Swinney and Brown: A friendship that launched Clemson to prominence

This season, Clemson is trying to record its ninth consecutive 10-win season under Head Coach Dabo Swinney, which would tie Mack Brown's 2001-09 Texas Longhorns teams for the third-longest streak in FBS history.

This season, Clemson is trying to record its ninth consecutive 10-win season under Head Coach Dabo Swinney, which would tie Mack Brown's 2001-09 Texas Longhorns teams for the third-longest streak in FBS history.

The similarities in leadership styles and all-time success may not be a coincidence. Upon Swinney's transition from interim head coach to full-time head coach in December 2008, Swinney sought counsel from some of the sport's top leaders at the time. 

Tuesday, Swinney expounded upon a cold call to Brown in early 2009 that helped launch an era at Clemson:

 "When I went to visit him in 2009. I had not ever met him. You know, I might have met him in 1993. I was a GA at Alabama and we played North Carolina in the Gator Bowl. Maybe I met him after the game, but I don't recall. Other than that, I hadn't crossed paths with him. He was out in Texas, so he wasn't in the league when I got here in 2003. We didn't compete with them when I was at Alabama. I just always followed him and tracked what he did. He built Texas and put them back in the upper echelon of things. They played for a couple of national championships.

"Once I got the recruiting class done in 2009, I put some calls out and wanted to go visit with some people (head coaches). I didn't get that chance as an interim. I was excited to be able to start fresh with an off-season program. I reached out to a few people and Mack was the only one who said hey come on. I had left a message and he called me back. It was like we had known each other forever. He had followed what we had done during the interim period. I had hired Woody and he knew Woody. We went out there and took the whole staff. Everyone was gracious. Coach Muschamp was the defensive coordinator and was awesome, very gracious.

"I was hoping to get a little bit of time with Coach Brown, maybe an hour, and shoot he spent hours with me. He was very patient with me. I had all my questions and went from one to the other and he'd answer like three at one time. Some of it was confirmation and some of it was maybe a different way to think about something. I learned about some things not to do. It was an awesome visit. He took us all to dinner. That was super cool.

"We went to practice. I'll never forget that. I had never been to Austin. It's a beautiful city and a campus. They had awesome facilities. Academics, you name it. We were getting ready to go to practice and everybody got on a bus. We go to practice and there is an interstate that goes over the practice field. It was wild. It was their norm ... a lot going on in Austin. It was a great trip.

"The biggest thing is we became friends. Out of the blue he would send me texts and would encourage me along the way. We just became friends and our wives became friends. As a head coach you get invited to different things and I would see him at those events. He did some of our games when he was in television. So we'd talk then. When he got put in the studio, the big-time job, he'd always text me and want to know the keys to the game. I'd send him some things. He'd usually hit me up on Friday night. I'm planning on sending him a text on Friday asking him for his keys to victory."