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The biggest mistake of Dabo Swinney’s career would be to leave Clemson for Alabama after Nick Saban retires.
Saban isn’t giving up his gig anytime soon, based on his aggressive image campaign following hip surgery, but Clemson gave itself what seems to be a little insurance last week when it wrote an “enhanced buyout” into Swinney’s new contract extension to protect the school financially when the time comes. Swinney is now college football’s highest paid coach at $9.3 million per season. Saban makes $9.25 M.
Swinney’s buyout is more if he leaves Clemson for Alabama than if he leaves Clemson for any other school. For example, if Swinney were to leave Clemson for Alabama in 2022, then he would have to pay Clemson a $3 million buyout plus an additional $1.5 million to go home to Alabama. Considering Alabama just paid its men’s basketball coach $5.5 million to go away, this all seems more symbolic than punitive.
Alabama, of course, could pay for Swinney’s buyout from Clemson in less time than it takes to fry catfish.
Swinney’s real punishment would come later if he left Clemson for Alabama after Saban retires. Alabama fans would expect him to match or exceed Saban’s legacy in Tuscaloosa, which, of course, is ridiculous and impossible.
Saban is considered one of the greatest college football coaches of all time. You don’t follow a G.O.A.T. Just ask Ray Perkins or Bill Curry. The goat’s path is far too dangerous. Its ledges are too unstable, and its ridges are too narrow.
What if Swinney didn’t make the College Football Playoff every other year? What if he lost to Auburn, or, the horror, to Tennessee?
Remind me again why Swinney would leave a place where he can’t lose for a place where, no matter what, he can’t win?
Curry, who was one Alabama coach removed from Paul Bryant, went 10-1 during the 1989 regular season, won a share of the SEC title and was named national coach of the year. He left for Kentucky because Alabama’s powerbrokers wouldn't give him a raise.
Why should they have? Curry lost to Auburn three years in a row and shared his SEC title with the Tigers and Volunteers.
Before Curry, Perkins left Alabama for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers because the pressure to win was so great. Perkins was a brilliant coach. He molded both Bill Parcells and Bill Belichick when they were young assistant coaches.
And Dabo knows all of this. He grew up in Alabama amid that drama. Swinney has even told influential people in Clemson and Tuscaloosa that he doesn’t plan on following in Saban’s footsteps, but, you know, people don’t listen. Swinney might be “all in” with Clemson now, the thinking goes, but he still has some pretty deep roots, emotionally if nothing else, planted in Alabama.
Swinney is from Pelham, a suburb of Birmingham, and his time as a walk-on at Alabama altered the trajectory of his life. The draw is an obvious one, and, naturally, Clemson’s “Alabama Clause” in Swinney’s contract has created some buzz here in Alabama. People here, foolishly, view Swinney as the coach-in-waiting to Saban’s unprecedented Alabama dynasty.
Don’t view this “enhanced buyout” as some kind of proof, however, that Alabama’s position in college football, at this point, is far superior to Clemson’s. It is not, and when Saban retires, Clemson will have the chance to put a stranglehold on the sport for a very long time by retaining Swinney. Clemson, an SEC-esque powerhouse playing in the inferior ACC, is already better than Alabama right now.
Most recently, Swinney and Clemson beat the fool’s gold out of an Alabama team that featured an offense many considered, including me, to be the best of Saban’s career. Clemson got the better of Alabama in the 2016 national championship as well despite the Crimson Tide featuring a defensive depth chart that has put 15 players into NFL Drafts.
Clemson and Alabama have played for the national championship in each of the past three years, and, to be clear, Clemson is in a better position for long-term success. Dabo is 49 years old. Saban is 67.
Ask yourself this as a neutral observer of college football: would you take Dabo Swinney right now over Nick Saban? That’s not a difficult question for a lot of Alabama fans. They would choose Swinney, and that’s precisely why he should stay away from Alabama until the time is right.
Unless something unforeseen happens to knock Swinney off his pedestal, he will be offered the job at Alabama when Saban retires. He’ll then have to make the biggest choice of his career. Does he want to be the guy who follows Saban, or maybe wait, and gamble, and be the home-state hero who saves the program when Saban’s successor can’t duplicate the G.O.A.T.’s success.
More than likely, it’s none of the above.
The smartest option would be to just stay at Clemson where an “Alabama Clause” can remind everyone what the best of the SEC wants but cannot have. In a sport where perception is everything — just look at Saban painfully posing for Twitter pictures two days after hip surgery — Clemson’s “Alabama Clause” looks like a display of power more than anything else.
