WATCH: 2022 ACC Championship | Coaches Press Conference

Dabo Swinney - Clemson Head Coach

DABO SWINNEY: Well, good to be back in Charlotte. Sat at home and watched this last year, so it's good to be back here and have an opportunity to represent the Atlantic, which I think is the only division in college football or at least Power Five to have six teams with seven-plus wins, so super excited about winning our division and earning an opportunity to be in this game.

It really is special, this time of year when you're playing and there's a trophy being handed out. We're excited, again, to be here and be a part of a great venue and represent this league.

We want to congratulate Coach Brown and his staff and all their team. Same thing; they're a division champion. They earned their way here. It's special. These opportunities are unique, to get these opportunities, especially when you look back historically.

I got hired 14 years ago yesterday, as a matter of fact, and at that time it had been a long time since Clemson won a championship.

I have such a great appreciation for the opportunity to be here and all that goes into earning the way here. It's hard. It's hard to win.

Really proud of our team for their season that they've had, to get to this point, and again, look forward to a great match-up tomorrow night, and want to thank Subway for being a sponsor, and then also all the people who make this happen.

There's a lot that goes into making a game like this special for the teams involved. There's a lot of logistics, a lot of moving parts, from the locker rooms to the field, et cetera, et cetera.

I appreciate everybody's efforts to make this a great venue and a great experience for both teams, and look forward to competing and hopefully playing our best.

Q. With Drake Maye, how important is it to try to build a two-score lead late in the game, kind of the way you did at Florida State with a guy like Drake Maye, who seems to be better when coming from behind and under pressure, leading game-time, game-winning drives?

DABO SWINNEY: Two-score lead? Hey, that's important anytime you can do that.

But hey, we just want to win the game, whether it's one point or two scores or whatever. But I think anytime he's on the field and they've got the ball, it's just regardless of what your lead is, whether it's two scores, as you say, or one point or you're behind, he's a problem in any situation. He's just a great player. He really is.

I can't imagine that he's not going to be one of the finalists for the Heisman, 35 touchdowns, five picks. He's a leading rusher. He's a great player, can beat you a lot of ways. He's got a great mind for the game. He sees things. He processes stuff well.

Regardless of what the scoreboard says or what the situation is, he creates a problem and has our full attention.

Q. Wanted to ask you about Josh Downs. He has a high win rate, but the last two weeks haven't been as good for him. What do you think you and your defense have to do to get him slowed down and keep him out of the end zone?

DABO SWINNEY: Yeah, well, I think that's what you hope to do is maybe minimize him a little bit, slow him down a little bit, but you're not going to stop him. He's the best we've seen, I think. We've seen some really good players, but he is a great, great competitor. He's a great football player. He's dynamic with and without the ball. He's a guy that -- he's also a returner for them.

But they use him a lot of underneath, screen -- they won't come out of this game without at least probably trying to get him the ball at least about 15 times in different ways. You just do the best you can to obviously know where he is. You've got to change things up a little bit as far as how you play him, and you've got to compete and win your match-up and hope that you can, as you said, just slow him down a little bit.

But he'll make some plays. You've got to try to hopefully minimize it.

Q. Going to ask you about two guys that are from here. What were your first impressions in recruiting Trenton Simpson from Mallard Creek and Will Shipley from Weddington.

DABO SWINNEY: Yeah, they're both special talents. Special people, too, just really great kids, great families. First time you talk to both of those guys, you just go, wow. They're just kind of a breath of fresh air. Just really talented players, but they just have great humility to them. Both love the game, passionate about it, wired very similar in a lot of ways.

Just super, super skilled, both of them. Trenton, he can do anything. He's got a long future ahead of him as a football player. He's big. He's strong. He's really fast. You don't see many guys his size as explosive as him, change direction, and just dynamic.

Then Shipley, as you all saw this week, he's the first guy ever to be first team in three different things, so running back, all purpose, and I guess a specialist.

That's who he was in the recruiting process. That's what we saw in him as a player, a guy that could be involved in every facet of the game and impact the game in every way, whether it be as a returner, as a receiver, as a rusher. Great energy. Both of them play with a high level of intensity, both great effort guys.

A lot of similarities in both of them. Both of them got great futures ahead of them in football.

Q. What are your biggest concerns when you look at North Carolina on tape? What jumps out that concerns you?

DABO SWINNEY: Yeah, well, they're the eighth best passing offense in the nation. They've got a Heisman-caliber quarterback that's playing with unbelievable confidence. They've got a great receiver. Everybody talks about 11, but it's not just him; it's 3, it's 5, it's 18, it's those tight ends they've got. The backs are good players. They've got a great scheme. They're very confident in what they do. They play with tempo. A lot of -- they get their ball to the playmakers, a lot of formations and motions and shifts.

There's a lot of things to handle schematically, but they've got good players.

Again, we've not been great -- we just gave up a bunch of passing yards last week, and then you get to play this bunch and they're eighth in the country, so that's a concern for sure.

Then defensively they've gotten better. I think as the year has gone, they've really improved. They've had a lot of injuries and things they had to work through to get to this point.

