Dabo Swinney opens up on Mack Brown's impact on him as a coach

This weekend, Clemson will host North Carolina in a game that pits two national championship winning head coaches against one another, Dabo Swinney and Mack Brown.

For Swinney, the relationship he has with Brown goes far beyond this game and has had a massive impact on his career.

“He’s a good man,” Dabo Swinney said. “I mean, he really is. He’s a guy that I had followed as a young coach. I followed him, followed a lot of people, as I was trying to navigate my coaching career and just observe how people handled themselves, whether it was something bad or good, and I just thought he was a class guy.”

Dabo Swinney became Clemson’s interim head coach in 2008. He was then promoted to full-time head coach in 2009. At the time, Mack Brown was the head coach at Texas.

“When I got this job, I’ve said this a few times, I reached out to a lot of coaches and he was the only guy who let me come see him. I guess everybody thought Clemson might turn out to be good or something. Maybe they knew something I didn’t know. Because coaches get together but when you don’t know somebody most coaches might be hesitant,” Swinney said.

“But I just reached out, called his assistant, and left a message and he called me back. I still remember the conversation like it was yesterday. You’d thought I had known him for 20 years. I was just like, ‘Coach, Brown, this is Dabo Swinney from Clemson.”

At the time, Swinney was looking for a mentor in coaching. That’s why he reached out to so many coaches. However, it was Brown who reached out to him and offered him advice.

“Appreciate you calling me back. Look, I obviously just got the job and I want to come out and meet with you and talk to you. I’ve got a lot of questions. I’ve got a lot of things that I think I know and I’ve got a lot of things that I know I don’t know and I’d just like to get some confirmation and direction and just sit down and have a visit. And, oh, by the way, can I bring my staff, maybe watch a spring practice? got a new staff and maybe let’s just talk some shop for a couple of days,'” Swinney said.

“He was just awesome. I remember specifically him saying he had followed me during the interim and he said he was pulling for me, and he said he was glad to see me get the job. He told me, ‘Heck, yeah. Bring anybody you want to bring,’ and I didn’t realize how big a deal that was at the time. So, this would have been February or maybe early March of 2009.”

It was during that time in Austin that the pair began to build a strong relationship.

“We go out there and it was great. I had a lot on my mind, just infrastructure, facilities, staffing, recruiting, practice, discipline. Just a lot of questions. I was hoping he might give me an hour. We met with the offense and we met with the defense. I remember I was kind of sitting in their meeting with the offensive guys and he sent somebody to come get me. I just remember going and sitting in his office,” Swinney said.

“We met for hours over a couple of day period. He’s a funny guy. The best part is, and I still have it written down, I’d get halfway through the question and he’d cut me off because he already knew the answer. A lot of it was I’m not crazy or some of it was wow, really because they were Texas and we were trying to do things differently here. So, it was great watching practice. He took us all out to eat, the whole staff, some BBQ joint out there. It was great. He didn’t have to do any of that. They were coming off, when’d they win the national championship? But they had a good year that year. He had a lot going on. It meant a lot to me and I just never forgot that. So, we’ve always stayed in contact.”

Even once Brown left Texas, the pair got closer and closer. Still, Swinney pointed out that Brown couldn’t stay away from coaching.

“When he got out of coaching, our relationship grew stronger because he was on the other side. He was doing games and did several of our games. He’s just always been a good mentor. He gets it. He’s at that stage in life where he really don’t care care. I mean, what are you going to tell Mack Brown? He ain’t worried about it. He’s going to do what he thinks is right and best, and if it offends somebody, he don’t care,” Swinney said.

“So, he’s at that point in life and he’s earned that. He loves the player and loves what he does. That’s why he went back to coaching. He didn’t go back to coaching because he needs to make money. He went back to coaching because he really loves the player and he wanted to do what he’s done. Make North Carolina relevant, right? He has done a heck of a job. They’ve been in the championship game. They are a great program. They’ve recruited really good players. It has been fun to watch him have success. I don’t think he was happy with how things ended at Texas and so it was a great reset for him.”

Dabo Swinney explained that Mack Brown’s influence is still felt today with his open-door policy and how willing he is to welcome other coaches, with some exceptions like Shane Beamer.

Dabo Swinney has perfect reaction to question about Texas A&M opening

With the opening at Texas A&M, Dabo Swinney had the perfect reaction when he was asked about the job.

“I’m just focused on this job … Always have been. Just trying to beat North Carolina,” Swinney said. “It must be November — that’s all I can say.”