Between Clemson and Alabama, the choice is clear for Dabo Swinney
Saban isn’t giving up his gig anytime soon, based on his aggressive image campaign following hip surgery, but Clemson gave itself what seems to be a little insurance last week when it wrote an “enhanced buyout” into Swinney’s new contract extension to protect the school financially when the time comes. Swinney is now college football’s highest paid coach at $9.3 million per season. Saban makes $9.25 M.
Swinney’s buyout is more if he leaves Clemson for Alabama than if he leaves Clemson for any other school. For example, if Swinney were to leave Clemson for Alabama in 2022, then he would have to pay Clemson a $3 million buyout plus an additional $1.5 million to go home to Alabama. Considering Alabama just paid its men’s basketball coach $5.5 million to go away, this all seems more symbolic than punitive.
Alabama, of course, could pay for Swinney’s buyout from Clemson in less time than it takes to fry catfish.
Swinney’s real punishment would come later if he left Clemson for Alabama after Saban retires. Alabama fans would expect him to match or exceed Saban’s legacy in Tuscaloosa, which, of course, is ridiculous and impossible.
Saban is considered one of the greatest college football coaches of all time. You don’t follow a G.O.A.T. Just ask Ray Perkins or Bill Curry. The goat’s path is far too dangerous. Its ledges are too unstable, and its ridges are too narrow.
What if Swinney didn’t make the College Football Playoff every other year? What if he lost to Auburn, or, the horror, to Tennessee?
Remind me again why Swinney would leave a place where he can’t lose for a place where, no matter what, he can’t win?
Curry, who was one Alabama coach removed from Paul Bryant, went 10-1 during the 1989 regular season, won a share of the SEC title and was named national coach of the year. He left for Kentucky because Alabama’s powerbrokers wouldn't give him a raise.
Why should they have? Curry lost to Auburn three years in a row and shared his SEC title with the Tigers and Volunteers.
Before Curry, Perkins left Alabama for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers because the pressure to win was so great. Perkins was a brilliant coach. He molded both Bill Parcells and Bill Belichick when they were young assistant coaches.
And Dabo knows all of this. He grew up in Alabama amid that drama. Swinney has even told influential people in Clemson and Tuscaloosa that he doesn’t plan on following in Saban’s footsteps, but, you know, people don’t listen. Swinney might be “all in” with Clemson now, the thinking goes, but he still has some pretty deep roots, emotionally if nothing else, planted in Alabama.
Swinney is from Pelham, a suburb of Birmingham, and his time as a walk-on at Alabama altered the trajectory of his life. The draw is an obvious one, and, naturally, Clemson’s “Alabama Clause” in Swinney’s contract has created some buzz here in Alabama. People here, foolishly, view Swinney as the coach-in-waiting to Saban’s unprecedented Alabama dynasty.
Don’t view this “enhanced buyout” as some kind of proof, however, that Alabama’s position in college football, at this point, is far superior to Clemson’s. It is not, and when Saban retires, Clemson will have the chance to put a stranglehold on the sport for a very long time by retaining Swinney. Clemson, an SEC-esque powerhouse playing in the inferior ACC, is already better than Alabama right now.
Most recently, Swinney and Clemson beat the fool’s gold out of an Alabama team that featured an offense many considered, including me, to be the best of Saban’s career. Clemson got the better of Alabama in the 2016 national championship as well despite the Crimson Tide featuring a defensive depth chart that has put 15 players into NFL Drafts.
Clemson and Alabama have played for the national championship in each of the past three years, and, to be clear, Clemson is in a better position for long-term success. Dabo is 49 years old. Saban is 67.
Ask yourself this as a neutral observer of college football: would you take Dabo Swinney right now over Nick Saban? That’s not a difficult question for a lot of Alabama fans. They would choose Swinney, and that’s precisely why he should stay away from Alabama until the time is right.
Unless something unforeseen happens to knock Swinney off his pedestal, he will be offered the job at Alabama when Saban retires. He’ll then have to make the biggest choice of his career. Does he want to be the guy who follows Saban, or maybe wait, and gamble, and be the home-state hero who saves the program when Saban’s successor can’t duplicate the G.O.A.T.’s success.
More than likely, it’s none of the above.
The smartest option would be to just stay at Clemson where an “Alabama Clause” can remind everyone what the best of the SEC wants but cannot have. In a sport where perception is everything — just look at Saban painfully posing for Twitter pictures two days after hip surgery — Clemson’s “Alabama Clause” looks like a display of power more than anything else.
Between Clemson and Alabama, the choice is clear for Dabo Swinney
