Dabo Swinney was 38 years and had made a name for himself as one of the nation's top recruiters who also related extremely well with his players when he got his shot as the interim head coach at Clemson in 2008.
ESPN's Adam Rittenberg details an event that Dabo attended filled with Clemson trustees just four days after being named to the interim post in an article today. As Dabo was shaking hands and chumming it up with some of Clemson's biggest names, one trustee in particular noted how they can be both an academic and athletic and then drew comparisons to Georgia and Florida.
Swinney bit his lip for a moment, thinking "literally in my mind, it was like, 'Do it. Nope, don't do it. Do it. It was one of those battles where I was like, 'Well, this might be a short tenure.'"
But then he spoke his mind, and using just six words he said something that impressed board members and trustees so much that it very likely may have launched Dabo's career as a head coach. At the very least, it helped.
"You know what? That's not my vision for Clemson at all. My vision is for this school and this school and this school to want to be like Clemson."
"I want to become the model," Dabo noted in the piece.
It was a lofty vision, but looking back now, nearly eight years later, Dabo (the man who had no prior head coaching experience) is 75-27 overall and 48-14 in ACC play with just one losing season (2010 - a 6-7 finish).
It all started with a vision, and six words that almost didn't leave Dabo's mouth.