Dabo: It’s time for Clemson to win another ACC championship
The message has remained consistent. Much like the attitude and action in recent Clemson football seasons, says the Tigers' head coach.
In tours with media local (his golf event), regional (ACC Kickoff) and national (ESPN) in recent weeks, Dabo Swinney has been asked (and asked) and talked (and talked) about the target on his team’s back in ’15. What he’s said commonly is similar to his answer on ESPN Tuesday.
“Whether we’re the fifth pick or the first pick, we really just try to make it and keep it about Clemson,” Swinney said. “We have a formula for excellence that we believe in. And that’s what we stay dialed in on. When you get distracted about those kind of things, that’s when you get inconsistent. We’ve become one of the more consistent teams in the country because our guys have become more consistent. They’ve bought into that concept and I’m proud of the progress we’ve made.
“It really is irrelevant. It’s about November and December. If we’re there at the end, hey, we’ll celebrate that.”
But there is that itch to have a little more to celebrate by season’s end.
Over the last three seasons, Clemson has 32 wins, capped twice with top-10 victories and wrapping 2014 with blowout Ws over South Carolina and Oklahoma.
All the while, however, they’ve watched Florida State dominate en route to three conference titles, a national championship and a playoff appearance.
“At Clemson there’s pressure every year because we’ve won it 14 times,” Swinney said. “People want to continue to do that. We won the league in ’11 for the first time in 20 years. That was a great experience. That group of seniors just graduated. It’s time for us to get back in that game. We’ve been in it twice since I’ve been the head coach.
‘We feel we’re a team that’s built to make a run – not just this year, I think we’re one of those teams that has a chance compete for the championship this year. But there’s several team. There’s a lot that goes into that.
“From a program standpoint, it’s time for us to get back there and hopefully this is the year we can put it all together.”
One goal, outside of championships, is reaching the double-digit win threshold for a fifth-consecutive season, which would be a program-first.
“It’s awesome to have an opportunity to compete for that,” said the Tigers’ coach. “I spent 13 years at Alabama so I’ve been around high expectations my entire life. I wouldn’t want it any other way. I wouldn’t know what to do any other way. I expect to win. People ask me sometimes, ‘What do you think, coach? 9-3? 10-2?’ (I answer), ‘No! 12-0.’ I don’t ever plan to lose. Never have. I hope I never think that way.
“You put your best foot forward, prepare and be committed to the formula of excellence we have and we believe in. And then when the season’s over, you evaluate what you got done.”
And a great indicator moving forward for Swinney, is seeing that same belief among his players.
“There’s always adversity along the way and challenges,” he said, “but I think we’ve become one of the more consistent teams in the country because our guys have bought into making a decision to be successful, which leads to an expectation. They expect to win.
“And from time to time when we don’t, which hasn’t been very often for anybody on our team…When we have lost, the guys handled it the right way. To get back to work and go become better.”
This story was originally published July 28, 2015 at 2:42 PM.