What Lincoln is Thinkin’ - Yabba-Dabo-Doo

I hate to play devil's advocate, I hate being wishy-washy, I hate not being positive in my opinion. But right now, I'm still not sure whether Dabo Swinney was the right coach for Clemson at this time.

My eyes tell me that he is. Dabo has obviously captivated the hearts of the student fan base. At four separate times during the game on Saturday, chants of "Dabo! Dabo! Dabo!" were shouted throughout Death Valley. In 10 seasons how many times were there "Tommy" chants?

He also brings an intensity that Bowden never had. The story has been told, but in the first Swinney game, against Georgia Tech, the incident with punter Dawson Zimmerman happened right in front of me on the sidelines. After a particularly bad punt, the freshman walked on the field with his head down. Swinney got in his face, and made him sprint back onto the field and sprint off.

He's obviously a players coach, but he's not easy on them either. Clemson players said after the game how Dabo was deserving of the job, and could not gush any more about their head coach. There just seems to be so much more adoration between player and coach then there ever was with Bowden. Or that Spurrier has at South Carolina, for that matter.

Dabo just seems to be more of a Clemson man then Bowden ever was.

Let's break it down like this... when a coach leaves via firing or other shady circumstances, you need to hire a replacement that his an improvement. Bowden was praised because of his recruiting, his clean program and his ability to win 8-9 games almost every year. I have no doubt that the first two will not change under Dabo.

As for the winning, that remains to be seen. By hiring Swinney, Clemson hopes they'll be able to hold on to that 8-9 win level, and then improve on it. Maybe Dabo and his intensity, and his love of his players, is good enough to put Clemson over the top.

All that being said, the lack of experience is alarming.

Check out these numbers:

Of the 51 current BCS head coaches (including Dabo), only 6 were promoted from within the staff. Dabo has become the fourth current head coach to be hired without any head coach or coordinator experience (and one of those is Joe Paterno). In the ACC, Dabo joins Miami's Randy Shannon as the only head coaches who didn't have head coaching experience before their current job - and Shannon was assistant in the NFL for some time.

However, just because a coach has not had experience as a head coach, doesn't necessarily set them up for failure. In the last 20 years, six coaches have won national titles at their first college head coaching job - Southern Cal's Pete Carroll, Miami's Larry Coker, Oklahoma's Bob Stoops, Tennessee's Philip Fulmer, Michigan's Lloyd Carr and Nebraska's Tom Osbourne.

Do I think Swinney will be the next Carroll, Stoops or Osbourne? Doubtful. Most of those coaches (except Coker) had an opportunity to work through tough times before they won. Will Dabo get that opportunity? Doubtful.

Because that will be the toughest thing for this wunderkind coach to get over. He has to win right away, and the minute they start losing, those "Dabo" chants will become "Dabo, must go".

What do you think about the hiring of Dabo Swinney?

Log In | Register as a new member