WEBVTT - INTERVIEW w/Clemson HC Dabo Swinney: He Will NEVER Change 0:00:01.120 --> 0:00:03.080 I got a chance to interview the head coach of 0:00:03.120 --> 0:00:06.640 the Clemson Tigers, mister Dabo Sweeney. Now, the cool part 0:00:06.640 --> 0:00:09.080 about this interview is that Dabbo doesn't do a lot 0:00:09.119 --> 0:00:11.440 of interviews, and so I asked him why did he 0:00:11.520 --> 0:00:14.000 choose to come on the On Fraid Show And he 0:00:14.160 --> 0:00:17.520 was like, well, a lot of people ask me about football, 0:00:17.800 --> 0:00:21.480 a lot of people asked me about faith, but never 0:00:21.560 --> 0:00:24.119 really both in the same interview. And you know, here 0:00:24.160 --> 0:00:28.080 we are faith, family, fatherhood, food and sports. So it 0:00:28.160 --> 0:00:32.960 was really interesting to see the dynamic in the locker room, 0:00:33.040 --> 0:00:36.839 the dynamic with the players, the dynamic with everybody on staff. 0:00:37.240 --> 0:00:40.839 They are all bought into Dabo's vision, and just the 0:00:40.880 --> 0:00:44.560 fact that he has so many former players on staff. 0:00:44.240 --> 0:00:46.159 And I just loved it. 0:00:46.680 --> 0:00:49.879 And the coolest part about it is their Paul Journey 0:00:49.920 --> 0:00:55.720 pa W Journey and it's their program that they turn 0:00:55.880 --> 0:00:59.880 young men or boys who come into their program. 0:00:59.600 --> 0:01:02.800 And put out men at the end. And the fact 0:01:02.880 --> 0:01:04.480 that they don't. 0:01:04.280 --> 0:01:06.480 Push a lot of players to the well, sorry excuse me, 0:01:06.720 --> 0:01:09.640 that they don't push players to the portal, and that 0:01:09.720 --> 0:01:13.400 they are all about development makes them a very unique program. 0:01:13.720 --> 0:01:16.559 And I did come in with some preconceived notions about 0:01:16.680 --> 0:01:20.880 Dabbo Sweeney, but I left a full believer in what 0:01:21.080 --> 0:01:23.800 he's doing, so much so that I would send my 0:01:23.959 --> 0:01:26.800 son to go play for this man. I hopefully you 0:01:26.880 --> 0:01:30.479 guys enjoyed this interview. Hopefully you love it and make 0:01:30.520 --> 0:01:33.120 sure that you guys like to subscribe, Tell a friend 0:01:33.160 --> 0:01:35.480 about the Unafraid Show and up share. 0:01:40.520 --> 0:01:42.160 I mean, I think there's two ways to be successful. 0:01:42.160 --> 0:01:43.760 You can do what everybody else does and just try 0:01:43.760 --> 0:01:45.280 to outwork them, out smart on this and that. 0:01:45.400 --> 0:01:46.559 Or you can be unique and different. 0:01:46.600 --> 0:01:49.360 We've been unique and different for sixteen years. People see 0:01:49.560 --> 0:01:52.760 this version of me. I've never forgotten where I've come from. 0:01:52.840 --> 0:01:54.800 I know who I am, and I always said if 0:01:54.840 --> 0:01:56.240 I got a chance to be a head coach, I 0:01:56.280 --> 0:01:57.880 wanted to do it in a different way, and that's 0:01:57.880 --> 0:01:59.680 what we've been able to do here. I was really 0:02:00.400 --> 0:02:03.440 to be successful. I never chased money. I just chased 0:02:03.560 --> 0:02:06.480 my happiness and my passion. You don't hear anything bad 0:02:06.520 --> 0:02:09.960 about Clemson from inside Clemson. It's always from people on 0:02:10.000 --> 0:02:11.520 the outside of our program that don't know me. 0:02:11.560 --> 0:02:12.560 They don't know our program. 0:02:12.560 --> 0:02:15.920 We've won the most games, got the most national championships, 0:02:15.919 --> 0:02:18.960 most conference championships, most draft picks, most first round picks, 0:02:19.120 --> 0:02:20.200 highest graduation rate. 0:02:20.280 --> 0:02:23.440 I think our process is fulfilling our purpose. 0:02:23.560 --> 0:02:26.320 If it's not fulfilling somebody else's purpose, well I'm not 0:02:26.320 --> 0:02:30.000 trying to fulfill somebody else's purpose. Fourteen consecutive years with 0:02:30.160 --> 0:02:33.280 a postseason win, that's never been done in college football history. 