Daily Dose of Crimson Tide: The Clemson Connection

You would think Clemson would be sending Alabama at least a Christmas card every year to say thank you.

After all, every coach who has won a national championship for the Tigers did play for the Crimson Tide.

There may only two of them, but with Dabo Swinney knocking his alma mater off in the title game not once, but twice (2016 and 2018), there is something to be said about the Clemson connection.

"It's more like maybe brothers, kind of a sibling rivalry, if you will," Swinney said after beating the Crimson Tide for the second time in the title game. "You know, listen, I have so much respect for Alabama. I mean, Alabama is home, it will always be a place that I love, and I've got a lot of family, and I look at it the same at Clemson. It's home, it's family. It's a very healthy rivalry. I think there's a lot of respect.

"I've got — it's going to take me like two weeks to respond to my text messages because it's like a double-up game for me. Usually I always get a lot of well wishes before or after games from all my Clemson family and friends, but then you play Alabama, and it's doubled because I've got Alabama family and friends.

"It's a lot of fun to compete against the University of Alabama."

Swinney was raised in Pelham, Ala., and joined the football program as a walk-on wide receiver in 1989. He lettered on three teams, including the 1992 national champions with Gene Stallings.

Overall, he caught seven passes for 81 yards, and then began his coaching career as a graduate assistant in 1993. He was promoted to wide receives/tight ends coach in 1996.

He joined the coaching staff at Clemson in 2003. In 2008, the Tigers were ranked No. 9 in the preseason AP Top 25 only to get dismantled by Nick Saban and Alabama 34-10 — the game that many feel set the tone for the dynasty. When Tommy Bowden resigned at midseason, Swinney took over.

He now trails only Frank Howard for the most wins by a head coach in Clemson history.

Howard's an Alabama guy, too.

When he left his hometown of Barlow Bend, for the Capstone, where he had an academic scholarship, Howard said he was “walking barefoot on a barbed-wire fence with a wildcat under each arm.”

After lettering three years as a guard in football and also in baseball, he headed to Clemson in 1931.

“My first title was line coach, but I also coached track, managed ticket sales, recruited players and had charge of equipment,” Howard said. “In my spare time I cut grass, lined tennis courts and operated the canteen while the regular man was out to lunch.”

In 1940, Howard was named the Tigers’ head football coach, and over 30 years compiled a record of 165-118-12 before taking over as athletic director.

The famous rock that players touch before running down the hill was put there by Howard. A lot of the traditions the Tigers enjoy began under Howard.

However, the first coach to win a national title at Clemson was Danny Ford, who had been an All-SEC tackle for the Crimson Tide. After nine years as an assistant at Alabama and Virginia Tech, he made his debut as a head coach facing Ohio State in the 1978 Gator Bowl, in the final game for Woody Hayes. The 30-year-old Ford’s team won 17-15.

“When Coach Ford was named coach at Clemson, there were mixed emotions,” Clemson player Jeff Davis said. “It was obvious that he had so many things to offer, and what he lacked he made up for in working harder than anyone else and communicating his expectations to the players. He blossomed as well as any coach could.”

In 1981, Clemson began the season unranked, but won the national championship after defeating Nebraska in the Orange Bowl, 22-15. At the age of 33, he was the youngest coach to win a national title.

Ford left Clemson in 1990, and from 1993-97 coached Arkansas, where he won the SEC Western Division title in 1995. FYI, the person responsible for bringing him to Fayetteville was former Alabama coach Joe Kines.