But they're much improved there for sure, and then their return game. 11 is a guy back there that can beat you on one play. So there's a lot that concerns you about who they are and what they're capable of doing.

Q. You talked about being out of the championship game last year; what's it like -- do you have a different appreciation for it having missed it last year after so many years of high-level success and now being back? Does it give you a different appreciation for the event?

DABO SWINNEY: Yeah, absolutely. Like I said, I got this job, and we went to the championship game my very first year in '09. It was in Tampa for whatever reason that one time. It was like a one-off. We got beat. I just remember what a big deal it was to get there, and then we weren't there in '10, we got back in '11 up here and we won it.

Then we weren't here in '12, '13, '14. We had good teams, really good teams, but we weren't here, and then to get back here in '15, it was such a big deal. Then I guess six years in a row we were here. You just put your head down and go to work, and you see what happens.

We're just very blessed to have had the opportunity. Last year we came up short. We competed, we were in it all the way down to that last weekend, but didn't work out for us.

I'm proud of our guys this year, undefeated in the league, and man, we had to play a lot of great quarterbacks. It seemed like everybody we played all year had a great player at quarterback.

I think we led the league in ACC play in scoring. Our guys did a lot of good things to earn their way here, and we certainly last year watching it, the ol' Kenny Pickett fake slide, I was home watching it like everybody else and certainly missed the opportunity to be in this game.

Everything for us has come through winning this league. You can't win it if you're not in it. So we're really thankful and have a great appreciation for this weekend and for everyone.

I played in the first-ever championship game back in 1992, so 30 years ago I played in that game in Birmingham. Now here we are 30 years later, and everybody has a championship game. Nobody had them back then, and I remember nobody -- we weren't happy about it and Coach Stallings was furious about it because we had to go beat Florida, who was like 9-2 or something. We had to go beat them even though we were No. 2 and already were in the National Championship.

It's just interesting how it's all come full circle now. Now all these conferences are having a championship game this weekend.

Thankful that we get the opportunity to go play.

Q. Have you seen the response you wanted from DJ in practice this week, and where is he at entering the game confidence-wise?

DABO SWINNEY: Yeah, he's done his part, which is all he can do. They're not going to let him throw it and catch it. He's done his part, and he's had a great week of practice. The team has responded like you want.

But move forward, and at the end of the day we're 10-2, and we won our division and earned the opportunity to be here. Expect him to play well.

Q. You mentioned earlier -- this is a question about the ACC as a whole. You mentioned the Atlantic Division this year and all the teams with seven plus wins in there. With no divisions next year, how do you think that one helps out those teams who have all those wins to maybe potentially get to the ACC Championship, and how do you think that helps maybe with the public perception of the ACC conference where some people feel like the teams kind of beat up on each other?

DABO SWINNEY: Yeah, it's probably where it's going in every league probably. It's probably the way it's going to end up with the expansion of the playoff and all that stuff. But we experienced that a couple years ago when Notre Dame was in here.

You'll probably have more rematches. That will be one change, kind of like that year, we had a rematch with Notre Dame, so you'll probably have more of that.

But I think it's all just being driven by the playoff and being able to get your two best teams and everybody trying to have the most teams possible available.

The division thing, maybe one division is better than the other, and that can change from year to year. This is kind of where it's going as far as being able to figure out who the two best teams are throughout the year and let them go play and then see how it affects the playoff.

Q. What do you think your quiet X factor is for possibly winning tomorrow?

DABO SWINNEY: My quiet X factor? Hmm. If I told you, it wouldn't be quiet. It would get loud. Let's keep it quiet.

I don't know. Quiet X factor? Maybe Phil Mafah. He's a guy nobody really talks about a whole lot, but he's a pretty special player. He's kind of a quiet guy but he plays loud. So we'll go with that.

Q. Even though you guys had the one-year hiatus from this game, you've got players who have been in this situation before, whereas Carolina doesn't have anybody from their last appearance in 2015. How much do you lean on the championship and the big-game experience, lean on your players in situations like this?

DABO SWINNEY: I mean, it's great. It's certainly not a negative when you have a bunch of guys that have won games like this, been in games like this. I don't think that's bad or anything. But it still comes down to how you play in this game, these four quarters, and doing what you've got to do.

When we started the first year in '09 and we kind of laid out what our program was going to be about, it was hey, we want to have a program that is elite when it comes to graduation, and we've done that, and then it was we wanted to build a program that really truly built great men, equipped men with skills and career opportunities and relationships and real true tools for life, and we've done that.

Then we wanted to have a program where when their time was up they said, man, that was a great experience. We want them to have a great experience. We want them to embrace college, and we've done that.

But the last thing was we wanted everybody that came to Clemson to win a championship. That's how we've built the program, and nothing has changed from that. Then we went to work.

Our first class was February of '09. We signed 12 guys, and every class that has come to Clemson has won a championship or more with the exception of Will Shipley's class.

Obviously the guys that just got there this year, Antonio Williams and that crew, they're going to get a shot. So everybody who's come through has won a championship.

