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The College Football Playoff already features a matchup of a coach playing against his old school. Should Alabama and Clemson win, the National Championship Game could very well feature another “what if” scenario for one of its coaches.
Clemson coach Dabo Swinney told Paul Finebaum on Tuesday he could have joined his alma mater Alabama’s coaching staff on three occasions. The timing just did not work out in each case:
"Three different times I was going back to Alabama & all three times it didn't work out." – Clemson HC Dabo Swinney
— Paul Finebaum (@finebaum) December 15, 2015
In January of 2003 Alabama Coach Mike Price offered Coach Swinney a job coaching TE's but withdrew his offer 3 weeks later
— Paul Finebaum (@finebaum) December 15, 2015
Dabo also said he was going to coach on Rich Rodriguez' staff when he accepted then backed out of the Alabama job in December 2006.
— Paul Finebaum (@finebaum) December 15, 2015
Finally, when Saban accepted the Bama job he called Swinney to offer him a spot on his staff but Dabo said it was too close to signing day
— Paul Finebaum (@finebaum) December 15, 2015
Swinney played at Alabama from 1990-92 before joining the coaching staff as a graduate assistant and then wide receiver/tight end coach. In 2003 he left Alabama to become the wide receiver and assistant head coach at Clemson.
There he has stayed ever since, becoming Clemson’s head coach in 2008.
There were clearly opportunities before then for him to return to his alma mater, but in each case something got in the way that prevented him from returning.
Now, it seems things have worked out well for Swinney. He has Clemson in the College Football Playoff. It would be poetic for him to face off with Alabama should those two teams win.
