Clemson’s Swinney explains reason for $1 million donation to IPTAY
Dabo Swinney and wife Kathleen recently donated $1 million to IPTAY in support of the Clemson football program, Clemson announced Tuesday morning.
Swinney, now in his eighth season as Clemson’s coach, said he prayed about the decision with his wife and they felt strongly it was important to give back.
“This is a decision that Kath and I made back in May, and a decision where we felt like it was time for us to take a bigger leadership role,” he said. “We love this university. We love the state of South Carolina, and I love the players that I’ve had the privilege of coaching since I came to Clemson. This is our 14th year here. We’re incredibly invested.”
Swinney added he’s hopeful Clemson alums, currently playing in the NFL or those who are successful in the business world, will join him in giving back.
HOMECOMING
Clemson will return to Death Valley on Saturday after playing its previous five games away from home.
In a road trip that dates back to last season, the Tigers went 4-1 in their games away from home. They beat South Carolina, North Carolina in Charlotte, Oklahoma in Miami and Auburn while losing to Alabama in Phoenix in the College Football Playoff title game.
“That’s a lot of games without playing a home game. It’s good to be back home,” Swinney said. “I’m so excited to be at Death Valley and open this place back up for business.”
As of Tuesday morning, there were about 1,300 tickets remaining for the game.
“I hope by the end of the week there’s going to be no tickets left because we’re going to need a great crowd. This team right here is going to be a handful,” Swinney said. “We’ve won 16 in a row here at home, and our crowd deserves a lot of credit for that.”
INJURY UPDATE
The hope remains for starting defensive end Austin Bryant to return in time for the Georgia Tech game, but there’s no set date when he’s expected to return to practice.
“It truly is a day-to-day thing. It’s kind of on his human body on how quickly he heals up, but he’s doing very well and, as we expected, getting better day by day,” Swinney said. “He’s certainly out this week and next week and we’ll go from there.”
As far as a potential return against Georgia Tech, Swinney said, “I think it’s a chance, but I don’t think we can even speculate on that until we get through these next couple of weeks.”
POINTLESS POLLS
Seven ranked teams lost their openers in Week 1, which Swinney said is further proof that polls early in the season are pointless.
“Oh, we had an upset. Well how do we know that’s an upset? That might be the best team in the country (that won),” Swinney said. “Auburn wasn’t even ranked (in 2010) and won the national championship. … Who knows. It’s just such a crapshoot right now, but it’ll settle out. We’ll start to see who’s real and who’s not.”
This story was originally published September 6, 2016 at 6:53 PM with the headline "Clemson’s Swinney explains reason for $1 million donation to IPTAY."