Dabo Swinney surges past $100 million mark with newest Clemson contract
The market was changing. The sport was changing. And Clemson director of athletics Graham Neff didn’t want his department’s most important revenue generator to miss a beat.
That’s why he called Tigers football coach Dabo Swinney and his representatives in the spring with a very intentional, very proactive message: We value you. Let’s talk.
Neff’s strategy paid off Thursday as Clemson and Swinney announced a new 10-year, $115 million contract, one that extends the two-time national champion’s deal through 2031 and makes him the second highest paid coach in the country behind Alabama’s Nick Saban.
“I think actions like this today really just emphasize and further stitch together our support of him and how he leads that program in an incredibly changing environment that is college athletics,” Neff told reporters Thursday.
Swinney, in a press release, said his new Clemson contract is “representative of what has been collectively built here and the success we’ve had both academically and athletically. It is a reflection of the ALL IN commitment of so many people, including our players, our staff, our fans, our administration and our University leadership.”
The contract, approved Thursday by the Clemson Board of Trustees Compensation Committee, adds three years and an annual raise of about $2 million to the original 10-year extension Swinney signed in 2019. For example he was slated to make $8.5 million this season. That now jumps to $10.5 million.
Swinney’s compensation grows year by year under the new deal and tops out at $12.5 million in 2031. At an average salary of $11.5 million, he jumped past Georgia’s Kirby Smart ($11.25 million) into the No. 2 spot among highest paid college football coaches behind Alabama’s Saban ($11.7 million).
Smart and Saban both signed their new contracts this summer. Those deals, as well as a historic 2021 coaching carousel that saw Lincoln Riley leave Oklahoma for Southern Cal and Brian Kelly leave Notre Dame for LSU, made it clear to Neff that college football’s coaching market had evolved “significantly.”
One of Neff’s first moves after replacing Dan Radakovich as Clemson AD in December, he said, was initiating conversations with Clemson president Jim Clements and Board of Trustees members about a new contract for Swinney.
“For us to continue to position him from an investment and a contractual standpoint was very intentional for me, specifically over these first eight months of the job,” Neff said. “This was not a ‘Hurry up and get something done.’ It’s been an ongoing smooth dialogue over the spring and summer.”
Just like the previous deal Swinney agreed to, his new contract includes an enhanced buyout if Swinney leaves to become the head coach at Alabama. For example, if Swinney left for Alabama in 2023, he’d owe Clemson $7.5 million; if he left for any other school, the total drops to $5 million. There is no money owed if Swinney leaves for a coaching position in the NFL.
Swinney, 52, is 151-36 at Clemson and has led the Tigers to national titles in 2016 and 2018 as well as seven ACC championships and six of the last seven College Football Playoffs.
His 151 wins are the third-most of any FBS coach in his first 15 seasons, and his 2022 team is ranked No. 5 in the nation entering Saturday’s home opener against Furman.
“I remain eternally grateful and honored for the opportunity to continue coaching and developing young people of excellence at Clemson,” Swinney said in a release.
Swinney’s new contract arrived in conjunction with a bevy of new features at Memorial Stadium including the eighth largest video board in the country. Clemson completed those renovations as Phase I of a $70 million improvement project for the stadium and other football facilities – another example, Neff said, of mutual commitment between university and coach.
“The expectations that we’re going to continue to invest in Coach Swinney and all aspects of our football program, this is certainly an example of that,” Neff said. “He’s earned and positioned himself to be at the top of the market. But it’s also our showing of that commitment that we expect to continue to be there for Clemson football for years to come.”
Dabo Swinney salary by year
Each year includes base salary plus $3.5 million in licensing; the 2023 and 2024 totals factor in a $1 million retention bonus.
2022: $10.5 million
2023: $10.75 million
2024: $11 million
2025: $11.25 million
2026: $11.5 million
2027: $11.5 million
2028: $11.75 million
2029: $12 million
2030: $12.25 million
2031: $12.5 million
This story was originally published September 8, 2022 at 10:14 AM.