It's something that is woven into just the purpose and DNA of our program. I think it's great that we've got a lot of guys that are coming in here, and they have that experience to draw upon, but you've got to seize these moments when they come.

No championship team we've had didn't finish. You've got to finish, and you've got to take advantage of opportunities to separate yourself, hang a banner. There's been 127 teams at Clemson, and you want to be remembered as a league champion, you've got to do it on the field. Regardless whether you've been in this game or haven't been in this game, it comes down to how you play tomorrow night.

Q. You talked about Will Shipley, first-team All-ACC running back, all purpose in special teams. How important is it for him to get going in this first quarter against North Carolina?

DABO SWINNEY: It's always important to get your best players in rhythm and going early in any game, and certainly he's just like a No. 11 for them and their quarterback, that's kind of where it starts for them. It starts for us with No. 1. He's a great player and he's a guy that gets better as the game goes. Kind of the tougher it gets, the better he is. It's very important. We need him to play well.

Q. Is there something you want to see from your guys tomorrow night that you haven't seen this season, a type of game, whether that's a perfect game or a full-circle game or just a statement that you want to set that you haven't seen so far?

DABO SWINNEY: Well, I'd love a perfect game. That would be a great place to start, yeah. We didn't have that for sure.

But the biggest thing is I'd like to see us win the margin. We had seven games, we had three offensive turnovers and we've had 14 in five games. That's tough sledding. It's not that I haven't seen -- I have seen us do that, but that's where I would start. I'd like to see us win the margin tomorrow night. I think that would be a good thing to see.

Q. You got the administrative staff and the secretaries involved in a little film action earlier this week, and just wondering, what did the rest of the week look like after mental Monday?

DABO SWINNEY: Windshield, eyes forward, on to the next -- go to work, get back at it. That's what you do. Just learn from it and put your eyes on the next opponent and what you've got to do to get ready to go play well.

We've had good week of practice. The guys are excited about playing, and hopefully we can -- first of all, thankful that we get a chance to go play because most of the time your season ends, so it's nice to be able to get back at it and play another game and hopefully just play well.

But good week of practice.

Q. Do you feel like you have to take any extra motivational measures with your guys given the way the regular season ended and this ACC Championship game doesn't necessarily have the playoff implications it normally does?

DABO SWINNEY: No. Again, there's only four teams that go to the playoff, and we've been there six times, and that's probably about the most of anybody. It's hard to do that. It's really hard.

This is what we're playing for, right here. Those are all great things, but those are things that come when you win your league. We know what's at stake. I wish we were perfect. We weren't perfect this year. Everybody tries to -- everybody goes into their season, you try to be perfect and you put everything you've got into every single week, and you've got a lot of people involved. You count them all up at the end of the year, and we're not 12-0, we're 10-2.

Yeah, we won't have the opportunity to go in the Final Four, but whether we were 12-0 or 10-2, we still need to win that. Nothing has changed from that standpoint. Everything for us is about winning the ACC. It's a goal of ours.

Then the next goal is to win the closer, whatever that is. Again, we could be 12-0, win it, and on a particular year somebody not vote you in. You don't have any control over that.

Our goal is to win this league. What happened last week has nothing to do with this week. Never has, never will. You've got to go on to the next game, just like the next season or whatever it may be.

Q. I know in the past you've sort of joked you'd be fine going back to the BCS, but starting in 2024 winning that will get you into the playoff. Are you happy to see the playoff expansion? Do you think this is a net good thing for college football and for Clemson?

DABO SWINNEY: Yeah, it doesn't matter what I think. You're going to write whatever you think, so it doesn't matter what I think, and it doesn't matter what anybody's opinion is, because it's reality. You just embrace it and you keep moving. It's reality. It doesn't matter what anybody's opinion or thinks about it. It's happening. All that matters is let's move forward.

We've got one more year of a Final Four, if you will, and then it goes to 12, and we'll all embrace whatever changes come with that and whatever -- there's always unintended consequences. We'll all embrace that, and you keep moving forward.

I'm excited about it and look forward to whatever comes with it. But doesn't really matter what anybody thinks about it.

Q. I was wondering, what's your relationship with Mack Brown, and during his time when he was with ESPN, did he come down -- were there any particular visits that may have stood out when he was just on the set and observing practice and you guys were talking just as football minds?

DABO SWINNEY: Yeah, well, I said this earlier in the week, but he's -- when I got the job 14 years ago yesterday, we finished up, went to the Gator Bowl and then we were kind of starting, okay, we're going to get an off-season, going to get a spring practice, we're going to get to have a year cycle of recruiting and kind of all that stuff, and I reached out to about four or five coaches that I didn't really know any of them. I didn't really know anybody, but I didn't really know -- just people that I really just thought a lot of and really respected.

Obviously it wasn't -- Coach Spurrier wasn't going to let me come down and sit down with him in Columbia, that wasn't going to happen, but I reached out to people that I felt like it would be great to go learn from because obviously I'd had seven weeks as a head coach, so now I've got a chance to kind of -- I had a lot of questions and a lot of things that maybe I was just looking for some confirmation on and then a lot of questions on some stuff.

