day after Saban’s retirement, but their conversations did not progress from there. Details surrounding Alabama’s pursuit of Swinney are limited, but Hood’s report said their talks were “brief.”

Clemson athletic director Graham Neff told The State earlier this month that the fact Swinney was still at Clemson was a “great testament” to the alignment between Swinney, Neff and others in university leadership.

“He has a long memory in a good way,” Neff said. “He’s going on his 16th year (as coach) and 20 years at Clemson. That support that Clemson has shown to him and Clemson football over these two decades ... that adds up and that matters.”

“And that really resonates with him and with us. Couldn’t view a better fit for Clemson football than Dabo Swinney and, quite frankly, couldn’t view a better fit for Dabo Swinney than Clemson University. And so I think that inflection point there really, really proved that.”

Swinney was long rumored as a potential successor to Saban, given his track record at Clemson and his natural ties to the state and the program. Swinney is a Pelham, Alabama, native who won a national championship playing wide receiver for the Crimson Tide and Gene Stallings in the 1990s. He also coached eight seasons for Alabama before landing at Clemson, where he’s worked since 2003.

Swinney has even had an “Alabama clause” in his last two contracts (including his current one), which made his buyout that he owes Clemson 1.5 times higher if he leaves to coach at Alabama versus any other school.

When the possibility of Swinney leaving Clemson to replace Saban at Alabama actually arose last month, though, it was short-lived. Swinney was floated as a potential candidate for the job within minutes of Saban’s retirement by national reporters, and he was at one point the odds-on favorite after other reported candidates (Oregon’s Dan Lanning, Texas’ Steve Sarkisian and Florida State’s Mike Norvell) pulled out of the search.

But DeBoer was hired just over two days after Saban’s retirement. Swinney, meanwhile, started his 16th year of spring practice as Clemson’s head coach on the heels of a 9-4 season in 2023.

“We’ve got the ingredients” to compete at a national level, Swinney said of his 2024 roster, adding that the Tigers have “a lot of competition at every single position.”