When Dabo Swinney first came to Clemson in 2003 to be Tommy Bowden’ wide receivers coach, he knew all about the legacies Frank Howard and Danny Ford left behind in Tigertown.
Howard built the program and got it on the map, while Ford took it to another level and made Clemson a household name.
“Coach Ford and Coach Howard, their success here is well documented,” Swinney said.
Now Swinney’s success is being well documented, too. With a win at No. 20 NC State Saturday in Raleigh, N.C., Swinney can move into fifth place all-time in wins as an ACC head coach, passing Howard and Ford, who both had 96 wins in their illustrious ACC careers.
By the way, all three are Alabama graduates, too.
“I think it is kind of weird that we all have 96 wins as ACC Coaches,” Swinney said. “That is the strangest stat ever. I just want to get to 97. That is something neither one of them did. If I can just get to 97, we will be doing good.”
If the Tigers (7-1, 5-1 ACC) beat the Wolfpack, it would put Swinney’s 2017 Tigers in the driver’s seat to get back to the ACC Championship Game and maybe win his fourth ACC Championship. Howard coached six ACC Championship teams from 1953-’69, while Ford’s teams won five from 1979-’89.
Another ACC Championship would make three straight for Clemson, something the program has not done since Ford’s 1986-’88 teams did the same. Howard’s team’s won three straight from 1965-’67.
Swinney described being put in the same sentence with Howard and Ford as a dream come true.
“It’s awesome. It is special,” he said. “If you would have told me nine years ago that we would be where we are, that is a dream come true. You always dream about getting a job (like Clemson’s), and you have a vision for being successful.”
Howard put Clemson on the college football world map in the late 1940s and ‘50s with some of the best teams in Clemson history. His 1948 team went 11-0, which included a Gator Bowl win over Missouri, the first undefeated team at Clemson since 1900.
He again coached an undefeated team in 1950. The Tigers went 9-0-1 that year and defeated Miami, 15-14, in the 1951 Orange Bowl Classic. Howard coached the Tigers to another Orange Bowl appearance in 1956 and then to a Sugar Bowl appearance in 1958.
When he retired in 1969, Howard was the fifth winningest coach in the nation with 165 victories … quite an accomplishment considering only 38 percent of his games were played in Death Valley.
Howard’s teams won eight conference titles (two in the SoCon) and finished his career first in ACC history in terms of wins as a conference member with 96.
From the moment he became the head coach at Clemson in late November of 1978, Ford became a trailblazer. In his first game as a head coach, he beat Hall of Fame head coach and Ohio State legend Woody Hayes, 17-15, in the 1978 Gator Bowl.
The following season, he took his Tigers into South Bend, Ind., and beat Notre Dame on Senior Day, just the second team to do that since World War II at the time.
Two years later, he guided the Tigers to the pinnacle of the college football world by winning the 1981 National Championship, which included a win over legendary head coach Tom Osborne and Nebraska in the 1982 Orange Bowl. Ford was just 33 years old at the time, still the youngest head coach to ever win a national championship.
Ford had four teams that won at least 10 games in his 11 years as head coach and two others went 9-1-1. He had two 8-win teams as well and never had a losing record. He also won six bowl games which included wins over Hall of Fame head coaches Joe Paterno (Penn State) and Berry Switzer (Oklahoma).
At one point, Ford’s teams were ranked in 41 consecutive AP polls, a Clemson record at the time.
Swinney’s teams have since topped that mark, including 44 straight heading into this Saturday’s game at Carter-Finely Stadium. Swinney also won a national championship himself at Clemson and played for it another time.
The fourth-ranked Tigers are in position to compete for another one this season as well. Swinney is now in his 10th season at Clemson.
“I never had a vision for getting a job for three or four years and getting fired,” he said. “That was never my plan. So to be here nine years later and to be where we are… it’s a dream come true.
“Hopefully, I can be around here a little longer. So it has been great.”
Remarkably, Ford and Swinney both have the same won-loss record at Clemson. The only difference is Ford had four ties.
Swinney is 96-29 and Ford finished his Clemson career 96-29-4. Ford will be inducted into the National Football Foundation Hall of Fame this year and was honored for that accomplishment at Clemson last week prior to the Georgia Tech game, the same day Swinney tied his win total.
On a percentage basis, Swinney is second in ACC history in winning percentage with a .768 mark off a 96-29-0 record. Jimbo Fisher is first at .784 percent as he is 80-22 for his 102 games as Florida State head coach.
Most Wins by ACC Coaches
- Bobby Bowden, Florida State 173
- George Welsh, Virginia 136
- Frank Beamer, Virginia Tech 113
- Bill Dooley, UNC and Virginia Tech 98
- Danny Ford, Clemson 96
Frank Howard, Clemson 96
Dabo Swinney, Clemson 96
- Al Groh, Wake Forest, Virginia 85