For the first 33 years of his life, Dabo Swinney only knew what football life was like in Alabama. He grew up in Pelham, Alabama, a small town just south of Birmingham.
Growing up an Alabama fan, Swinney was all about the Iron Bowl, the annual battle between the Crimson Tide and Auburn. It is one of the more intense rivalries in all of college football and in most cases the SEC Championship was on the line when they met.
With no professional teams in Alabama to pull for, a person grows up either a Bama fan or an Auburn Tiger. There is not an in between.
Swinney eventually played in the Iron Bowl for the Tide from 1989-’92 and then coached in it as an assistant coach at Alabama from 1993-2000.
When he came to Clemson as Tommy Bowden’s wide receivers’ coach in the spring of 2003, Swinney quickly learned there was not much difference between the Clemson-South Carolina rivalry and the Iron Bowl.
“I realized it my first spring at Clemson in ’03 going out on the road for the first time,” he said. “I had never recruited South Carolina. So, going out to my area that first spring in ’03, the month of May and hitting the road, I quickly realized that it was no different than living in Alabama.
“When I was living in Alabama and coaching in Alabama, every time I would go to a school, half the people would be happy to see you and half the people would not be happy to see you. They didn’t even know you. So, I figured out it is the same thing here. So, it was a pretty easy transition for me because I was so used to an in-state rivalry.”
When the Tigers and Gamecocks square off in Columbia next Saturday at Williams-Brice Stadium, it will mark the 17th time Swinney has coached in the second longest uninterrupted rivalry in the country.
Swinney spent the first five years as an assistant coach in the rivalry, and next week’s game will mark his 12th as the Tigers’ head coach. In the previous 16 games Swinney has been on the Clemson sideline in the Palmetto Bowl, the Tigers own a 10-6 record and have won five straight in the series.
He is 6-5 against the Gamecocks as the head coach.
“Right out of the gate, I realized how big of a deal it was to people in this state. Again, kind of the same thing. I would show up with my Tiger Paw on and some people would be happy to see me and other people not so happy,” Swinney said. “So, it is good. It is fun to be a part of a great rivalry.”
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