Swinney: Clemson a 'Family Atmosphere'

While Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney created a national juggernaut in the last 11 years since he took over the team midway through the 2008 season, as he and other coaches will attest, at the end of the day, the Tigers are all about family and community.

"I think we have a great program," Swinney said. "Clemson is a wonderful place to live. You know, I hope I'm a decent guy to work for. It's a family atmosphere. It's a place where truly our families are a part of it and welcome, and kids around all the time, wives around all the time. It's a small town. I mean, everything is 5 minutes (away). I mean, everything."

He said Clemson, because of the tight-knit nature of the community, was a "special" place to live and work.

"When this is your profession — as a coach, especially coaches that have been other places — you understand how special it is to live there," he said. "Monday through Friday we kind of have a Clemson bubble, kind of our own little world, but yet we get to have this unbelievable stage to compete at the highest level and do something that we all love to do. Our fans are amazing. Every game is sold out and packed. It doesn't matter who we play."

Swinney said that over the years, Clemson has transitioned from an interim gig for a lot of coaches to a true "destination job."

"It’s just amazing to have that type of venue and environment, and so as we've built — it wasn't that way," he said. "When I was at Clemson, it was kind of a steppingstone job when I came in as an assistant. Guys would be gone, and that was one of the things I wanted to change. I wanted to make it a destination job, and that's what it's become."

He pointed to numerous examples of current coaches in the Tigers' "relationship-driven program," who either played for him at Clemson or worked with him previously as a fellow coach.

"And so my staff is just, it's just built on that," Swinney said. "Even our peripheral staff and our support staff. I think we've got 19 former players on our staff. ... And so it's just a special place, and we're thankful for it."