I've always said this, and this is why I love Mack Brown and always will. I reached out to four or five coaches, and now you're the head coach at Clemson, people will call you back or at least text you back. He was the only coach that would let me come visit.

I thought that was interesting because I didn't really -- it didn't really dawn on me, why can't -- I've always allowed people to come and visit and meet and talk because of that. But Mack Brown was the only one. Not only did he let me come visit, he let me bring the whole staff. So I went out there February of '09, took the whole staff, spent two and a half, three days in Austin, and I'd never been there at the time to Austin, and they were actually starting spring ball early. We got to see some practice, sit in on some meetings. They were amazing.

He was so accommodating, I couldn't even hardly get a question out of my mouth and he had all the answers. He'd read my mind. I've still got all my questions and all my answers, I've got just pages of notes that I took from him.

It was such a helpful visit for me, and to be able to see Texas and kind of where they were, they were just pretty fresh off a National Championship, facility, you name it, staffing, recruiting. It was like a Cliff's Notes version of being a head coach.

He was incredibly transparent, and he didn't know me from Adam. He's like, yeah, man, congrats, kept up with you, I'm really excited you got that job, come out any time. Took us all to dinner. He was just Mack. That's just who he is. That's how he is. He's just a great person, as is Sally.

Then we became friends after that. I kind of went on and then he coached -- then when he got out of coaching and he got into TV he had several of our games, and he came down and did an event for me one time, one of our fundraisers. He came and spoke at that.

Just got to know him a lot over the years, and just one of those guys that it's easy to like. Good football coach.

Somebody asked me a question at our press conference Tuesday -- maybe somebody here, I don't know. But the question was was I -- did I think he would be successful or something like that when he got back -- I was like, well, what about his life says that he wouldn't be successful. Everything about everything he's ever done leads you to think, yeah, this will work.

I'm not surprised that he's here. He might not have been so transparent 14 years ago had he known we were going to be facing up one day for a championship, but that's kind of how life is, how God works. That's how things come full circle sometimes.

Q. Last week you faced the No. 3 punter in the country, and he had a big impact in that game. Tomorrow you're facing the No. 7 punter in the country. Special teams always critical in games like these. How much will that impact your game plan, your strategy tomorrow?

DABO SWINNEY: Yeah, I mean, it was obviously a huge part -- we had two turnovers, fumbled a kick return, fumbled a punt return, lost two possessions there, both in scoring range. That was a huge part of the game with field position, and it will be the same. We've got to try to keep them on a long field because he's really good and can pin you deep if you allow him.

But in a championship game, special teams is always a part of it.

Q. Last time you all played North Carolina was up in Chapel Hill in 2019. What do you remember about that game, and what did you learn from that game that might help you in the head to head match-up come night tomorrow with Mack Brown?

DABO SWINNEY: I remember they made a couple of explosive plays, and I remember we missed some plays, had some critical drops, but it was a hard-fought game. Both teams competed until the end. I think we missed a field goal, as well, in that game that was pretty critical, and next thing you know, it was down to the last play. Two-point conversion at the end, we made a great stop, and it was a big win for us. But it was a good football team.

Q. The North Carolina offense has not been as explosive as they have over the past 10 games, over the last two games. Do you see any type of formula what you guys will have to do to slow that offense down? Do you see anything that you can take away from what Georgia Tech did or what income state did the past couple weeks?

DABO SWINNEY: Well, I think the Georgia Tech game, they just missed a few plays. That was probably their worst game as far as some plays there that they normally make that they didn't make. Just kind of next thing you know you're in a dogfight there.

Then you've got a rivalry game, a lot of intensity, a lot of emotion, a few plays here or there, a couple bang-bang plays, that's kind of how you expect that type of a game.

They're plenty explosive, do a great job. You kind of hold your breath every single play because they can make a lot of plays.

But we've got to win up front. You can't let him get comfortable. If he's comfortable, he'll pick you apart, especially with the receivers they've got, good veteran guys in the tight ends, and he's a runner. Again, he's their leading rusher, and they will run him. He gets a lot of scramble yards because he really sees it. He understands coverage. He understands how to set lanes and when to take them, when to get rid of the ball, and then they have a lot of called runs, too, whether it be draws or some other things.

You've got to win up front and try to get him uncomfortable, make him try to have to change his launch point, things like that, and then you've got to cover forever because he can create and he can extend as good as anybody. Very poised. Does not get rattled.

As far as the last two games, again, the Georgia Tech game, that was probably their one game where they were just a little off, but last week was just kind of a down to the last play, right, intense rivalry, emotion, and one or two plays. NC State is pretty good on defense, too. Pretty good.

Q. Twice in this press conference you've mentioned the 14 years yesterday, I think. Can you talk about man of faith and who you are, the blessing it's been to be the head coach at Clemson?

DABO SWINNEY: Oh, man, it's crazy. My wife sent me a picture of her and our three boys at the press conference. They were just these little boys. Now Will has come to Clemson and won a National Championship and won five ACC Championships and now he's working out of Charlotte here and living in Greenville and on his -- and Drew is about to get married in March. He's a senior. Then Clay, who was asleep in that picture at the press conference, he didn't really care. He's now a freshman at Clemson. So it's just crazy how time flies. Just like that.