0:02:33.360 --> 0:02:36.040 But we've beaten Alabama and two out of three national championships. 0:02:36.040 --> 0:02:38.320 We've been to seven out of ten playoffs, we've been 0:02:38.360 --> 0:02:39.760 to won the league. 0:02:39.560 --> 0:02:41.520 Eight out of the last ten years. So why do 0:02:41.600 --> 0:02:42.920 I want to be like everybody else? 0:02:45.040 --> 0:02:48.200 And now we are on with the head coach of 0:02:48.240 --> 0:02:51.880 the Clemson Tigers, mister Davos Sweeney, a man who has 0:02:51.919 --> 0:02:57.000 won nine ACC championships, who national championships. 0:02:57.240 --> 0:02:58.080 Welcome to the show. 0:02:58.240 --> 0:02:59.600 Thank you, good to be on with it. 0:03:00.200 --> 0:03:02.440 That's not too bad for a D plus higher. 0:03:02.520 --> 0:03:04.000 Right, that's right, that's right. 0:03:04.160 --> 0:03:05.680 That's a good thing that the plus was across. 0:03:05.760 --> 0:03:08.400 Right, that's exactly you've done your homework. 0:03:09.760 --> 0:03:14.440 So in this era of college football, right, you have 0:03:14.560 --> 0:03:17.840 so many people who are concerned about wins and losses, 0:03:18.040 --> 0:03:20.400 and I think that you get lost, like the just 0:03:20.480 --> 0:03:22.919 being proud of putting a good product on the field 0:03:22.960 --> 0:03:24.040 and being. 0:03:23.880 --> 0:03:25.080 Proud of what it is. 0:03:25.160 --> 0:03:28.200 So how are you dealing with that in terms of 0:03:28.680 --> 0:03:31.480 the noise on the outside of Oh, how come we 0:03:31.520 --> 0:03:34.840 haven't won another national championship yet when you're graduating ninety 0:03:34.840 --> 0:03:38.360 eight percent of your players you are, you know, the 0:03:38.520 --> 0:03:40.280 highest retention in college football. 0:03:40.320 --> 0:03:42.920 Well, I don't listen to it. So it's really that simple. 0:03:43.000 --> 0:03:45.160 I think we all have a choice every day. 0:03:45.800 --> 0:03:46.040 You know. 0:03:46.400 --> 0:03:48.640 First of all, you know, the attitude we think that 0:03:48.680 --> 0:03:52.320 we choose to have that kind of drives your habits. 0:03:52.360 --> 0:03:54.720 And we also have a choice on what we let in. 0:03:54.960 --> 0:03:57.600 We always tell our players all the time, you know, 0:03:57.680 --> 0:03:59.760 ships don't sink because of the water around them. They 0:03:59.800 --> 0:04:02.360 sink because the water gets in them. And you know, 0:04:02.400 --> 0:04:03.800 that's kind of how it is in life, you know. 0:04:03.880 --> 0:04:05.760 And we live in a world now where. 0:04:06.040 --> 0:04:08.360 There's a lot of noise and you have a decision 0:04:08.400 --> 0:04:12.000 every day on what you're going to listen to. And unfortunately, 0:04:12.000 --> 0:04:13.600 a lot of times we wake up the first thing 0:04:13.640 --> 0:04:16.159 we do is we start taking buckets of water and 0:04:16.200 --> 0:04:18.600 just throwing it in our ship. With those phones and 0:04:18.600 --> 0:04:21.520 with other people's opinions and other people's thoughts and and 0:04:21.760 --> 0:04:25.320 and things like that, and then we wonder why we're 0:04:25.360 --> 0:04:29.200 dragging through life. So I don't really I just I 0:04:29.279 --> 0:04:31.120 block all that out. But how I deal with it 0:04:31.200 --> 0:04:35.440 is perspective, you know. I think that's very important. And 0:04:36.279 --> 0:04:38.720 you know, I stay focused on the main thing, you know, 0:04:38.800 --> 0:04:41.760 and that's that's my fate, number one. But the purpose, 0:04:41.880 --> 0:04:44.520 my purpose as a man, and then the purpose of 0:04:44.520 --> 0:04:47.240 this program. And yeah, I mean it's a it's an 0:04:47.240 --> 0:04:51.960 interesting thing, you know, to kind of you know, kind 0:04:51.960 --> 0:04:55.000 of be on the inside and kind of you know, 0:04:55.160 --> 0:04:58.479 see you know some of the narratives that people put 0:04:58.480 --> 0:05:01.120 out there. But in the reaction is we've won three 0:05:01.200 --> 0:05:04.320 national championships in one hundred and thirty years. So if 0:05:04.560 --> 0:05:08.960 winning a national championship is simple, and I. 0:05:08.880 --> 0:05:11.000 Mean, who else has done that exactly? 