ACC notes: Dabo Swinney 'very much indebted' to Tommy Bowden - Charleston Post Courier
Seven questions were posed to Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney during his televised press conference in the main ballroom at Pinehurst Resort. His longest answer was reserved for the man who had to lose his job in order for Swinney to emerge as one of the top young coaches in the country. “I wouldn’t be here right now if it wasn’t for Tommy Bowden,” Swinney said. Bowden was dismissed six games into the 2008 season, which began with a top-10 ranking and ended with Swinney’s promotion from interim to full-time head man. Bowden, who now works as a color commentator for the ACC Network and Fox Sports South, is a regular at the ACC Football Kickoff each summer, commonly sharing a table with Swinney during the annual banquet. Swinney told the tale about the day Bowden was ushered out at Clemson. It was on that day that Bowden asked then-athletic director Terry Don Phillips to give Swinney a chance at the temporary job. Bowden was later an Auburn assistant, coaching against Swinney when he was a player and a graduate assistant coach for Alabama. Then in 2003, Bowden needed a wide receivers coach on his Clemson staff. “Had it not been for that relationship, just that seed that was planted years ago when I was just a young player, I probably wouldn’t have had that opportunity,” Swinney said. Source: www.postandcourier.com