I was hoping I'd be here one or two or three years and hang on and see what happens, and now we're here 14 years later.

It's been an unbelievable blessing. Clemson is an amazing place. It's where I was supposed to be and when I was supposed to be there, and thankful for it.

Q. What do you like most about Clemson?

DABO SWINNEY: Oh, man. What I like most about Clemson is honestly probably the simplicity of life and the quality of life that we get to have there. It's rare. It's just my profession, this is what I do, and I want to compete to be the best. I want to compete at the highest level.

I get to do that. We have this little small setting, and Monday through Friday is just kind of -- it's very simple. It's very simple. Again, and there's a quality of life there that you really -- until you live there, it's hard to really explain. But there's this quality of life that I think is rare and lost, and there's this simplicity of life that's the same -- there's this unbelievable energy that comes from being -- just living in a college town, but yet on the weekends we get to compete at the highest level. That's what I love the most about Clemson.

Then the people that are there. It's just been a wonderful place. Again, I've been there 20 years at Clemson. Moved there February of '03, so in our 20th year, and it's been -- and I thought I'd be there a year or two. In fact, I did a three-year interest-only note at like 2.7 percent and I bet on myself because Kath was like, what are we doing, and I was like, in three years I'm either going to be making more money or we're moving, we're gone.

So here I am now 20 years later and we're still there. It's special.

Mack Brown - North Carolina Head Coach

MACK BROWN: Welcome, everybody. May I say, it's obvious I have a great relationship with Dabo. There's a tremendous respect. There's a friendship for many, many years. When he first got his head coaching job, he asked if he could come out and visit, and he came and spent a week with us with his staff out at Texas, and it was so much fun to get to visit with him, and I could tell then he was going to be a superstar.

Clemson does it right, and he's a great leader for them. They've got great fan support. They've got tremendous facilities. They've got an awesome commitment to college football, and they've got tremendous players that are very well-coached.

It's an honor for us to have a chance to be here and compete with his teams.

When I was at ESPN, I would call him every Friday night and ask about his game the next day so I could look like I knew when I was talking about, and when we played four years ago I called him on Friday night and I said, how about what are you going to do tomorrow, and he said, yeah, that's not funny.

We've just had a great relationship for a very, very long time.

Excited about playing in the ACC Championship game. It's normal for Clemson. It's not normal for us.

We haven't played since 2012 in this game as the champion of the Coastal. So it's a tremendous honor for us and a very exciting time for our program.

We also haven't won an ACC football championship since 1980, so it's been 42 years. I asked the guys the other day, how many of you were alive in 1980. They said, you were. I said, yeah, that's true. I was old at that time.

But again, it's been a long time. We've only won five ACC football championships in our school history, so this is a historic time for us. We won nine games. We haven't done that but one time, in 2015, since I left in 1997. So we've been a very, very inconsistent football program, and this team has had a fun year. They've played hard. They've played well, and they've been fun to watch. They've given us effort every week.

It's interesting that when you look at our season, we got beat by more than a few points by Notre Dame, and we beat Pittsburgh and we beat Virginia Tech by more than a few points. Every other game has come down to a play, whether it was kick, whether it was a call by an official, whether it was a dropped pass, a missed tackle. All of the other games have been seven points or less. So it's been that kind of year for us.

So when people say what happened the last two weeks, we didn't make the one play that we had been making the other weeks. That's just the way this team is.

Proud that they're here. We have our hands full. But they also flipped the switch on we were 0-6 on the road last year, which is as bad as you can get, obviously, and 6-0 on the road this year. So really, really proud those guys flipped the switch.

We've played twice in this stadium in the queen city since I've been back. First year we beat South Carolina, last year we lost to them in the bowl game. A tremendous honor for us to be back in Bank of America stadium because we have so many players from Charlotte and surrounding areas. It's going to be fun for them to come back home.

So proud of Drake Maye, Player of the Year, Rookie of the Year. He'll be at the banquet tonight. I'll be sitting there with a great smile and a lot of pride for him to get the recognition that he deserves because we wouldn't be here without him.

Then you look at guys like Ced Gray that's from Charlotte that's one of the best linebackers in the country. Both of those guys have gotten a lot of awards, and Josh Downs, one of the best receivers in the country. So we've got a lot of good players.

As I said, we've got our hands full. But really proud of this program. We've got a Coastal championship. We've gone to our fourth straight bowl. We've won nine games with two left to play and a chance to do something that hasn't been done in 42 years. Fun time for us, a great challenge against one of the best teams in the country, like us, that's coming in not very happy after last weekend, but I think it'll be a great game.

Questions?

Q. I wonder if you could take us back to the year 2009. What prompted you to call Dabo and invite him to Texas, and what did you guys discuss, and anything you're regretting discussing right now with a match-up looming?

MACK BROWN: No, Coach Gene Stallings is a very dear friend of mine, and in fact, Sally and I started a Rise School of Austin because of Coach Stallings and his son Johnny who had Down's syndrome, and we played them in the Gator Bowl when I was at North Carolina, and we just loved Coach Stallings and loved Johnny, and Sally fell in love with Johnny.

