Clemson Football: Dabo Swinney’s contract does little to quiet Alabama rumors
Dabo Swinney and Clemson football agreed to a massive 10-year, $93 million contract extension, but the Alabama shadow remains cast on Death Valley.
When news of Dabo Swinney’s contract extension with Clemson broke on Friday, the first thought that many had was that this puts to bed the long-rumored narrative of Swinney being set to replace Nick Saban when he retires.
The links between Swinney and Alabama are obvious. He was born and raised in the state and is an alum of the university. He was a walk-on receiver for the Crimson Tide in the early 1990s, and he still has an affection for the university despite the gridiron wars that have raged between the two programs over the last four seasons. Swinney returned to Tuscaloosa during a Clemson bye week in 2017 in a celebration of the 1992 national championship team of which Swinney was a part of.
The 10-year $93 million extension handed down to Swinney is the largest total sum of a contract for a head coach in the history of the sport. His average annual salary will slide in just behind Saban. It’s job security for the coach who has won two national championships in three years, building his Tigers in Alabama’s image and sharing the spotlight with the preeminent dynasty in the history of the sport.
While the extension is well deserved and will put Clemson’s fans minds at ease in the interim, there’s some specific contract language that does little to quiet the rumors of Swinney’s interest in returning to his alma mater.
In the contract, Clemson included a buyout enhancement if Swinney were to depart for Alabama. So Swinney has one buyout if he leaves for any other school, and an enhanced one if that school happens to be in Tuscaloosa.
Through 2019 and 2020, the buyout would be increased $2 million. For 2021 and 2022, it would be $1.5 million more. For 2023 through 2025, it would go up $1 million. 2026 and 2027 would add $500,000.
It’s clear that Clemson officials are worried enough about Swinney’s potential interest in the Alabama job whenever it becomes vacant that they felt compelled to add a clause that increases the university’s compensation should he go there. Either that, and/or Swinney and his agent are leveraging potential interest in the Alabama job to pull more money from Clemson, which is entirely possible. Coaches leverage interest in other schools every offseason to scrape out a few more nickels and dimes.
This specific contract language would terrify me if I was a Clemson fan. If Swinney has no interest in leaving for Alabama, why would there need to be a Crimson Tide clause in his contract? The increased buyout certainly wouldn’t prevent Alabama from coming after Swinney if they coveted him as Saban’s eventual replacement. Here’s how much Alabama would have to pay by year with the enhanced buyout:
2019 or 2020: $6 million
2021 or 2022: $4.5 million
2023-2025: $3 million
2026 or 2027: $1.5 million
None of those figures will scare Alabama. It just paid $5.5 million for Avery Johnson to no longer coach the basketball team. And that’s basketball! A mere footnote on the university’s radar in comparison to almighty football.
Saban still plans to coach for several more years, so the buyout for Swinney will likely be in the $3-4.5 million range when Alabama has a vacancy, barring a restructure of his contract between now and then, which is entirely possible.
I’ve long thought it was unlikely that he would ever leave Clemson for another job, even for Alabama. Swinney has it made at Clemson, with job security that rivals Saban’s current command in Tuscaloosa. Swinney has had an almost unparalleled level of success at Clemson; success and compensation that would mean it would be crazy to think any coach would leave for another college job in a similar situation.
He’s built a powerhouse at Clemson, and leaving it to step into Saban’s shadow with mammoth expectations and shoes to fill might warrant a full psychological evaluation.
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But Swinney’s fondness of his alma mater is well documented, and it’s tough to ignore the unmistakable voice of momma when she comes calling.