0:05:11.040 --> 0:05:13.520 But we've been We've been to the playoffs seven times 0:05:13.520 --> 0:05:16.080 in ten years. You know, we're the only team to 0:05:16.120 --> 0:05:18.680 go to six final fours. We've won our lead eight 0:05:18.720 --> 0:05:20.359 out of the last ten years. So we didn't go 0:05:20.720 --> 0:05:23.159 to the playoff ten out of ten years. But nobody 0:05:23.200 --> 0:05:25.120 else has been seven out of ten years. I think 0:05:25.120 --> 0:05:27.880 maybe Alabama. Nobody's won eight out. 0:05:27.720 --> 0:05:29.640 Of ten years. In their league championship. I think the 0:05:29.720 --> 0:05:32.000 last five years we're fifth in the country and wins. 0:05:33.440 --> 0:05:36.640 But we are fulfilling the purpose that we talk about here. 0:05:36.680 --> 0:05:38.680 So when I got the job here sixteen years ago, 0:05:40.440 --> 0:05:42.840 you know, first staff meeting, what's that going to be like? 0:05:43.080 --> 0:05:45.599 It's a big meeting. It's your first staff meeting, a 0:05:45.600 --> 0:05:48.560 group of people. Okay, what's what we're gonna be about? 0:05:48.640 --> 0:05:50.680 And you know, literally sixteen and a half years ago, 0:05:51.240 --> 0:05:55.000 walk in that meeting room and and my message was simple, 0:05:56.320 --> 0:05:57.800 as long as I'm the head coach, this is what 0:05:57.839 --> 0:06:00.000 this program's gonna be about. But then I also told them, 0:06:00.279 --> 0:06:03.760 and we're gonna graduate our players, We're gonna equip them 0:06:03.760 --> 0:06:07.040 as men. We're gonna we've now created this Paul Journey 0:06:07.160 --> 0:06:11.120 in our program. It's a curriculum. It's it's we've been 0:06:11.120 --> 0:06:13.240 doing this for a long time. It's we're gonna make 0:06:13.240 --> 0:06:15.919 sure they have a great experience. And I want everybody 0:06:15.960 --> 0:06:18.400 to win a championship. And as long as I'm the 0:06:18.400 --> 0:06:20.360 head coach, it's what we're gonna be about. Everything we're 0:06:20.360 --> 0:06:22.839 gonna do is and we'll be about that. But we're 0:06:22.839 --> 0:06:26.160 never gonna put winning ahead of those other things. So 0:06:26.560 --> 0:06:28.960 if that's your purpose, and you say your purpose driven, 0:06:29.480 --> 0:06:32.080 and you've got sixteen years, shouldn't the results reflect that. 0:06:32.520 --> 0:06:34.080 Yes, Well, we. 0:06:34.480 --> 0:06:38.400 Just posted the highest graduation success rate posted in twenty 0:06:38.480 --> 0:06:39.520 years of college football. 0:06:40.040 --> 0:06:42.800 We've got ninety eight percent graduation rate. 0:06:44.320 --> 0:06:47.760 I mean three hundred and ninety something seniors, three hundred 0:06:47.760 --> 0:06:52.760 and eighty nine graduates, you know. So, so we're fulfilling 0:06:52.800 --> 0:06:54.840 the graduate Thirteen out of the last fourteen years, we've 0:06:54.880 --> 0:06:58.560 been top ten academically, Clinton Duke in Northwestern and I 0:06:58.600 --> 0:07:02.680 don't think they've won national championships or conference championships. And 0:07:03.120 --> 0:07:06.640 then you sit there and you say, Okay, you know graduation, 0:07:06.760 --> 0:07:09.720 that's the number one thing in your program. Well, we're 0:07:09.760 --> 0:07:11.520 the only team in America one hundred and thirty five 0:07:11.520 --> 0:07:13.800 schools fourteen years in a row, top twenty five in 0:07:13.840 --> 0:07:16.200 football and academics. So we've kept the main thing the 0:07:16.240 --> 0:07:18.840 main thing, and then equipping them as men. Paul Journey's 0:07:18.840 --> 0:07:22.760 a curriculum. You'll see that college experience. We're topping the 0:07:22.760 --> 0:07:25.760 country in retention the past two years in this crazy 0:07:25.840 --> 0:07:29.600 