When we got to Texas, Coach Stallings called and said there's a Rise School in Dallas, there's a Rise School in Austin, it's basically a preschool for young kids with special needs, and he said we've got one in Tuscaloosa, you need one in Austin. It's named after Sally and we have a school in Austin and it's very good and thriving.

Coach Stallings absolutely loves Dabo. That's his guy. And Woody McCorvey who basically runs the football program with Dabo is a dear friend of mine from high school days at Woodson High School in Pensacola, Florida, when I was at Southern Miss, so coaches know each other. So I didn't call Dabo when he got the job, he called me, and I think he called about five other people and they all said no, and I said, sure, come on.

Because of me caring about Coach Stallings, I think Coach Stallings even said he called and said, will you help him out, and Woody McCorvey called and said, come on, help Dabo out, and we just had a good time.

We ran our programs so much alike, and it's not that he came to me and asked me what we did; it's what he's developed into. But we share so many things.

A lot of the recruits that come to both places say the programs are -- we hear the same things when we go to each one.

Very, very proud for Dabo and all that he's accomplished. He's kind of at the point now where I was at Texas. You win so much that if you ever lose people are shocked, and I can't believe it and the world is coming to an end. You're 10-2. A lot of people would like to have Dabo's problems. But he handles it and he handles it right, and he's just done a great job.

Q. Kind of piggy-backing off of that, is there anything when you came back to Chapel Hill in 2019 that you instead took from what Dabo is currently doing at Clemson that you wanted to implement in your --

MACK BROWN: Yes, I took from Dabo that you need to recruit really, really good players, the best ones in the country, and then turn them loose, because he's done that.

But no, I've talked to Dabo all the time. We never lost contact with each other even when I got out of coaching. Like I said, he was one of the go-to guys with me when I would ask about his thoughts in college football and where we were going with these things, and he was so transparent, he would share anything with me, and still will. I can honestly call him and talk to him Friday night and we could have a good conversation without crossing the line to get into what's going to happen in the game.

Q. I asked Coach Swinney what was his silent X factor to win tomorrow. I ask the same: Who is your silent X factor for a win tomorrow?

MACK BROWN: Who did he say?

Q. Mafah.

MACK BROWN: Well, he's real good, so I can see that. Somebody said, are you worried about Shipley. I said, when they take him out they've got a 230-pound back they're going to put in, and you look at what the guy has done. Notre Dame pounded us with a big back, so I know that's going to be part of what Clemson is looking at tomorrow is just can we stop the run.

When I look at it, who would be our X guy? I think our X guy is Drake Maye. Drake has to play well for us to have a chance to win, and probably within that group, then you'd say Antoine Green because everybody knows Josh Downs and Antoine has been a great player. He's missed five games because of injury, but when he's been out there, he's really helped us.

Q. You've coached in the Rose Bowl, Cotton Bowl Games, National Championship games. What is it like to coach now in an ACC Championship game?

MACK BROWN: It's the same. You look at these young people and they want to win so badly. I just love college football players. We've got finals this week. I was talking to Drake on Monday, and he said, yeah, Coach, I've got five finals this week or five papers I've got to write. So they're amazing how hard they work. Most people are on break or doing their finals and these guys are practicing in the morning, lifting weights in the afternoon and still taking their finals.

I really think to have a chance to do something that hasn't been done in 42 years is really special. At Texas we hadn't won a National Championship in 35 years, and that was really, really special.

But you just want your guys to be successful. You want your guys to be happy. What I've told them is everybody is picking Clemson to win. Everybody knows Clemson has got the best team in the ACC and they've had that just about every year.

But I want your best. I want you to give me everything you've got for 60 minutes because you're going to remember this game for the rest of your life, and that's all I can ask you to do.

Q. Wondering when you recruited Drake from here in Charlotte, what about his makeup and mentality led you to believe he could bring a team to a championship game and play on this stage? Did you think then that he could do so this early?

MACK BROWN: Yeah, he's got really good genes. His dad was a graduate assistant for me. I didn't get to coach him because I came the year after he got through players, and Mark led the ACC in passing and then hurt his shoulder or he would have had an NFL career and then you look at the brother goes to win a National Championship in baseball, brother who goes and wins a National Championship in basketball, other brother is on the Carolina basketball team. They are a family of champions. That's who they are. They're smart. They've got great faith. They compete at a very high level. They're very confident. They're very humble.

When I called him and said congratulations on being the Player of the Year in the ACC, he started the ol', well, you know, Coach, it's about all the other players and all that, and I said Drake, just say thank you, man. You've played great.

I used to do that. We'd win 13 games and somebody would come up and I'd say we didn't play as good, and Sally would say, why don't you shut up, don't try to talk them out of it, just say thank you. So that's what we've got Drake doing.

I'm surprised we're here this fast. I think our best team will be next year because just about everybody is coming back. We'll lose a few key guys.

