Dabo's World: The Life and Career of Coach Swinney and the Rise of Clemson Football

by Lars Anderson

Overview

How Dabo Swinney used his energy, faith, and determination to turn the Clemson Tigers into a football powerhouse.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781538753439
Publisher:	Grand Central Publishing
Publication date:	10/05/2021
Pages:	272
Sales rank:	1,024,889
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.10(h) x 1.10(d)

About the Author

Lars Anderson is the New York Times bestselling author of ten books, including Chasing the Bear, The Storm and the Tide, Carlisle vs. Army, and The All Americans. A twenty-year veteran of Sports Illustrated, Anderson is a senior writer at Bleacher Report and an instructor of journalism at the University of Alabama.

Table of Contents

Chapter 1 Run, Dabo, Run 1

Chapter 2 A Hard Life in Pelham 12

Chapter 3 Defying the Odds in Tuscaloosa 38

Chapter 4 Dabo In Wilderness 69

Chapter 5 Dabo Comes Back to Carolina 88

Chapter 6 The Head Coach 108

Chapter 7 The Building of Dabo's Dynasty 136

Chapter 8 Religion, Recruiting, and the Right-Hand Man 170

Chapter 9 Dabo's First Title 184

Chapter 10 Extravagant Dreaming 197

Chapter 11 The Future of Little OL' Clemson 218

Acknowledgments 233

Notes 235

Index 247

About the Author 257

Editorial Reviews

08/23/2021

Anderson (Chasing the Bear), a senior writer at Bleacher Report, provides another fascinating dive into the vicissitudes of college football through a close examination of the life of Dabo Swinney, who, as the Clemson Tigers’ head coach since 2009, led them to two national championships. Swinney’s remarkable rise was anything but inevitable; Anderson’s most memorable sections present his difficult childhood in Alabama in the ’70s, where he grew up with an alcoholic father and “spent many nights... sitting on the roof of his house waiting for the yelling and banging inside to stop.” His persistence in the face of adversity led to surprising success as an athlete in high school and, later, a spot on the University of Alabama’s football roster as a walk-on, a tenure that included a championship in 1992. A year later, he nabbed an assistant coach position with the Crimson Tide, and in 2002, became a wide receivers coach at Clemson. After his elevation to head coach, he tirelessly worked to create a “family atmosphere” for his players, as “fostering tight relationships... was paramount.” While the tone is overwhelmingly positive, Anderson doesn’t avoid addressing controversial aspects within Swinney’s career, such as his contentious comments about the coronavirus and the murder of George Floyd. This is a must-read for passionate followers of the Clemson Tigers. (Oct.)

Publishers Weekly

"The lifeblood of college football is passion, the same force that has propelled Dabo Swinney from the broken home of his youth to the apex of autumn Saturdays. Lars Anderson shows us how the blend of joy, work ethic, faith, and love that Swinney uses to coach 'Little Ol’ Clemson' is an extension of how he lives his life. The charm, the stubbornness and the dadgum motormouth that I have covered for years are on every page. Swinney is lucky to have a writer as talented as Anderson stamping the visa to Dabo’s World."

—Ivan Maisel, on3.com Senior Writer, author of I KEEP TRYING TO CATCH HIS EYE

"Dabo Swinney is one of the finest football coaches I've ever had the pleasure to work with. In DABO'S WORLD, Lars Anderson provides an insightful look at his life, his journey, his values, and how he has built Clemson into a national power. Every coach in America—and every football fan—could learn from this."—Bruce Arians, Super Bowl-winning head coach of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and two-time AP NFL Coach of the Year

"Dabo Swinney presents himself to the nation as a simple man, and Clemson's success a naturally occurring phenomenon. But Lars Anderson has gone deep into Swinney's mind and method to reveal the complexities, challenges, and motivations of one of college football's most influential figures and mightiest programs. DABO'S WORLD isn't just a book about a coach and his team. It's a vivid look into a football revolution, crafted in its head coach's image, and a deeply reported lens into leadership and management at the highest level. Everyone from football fans to business managers should read this book."—Kent Babb, writer for The Washington Post and author of ACROSS THE RIVER

"This is a must-read for passionate followers of the Clemson Tigers."—Publishers Weekly

From the Publisher

09/01/2021

Anderson has written several books on college and pro football, including two on Alabama coach Nick Saban. In his latest, he focuses on another successful college coach: Clemson's Dabo Swinney, who he says is one of the most unlikely people to thrive as a college football coach. Swinney was a walk-on player at Alabama, then worked as an unheralded position coach at Clemson until he was promoted to interim coach during a down season; he took that opportunity to demonstrate how hard he was willing to work, Anderson says, and was made Clemson's permanent coach in 2009. Swinney has since rebuilt the program and led Clemson to 10 consecutive seasons with at least 10 wins and eight trips (six consecutively) to the College Football Playoff, while going 2–2 in national championship games. Anderson tells the story of the garrulous, religious coach who built and maintains a program that has rivalled Alabama in the last decade, the greatest period in mid-sized Clemson's history. VERDICT This book is engagingly written but it mostly updates a story that has been told in volumes by local journalists in recent years. Still, it will be of interest to Clemson fans.—John Maxymuk, Rutgers Univ.-Camden Lib., NJ

Library Journal

2021-09-29
A formulaic but readable study of a college football coach in action.

Dabo Swinney played at Alabama under the legendary Paul “Bear” Bryant, who once instructed another soon-to-be-legendary coach—Bruce Arians—“Coach them hard and hug them harder later.” Veteran sportswriter Anderson writes appreciatively of Swinney as a sort of Rudy-like character who rode the bench for a long time, convinced that his coaches were ignoring him. One, though, had “noticed the effort he gave in practices, his willingness to get plowed over by a bigger, starting player in the hope of making that player better and more prepared for the upcoming opponent.” Eventually, Swinney was put on the field, and though never a brilliant player, he was stalwart. Moreover, writes the author, he had an unparalleled work ethic and a scholarly approach to dissecting the game. A coaching stint at Alabama followed, one that ended in a scandal that, while not involving Swinney, nearly resulted in the NCAA’s imposing the “death penalty” on the school. Swinney went to work selling retail space in shopping malls, developing already strong salesmanship skills. Lured away to coach Clemson, he amassed a spectacular record, including two national championships—though the Tigers haven’t garnered the kind of national love that Anderson thinks the program deserves. “The Tigers had never seized the country’s imagination the way Alabama, Ohio State, University of Southern California, Texas, or even Nebraska did in their trophy-winning heydays.” Even so, Swinney signed “the biggest contract in college football history,” which features a penalty clause that kicks in only if he returns to his alma mater. The author is appreciative but not uncritical, noting several gaffes that Swinney committed over issues of racial and social justice in the time of Black Lives Matter as well as his opposition to paying college athletes, where the tide has definitely rolled over him.

Fans of Clemson—according to Anderson, there ought to be more—and of college ball will find this a pleasure.

Kirkus Reviews