Dabo Swinney on Steve Spurrier returning to coaching: 'I love it'
Earlier this month, Steve Spurrier announced that he will be returning to the sidelines to coach in the Alliance of American Football league. You can add Dabo Swinney’s name to the list of people eager to see Spurrier’s return to coaching.
Swinney spoke Tuesday evening at the Midlands Prowl and Growl at Jamil Temple in Columbia and said Spurrier coaching the Orlando team of the AAF is good for Spurrier and good for the sport.
“I love it. I think that’s great,” Swinney said with a smile. “I talked to him not too long ago, and it’s exciting. That’s a good fit. Obviously, he’s down in that area and not surprised at all.”
Spurrier and Swinney had intense battles when Spurrier was coaching at USC, but the two are now good friends as Swinney has led the Tigers to three consecutive College Football Playoffs, including the 2016 national title.
Swinney expects Spurrier to go after some hardware of his own as a coach in the startup football league.
“I love what he said … He was like, ‘Well, they’re going to give a trophy out in April.’ So they’re going to play to win. I think that’s great. That’s classic coach Spurrier,” Swinney said. “I think it’ll be fun. It sounds like it’s going to be a neat league.”
In addition to being happy for Spurrier, Swinney is pleased for all of the football players who have dreams of playing professional football but that do not get a shot in the NFL.
The AAF will begin on Feb. 9, the Saturday after next year’s Super Bowl. The Alliance features eight teams playing a 12-week season. The championship game will be played the weekend of April 26 in 2019.
“It’s more opportunity for guys to continue to play. Right now, there’s just not many options to play football after college. If you don’t make the NFL, and very few do, where do you go? There’s just not many options,” Swinney said. “Even the CFL is hard because you’ve gotta have a certain amount of Canadians and things like that. So this, I think, is great. There’s going to be at trophy, it’s an opportunity for guys who want to play football to have a chance to continue to play and develop. And then maybe the next year, I guess in (2020) we’ve got the XFL coming. So I think all of that’s good for football and for guys to have opportunities to continue to play while they’re young and a chance to make a living.”
This story was originally published April 17, 2018 at 7:05 PM with the headline "Dabo Swinney on Steve Spurrier returning to coaching: 'I love it'."