But sitting there in preseason, I mean, we're in a quarterback battle in the spring and Jacolby Criswell is really good and we're in a quarterback battle in the fall and then you have to make a decision who you're going to go with.

You can see how they play in practice. You never know how that's going to transition to the game, and you could tell in the first game he's really special, and I think he'll be a first-round draft choice after next year.

Q. Championship games typically feature teams who have been winning on their way to the game and both teams are coming off of losses. How unique do you think this opportunity is for both teams and the intensity that it could have for this game in particular as both teams are trying to bounce back to win a championship?

MACK BROWN: Yeah, college football has gotten crazy. You don't ever know who's going to win anymore.

It's interesting, I've always really tried to look at emotion and confidence and energy for college football. A lot of times people lose their rival game right before a championship game because they're so excited about what's next, and we haven't played as well on offense since we clinched the coastal at Wake Forest. They're probably looking toward this.

You try and you talk to them about it and you tell them but it's still out there. I remember Steve Spurrier couldn't beat Coach Bowden, and he always said I'm not as worried about the Florida State game as I am the SEC Championship game, and I always thought that was really unique because the people in your state want you to beat your rival. So it gets a little confusing in there, and you've got to beat everybody in order to make everybody happy.

I think that Clemson and North Carolina for an ACC Championship game would be played at such a high level anyway, I don't think last week's games will have anything to do with tomorrow night.

Q. You mentioned a little bit about you're a little farther ahead than you thought. I remember in 2020 you said you were farther ahead than you expected. Are you kind of on track to where the trajectory is in terms of what you thought four years ago?

MACK BROWN: Yeah, I think you'd have to say we're ahead of the game since we hadn't played but for one championship in 42 years, and we've gone to an Orange Bowl, which we hadn't ever done. We're doing things that have never been done at Carolina in football. We've got nine wins for only the second time since 1997.

I think in the second year with a team that was 5-18 before we got there in the previous two years, to go to an Orange Bowl was absolutely unbelievable.

Then you lose great players. You don't lose good players for you. Then last year we just didn't coach as well and we didn't play as well so we took a step back. But six wins has been about what the average has been at Carolina, even though when you're expecting 13, six isn't enough.

Then you come back this year and people thought we'd be average and struggle, and we're 9-1 at one point and here we are at nine wins. To make everybody happy you've got to win all the games. The second thing to make everybody happy, you've got to win in November and December, and we didn't do that at the end of November.

You've got some people that are upset with nine wins and going to play for a championship. I can't worry about those folks. I've got to worry about our team, and I'm proud of them and proud of what they've done.

But I'm really, really proud -- if you'd have asked me and Bubba Cunningham four years ago, are you going to be playing Clemson with a freshman quarterback in the ACC Championship game in four years, we would have both taken it.

Q. You mentioned recruiting earlier and Clemson has kind of been the standard of recruiting in the ACC. How big would a win here in the ACC Championship game be for recruiting?

MACK BROWN: Well, it would be big for recruiting but more for those kids in the program. I said when you're 45 years old they're going to ask you about your teams, and you're going to talk about this game. It's going to be a game that people will remember. This is a game where either you fizzle out and you don't play well or you become a hero. That's what I've told them.

The championship games -- there's only 10 Power Fives playing this weekend. That's it. Out of 131. So you are really, really special to still be playing. You're going to play against the Big Ten Championship game; everybody that watches college football is either going to watch you and Clemson or they're going to watch Purdue and Michigan. So let's have them watching you, man. Let's have them turn you on and you remember this for the rest of your life. This should be fun.

Not many people get to play in a championship. Half of them don't win it. Only half of those get to win it.

It changed my life when we won a National Championship. When we lost a National Championship in 2010 to Alabama, all it is then is you didn't win it. Nobody cares if you were second or 50th. They don't care. Our society is about winning, it's about championships, and that's all tomorrow night will be about.

Q. Over the last year we've heard lots of stories and anecdotes about players being offered NIL deals to transfer other places. How worried or concerned are you that some schools may come after Drake this off-season?

MACK BROWN: One of the real issues we've got in college football, I feel, is people that are tampering with guys on your team and paying them money to leave. It's an issue that needs to get stopped.

Before you could call it tampering. Now you've got agents, you've got third parties, you've got high school coaches. I've just told our players if somebody is calling you and trying to get you to go, let me know. Let me know who they are. I sat down and did lunch with one of our starters the other day, and I said, are you getting calls? He said, Coach, I've got 15 places I can go. He said, I'm not going anywhere. I said, Are they offering you money? He said, Yes, 100 percent.

I don't think Drake will go anywhere because he's a Carolina family. Right now you look at our recruiting, it's not as high as it has been in the past. It's because every player that we've got that's coming is coming because he wants to come to the University of North Carolina, he wants to come for academics, and he's coming for the right reasons.

Sadly enough we've probably lost five great players that aren't going to come that would have normally come if NIL hadn't been an issue. But that's just the world we live in. There are already 2,000 young people in the transfer portal. Next week there will probably be 6,000 more because right now grad transfers and FCS guys can get in and we're getting calls from all over the country.

