How Mack Brown helped Clemson's Dabo Swinney prepare for the CFP 15 years ago

AUSTIN (KXAN) — When Clemson's Dabo Swinney was officially hired as the Tigers' head coach in 2009, he said he contacted several coaches around the country looking for some advice and guidance. That led him to a "transformational" trip to Austin.

After taking over as interim head coach for Tommy Bowden who resigned in the middle of the 2008 season, Clemson gave the reins to Swinney the following season and has been there since. He'll lead the Atlantic Coast Conference champions into DKR-Texas Memorial Stadium for the first time in program history against the Texas Longhorns at 3 p.m. CT, Dec. 21 for the opening round of the College Football Playoff.

Swinney said the only coach who agreed to meet with him was Mack Brown at Texas. Brown spoke with him on the phone and congratulated him, then told him to come visit. Swinney and his entire staff packed their bags and headed to the 40 Acres and they spent about three days in Austin.

Swinney hoped he could spend an hour or so with Brown one-on-one, and in classic Mack Brown fashion, it ended being "several hours," Swinney said. He asked some questions as simply means of confirmation, making sure he was on the right track early in his career at 39 years old, but some other questions, he said it was like Brown was inside his head.

"A lot of time I couldn't even get the question out of my mouth," he said. "He could read my mind, and then he had the answer. He didn't know me from Adam, he didn't have to do that."

Swinney said he still has about eight pages of notes from the visit that help him to this day. He said a different perspective, especially from a coach that had been in the business as long as Brown had, was exactly what he needed to help guide him.

"It gave me a different way to think about things, so it was a transformational time for me," he said. "I'm forever indebted to Mack Brown for that because, again, he didn't have to do that. He didn't know me and he went way above and beyond."

After that trip, the next time he traveled to Austin was in 2021 to see his current quarterback, Cade Klubnik, play for the Westlake Chaparrals.

"Austin is a beautiful place and I really enjoyed it while I was there," he said. "The game is going to be amazing. It's one of the best venues in college football, and what an awesome team they have. It should be one heck of a ballgame."

Steve Sarkisian said he knows Swinney pretty well. They met at a high school basketball game in Alabama while they were assistant coaches, Sarkisian at Southern California and Swinney at Clemson. Sarkisian said that meeting "seems like an eternity ago," but as always admired how Swinney helped usher in a more positive style of coaching.

"The old school model of coaching was basically to coach out of fear," Sarkisian said. "Dabo has been one of the guys that changed the philosophy early on and created an environment and a culture at Clemson that is full of love and support."

Sarkisian mentioned the playground-style slide Swinney had installed in their facility as a prime example of the culture. It seems to have helped, at least a little, because Swinney has won two national championships, nine ACC titles and nearly 80% of his games as a head coach.