Looking back on Clemson’s rise to power

Within one year of hiring Dabo Swinney as head coach, Clemson made their first ever ACC Title game appearance. The previous season, they went 7-6 after Dabo saved Clemson’s season on a 4-2 run.

Clemson only had three 9 win seasons during the 2000’s before Dabo was hired. In 2010, Dabos doubters came out when Clemson went 6-7. Thankfully, Dabo never looked back. In 2011 Clemson had a 10 win season. Clemson had not had a 10 win season since 1990. In 2012 and 2013, Clemson went 11-2 with losses to South Carolina in both seasons. Since then, they have not lost to South Carolina. While Clemson did go 10-3 in 2014, that was the last time they would finish below 12 wins. In 2015, Clemson went 14-1 with a 45-40 loss to Alabama in the Championship game. The following season, Clemson went 14-1 with a win over Alabama in the Championship game. In 2017, Clemson went 12-2 with a loss to Alabama in the semifinal. In 2018, Clemson went 15-0 and absolutely dismantled Alabama in the Championship game. This past season, Clemson went 14-1 with a loss to LSU in the Championship game.

Before Dabo took over Clemson ate age 38 with no previous head coaching experience, Clemson had zero championships and was the laughing stock of the ACC. Now they have three championships.

Dabo Swinney has built his teams on dominant run and pass blocking followed up by great defensive line play. When you add in the fact that he's had Deandre Hopkins, Sammy Watkins, Deshaun Watson, Trevor Lawrence, and many other star players, it’s not hard to see why he’s had this amount of success.