I told our guys, we'll have some leave on Monday and here we are playing in a championship game on Saturday, we won't get to see them on Sunday and on Monday they can enter the portal. I've told our guys if you want to leave, let us know and we'll try to help you.

I've also told them which is a little different. I wouldn't have thought this five years ago. If they want to leave and they're leaving for the right reasons and they're practicing really hard to help us win this game, I don't mind if they go in the portal and stay for the bowl game because they're leaving because they want more playing time, and if they're doing everything right, I got it. You helped us get to this situation, I'd like for you to be able to finish it.

Q. Drake Maye has led six come-from-behind game-winning drives, almost has eight. But it almost seems like he's more comfortable in those situations when he's going fast, doesn't have to think, just plays. Is that fair to say, and how does he compare -- I know you've coached some great quarterbacks like Vince Young. How rare is that attribute?

MACK BROWN: Well, one of the sad things is we've been behind a lot, so we've tested him with that come-from-behind ability because that seems to be who we are.

But he's very confident. He's very even-keel. He doesn't get up or down very much at all, which is the trait of a great player.

The comeback against Duke, he took a two-minute drive -- 1:39 drive right before the half and scored, and then with 2:04 left goes down and scores with 16 seconds to beat Duke.

Again, never changed his personality. He did the same just about every game that we've won.

But I think it's just because of his confidence more than anything else. He doesn't look at the scoreboard.

I have a really bad trait that I'm too hard on me, and if we lose, I beat myself up and I wonder what we should have done different and I can't sleep and it takes me three or four days to even get back to where I can function, and he really beats himself up too much because with all the success he's had, he would talk to you about the losses and the four passes he's thrown that are interceptions more than he would the great plays that he's made.

I think he's a guy that can win a championship, whether it's tomorrow night or next year. He's a guy that is confident enough and has enough ability, and he's got the accuracy of Colt McCoy, which was in the 70s when we were playing at Texas, and he's got the confidence of both he and Vince Young. Vince ran better than anybody. But Drake runs pretty good.

We're just so fortunate to have him.

Q. You've been coaching for a long time. Just going back to last year, a lot of your struggles came on the road. This year you guys are road warriors and a lot of your losses or all your losses came at home. Do you chalk that up as this is a year-to-year thing with different teams, and knowing what you know, is it good that this is a neutral site game?

MACK BROWN: Well, I think so. We lost the last two at home, and we had great crowds and they were very supportive.

I think the last year, for whatever reason, we kind of missed it. We went from two wins -- like I said, five wins and 18 losses in the two years before we got there to winning a bowl game the first year. So that was fun and easy, and it was all new.

Second year, we play in the Orange Bowl. Never done that. So you would think the natural progression in a program would be the third year you've got a lot of guys back, even though you lose four great players, that you're just going to do that, and I think we missed it.

We went back this year like we had just gotten there and we started over. Every little thing we started over. We didn't take anything for granted, so the leadership has been better. The attention to detail has been better. Teaching them how much harder it is to win on the road is better.

This game is a road game, but it's a neutral site game, so it's a little bit different than being at Death Valley, which we go to Death Valley next year to play. We play at Clemson next year.

But I do think that they've been very, very proud that they've been able to win on the road in very fun places to play. We were the biggest game at Duke this year; we were the biggest game other than Clemson at Wake this year; we were the biggest game ever at Appalachian State. So you start looking at those games, and all of them are fun. We had a great crowd at Miami. I think there was 45,000 when we played there.

It's just been fun to watch them feel better about themselves because all the narrative is the negative now in college football or college sports and probably in life.

Last year when we won all the games, we didn't get any credit for beating a top-10 Wake team, it was all about the losses you had. That's just kind of where we are in society.

Q. On the transfer portal, you said you can't talk to kids on Sunday and then Monday it happens. Can you talk us through the conversations you had, then what the process is for transfers Sunday and whatever happens on Monday?

MACK BROWN: I'm sorry, we just won't be around because we're -- after the game it's going to be so late that some guys will go home with their parents, some guys live in Charlotte and they'll stay here, some will spend the night at the hotel and get on the bus and go back to Chapel Hill the next day, so our coaches have some meetings set up on Sunday with some guys, but we will be talking to them -- some will come in on Monday. We've said don't do this by yourself. We can get you in the transfer portal. Compliance is going to know when you go in anyway, so you can't slip by and not tell anybody.

So just tell people. Our coaches, this game is really important to us, so our coaches have been hesitant to say, hey Ross, are you leaving, man? I know you've got to play Saturday night, but are you out of here? Are you going to play or are you going to stay? So we'll have some guys playing tomorrow night that will probably be leaving on Monday, and that discussion will either come Sunday or Monday morning, and then the other thing that's tough for us, you can go out recruiting tonight basically for the first time today, so our coaches will be recruiting Sunday, they'll be recruiting Monday, I'm going out Monday afternoon. So trying to see all these guys, trying to recruit the guys that are going into the portal on Monday or the guys that are already in from FCS and grad transfers this week and trying to get on the road next week and see your commitments or some guys that are still out there that you may want to offer. It's a handful now. It's more than any college coaches have ever had to deal with before.