Swinney's faith leaves lasting impact on the ACC Kickoff

As things began to wind down at the 2018 ACC Kickoff yesterday afternoon, Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney got asked a question about his faith.

Watching Swinney at that moment, you could tell that he was excited about the opportunity to share his story.

"About my faith? Man, that's the easiest question I've had all day. Well, I mean, to me, that's just the priorities of my life. That's just my -- I think that I made a decision when I was 16 -- I grew up in a family that I was taught there was a God and all that, but I didn't really have a relationship with Christ until I was 16. And that was a game changer for me. That's really become the foundation of my life."

Swinney's faith has become a foundation for how he runs the Clemson program, and during our exclusive one-on-one interview, we spoke in-depth with Swinney about the fundamental aspects of his program that have led the Tigers to become a perennial contender for the College Football Playoff. (That story will be posted later for our premium subscribers, so make sure you sign up now.)

It's rare that you get to hear something this real during an event typically filled with "coach speak".

"And me personally, I don't really -- it's hard to survive and thrive in this world if you don't have a spiritual foundation and have something that will give you peace," Swinney noted near the end of the session. "Because life is hard, and we're all going to experience death and failure and setbacks and disappointments and cancer and -- it's just a really difficult world."

The 48-year-old coach went on to share the Bible verse that has become a 'life verse' for him. That verse perhaps is the catalyst to keeping Swinney grounded in the midst of incredible success.

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"For me, God is always -- and my relationship with Christ, he's given me hope and peace, and I love Jeremiah 29:11, for I know the plans I have for you. That's kind of been a life verse for me. It says to give you hope in the future. There are plans for good, not disaster. And so I've always taken that, and I've kind of applied that to my life along my journey," Swinney said.

In his tenth season as Clemson's head coach, Swinney's story is well documented. It started in Pelham, Alabama with humble beginnings and a father who was struggling with an addiction to alcohol. As a young boy, Swinney would climb out on the roof of his house and pray that arguments and screaming would end.

"Everybody sees me now and I'm the head coach at Clemson and this and that, but my life hasn't always been this way. I've always used that as -- to me, if there's really hope in the future, then there's power in the present to deal with whatever mess you're dealing with in your life, to step through, to hang in there, to persevere, to continue to believe in something, and that's what my relationship with Christ did for me. It gave me a hope and a belief -- the ability to have a hope and a belief beyond my circumstances."

Swinney went on to mention that seeing his three sons grow in their relationship with Christ has been his 'greatest accomplishment.'

"It's probably the greatest accomplishment that I have had to this point is to see my three sons come to know Christ and to know him as their Lord and savior. But those are personal decisions that people have to make, but it's just how I choose to live my life. Trust me, people that know me know I ain't perfect," Swinney insisted. 

But the national championship-winning head coach also recognizes that he's not perfect and that his success on the football field will not ultimately be how he is measured.

"I do try to live my life in a way that hopefully can be pleasing to my maker because I know I'm going to meet him one day, and he's not going to pat me on the back and talk about how many wins I had or how many Coach of the Year trophies we got or how much money I made. I really think he's going to hold me accountable to how I took advantage of the opportunity and the blessings that he gave me, the impact that I had on young people, the type of men that we develop through a game."

Wrapping up the conversation, Swinney quipped, "Appreciate you asking that question. We can pass the bucket if y'all want and keep going." 

With that, the media members in attendance turned and appeared to look for the nearest offering tray.