Dabo Swinney still thinks of himself as that small-town guy from Pelham, Ala. And though that might be the case, the reality is he is the current owner of the largest contract in the history of college football.

As everyone knows in the sports world, Swinney was approved by Clemson University’s Board of Trustees a 10-year, $93 million contract last Friday. On Thursday, Swinney spoke publicly for the first time about his new deal and what it means for both him and Clemson moving forward.

“I think (the term) is what everyone wanted the message to be through this contract, not the numbers or anything like that,” he said prior to speaking at IPTAY’S final Prowl & Growl event of the year in Florence, S.C. “The market is what it is. There is a market. There is all that stuff they look at when they are trying to put all of that stuff together. But at the end of the day, I think the term was more the message and the type of commitment I wanted to make and that the school wanted to make. So, to me, that is more the focus than anything else.”

The commitment is also shown in the buyout. Clemson agreed to pay Swinney $50 million through the first two years should it decide to go in another direction and $47.5 million through years three and four. Swinney would get $45 million if it were to happen before the end of his fifth season.

If the school should ever part ways with him over the final five years, Swinney would get 100 percent of the remaining total compensation, which adds up to $47.75 million.

As for Swinney, though he would not owe $50 million, but he would have to pay the school as much as $4 million if he were to leave Clemson before the end of his contract for another head coaching job, plus an additional $2 million if he left to coach at Alabama.

Like Clemson’s buyout clause, those numbers will gradually decrease during the length of the contract.

“That came from the school and their proposal. I did not have a problem with it,” Swinney said about the Alabama clause. “This contract was all about a mutual commitment to each other, Clemson and myself. I did not have any issues with it at all.

“So, I am just honored to be the coach here. It has been a great decade and hopefully, we can have another decade and maybe another decade after that. So, we will see. It is a blessing and I am just thankful that it all came together like it did. It was really kind of pretty seamless and a quick process, but we are excited to move forward.”

In his first 10 years at Clemson, Swinney has led the Tigers to a 116-30 overall record, which includes two national championships and five ACC Championships. His .795-win percentage is the second-best mark among current head coaches.

Under his guidance, Clemson has won at least 10 games every year since 2011, while producing a 97-15 (.866) overall record.

Not bad for a small-town guy from Pelham, Ala.

“I have come along way, that is for sure,” Swinney said. “I am just blessed to have been around a lot of great people along the way. I just try to be a good steward of all the blessings God has given me and hopefully, like I said, we can be here for a long time.”