free free agency world, topping the country and retention. So 0:07:29.640 --> 0:07:31.560 that means they're having an experience and then oh, by 0:07:31.600 --> 0:07:33.800 the way, winning a championship when I got the job, 0:07:34.560 --> 0:07:38.480 all right, Clemson hadn't won the ACC in twenty years, 0:07:39.000 --> 0:07:41.080 and that was an eight to ten team league. It's 0:07:41.120 --> 0:07:42.880 a seventeen team league. Now we've won it eight out 0:07:42.920 --> 0:07:45.480 of ten years. We've won it nine times. We're nine 0:07:45.480 --> 0:07:47.840 and won the championship game we had. Clempton hadn't won 0:07:47.880 --> 0:07:51.280 ten games in twenty years. We've won ten games thirteen 0:07:51.320 --> 0:07:54.360 out of the last fourteen years. But we've done it 0:07:54.400 --> 0:07:55.640 by being purpose driven. 0:07:55.760 --> 0:07:59.320 So can you talk about you obviously set the purpose 0:07:59.400 --> 0:08:02.560 for the but how do you help the young men 0:08:02.920 --> 0:08:05.600 set their own purpose for their life to create not 0:08:05.840 --> 0:08:10.360 just great football players, but great husbands, great fathers, great sons, 0:08:10.520 --> 0:08:12.120 and everything else that they'll be in their life. 0:08:12.120 --> 0:08:14.200 That's what we do best, and that is a part 0:08:14.200 --> 0:08:14.680 of the purpose. 0:08:14.680 --> 0:08:16.960 That is equipping them as men and not just being 0:08:17.000 --> 0:08:19.160 a guy that can run around, throw a ball, sack 0:08:19.240 --> 0:08:23.760 a quarterback. You know, teach them the proper place for football. 0:08:23.760 --> 0:08:26.000 We teach them that football can't be the foundation of 0:08:26.000 --> 0:08:30.440 your life. You know, we're faith based here. We talk 0:08:30.520 --> 0:08:34.079 about that there's opportunity for them to grow, but we 0:08:34.280 --> 0:08:37.480 truly through Paul Journey, our Paul Journey program. It is 0:08:37.520 --> 0:08:41.240 a curriculum. It's what we do for freshmen, sophomores, juniors, seniors. 0:08:41.559 --> 0:08:44.040 This is how we teach them, you know, how to 0:08:44.080 --> 0:08:46.640 be great men, how to be great husbands. It's financial literacy, 0:08:46.679 --> 0:08:50.559 it's tax education, it's micro internships across the world. It's 0:08:50.600 --> 0:08:55.040 service abroad trips to Cape Town, South Africa, to Thailand, 0:08:55.160 --> 0:08:58.280 to Costa Rica. They're going to Positano, Italy in May. 0:08:58.520 --> 0:09:01.520 It's BusinessWeek, been in La the past couple of years. 0:09:01.559 --> 0:09:03.160 They're going to Vegas next week. 0:09:04.040 --> 0:09:09.160 You know. We we invest in them holistically. So that's 0:09:09.280 --> 0:09:11.480 it's how we meet. It's it's how we meet. There's 0:09:11.520 --> 0:09:12.280 there's not a meeting. 0:09:12.280 --> 0:09:15.160 There's not a meeting that we have ever where we're 0:09:15.200 --> 0:09:19.200 not sowing in the seeds of competitive greatness to life, 0:09:19.400 --> 0:09:22.319 not just football. So it's just a holistic approach. It's 0:09:22.360 --> 0:09:25.320 what we do daily, every single day. And we try 0:09:25.360 --> 0:09:28.839 to transform them through their Paul Journey because they all 0:09:28.880 --> 0:09:31.600 come into a certain spot and it's our job to 0:09:31.600 --> 0:09:33.600 figure out where they are, meet them where they are, 0:09:33.679 --> 0:09:36.920 and then and then transform their lives. So we we 0:09:37.040 --> 0:09:41.400 like to say We're a leadership development organization. 0:09:42.080 --> 0:09:44.600 We just happen to play football doing it. That's that's 0:09:44.600 --> 0:09:45.319 what we do best. 0:09:45.400 --> 0:09:48.120 So when you're when they're on that Paul journey and 0:09:48.160 --> 0:09:50.920 you're looking at what they're going to be out out 0:09:50.960 --> 0:09:54.560 in life, I look at your journey right. And it's 0:09:54.559 --> 0:09:57.000 funny because I think that you can understand people once 0:09:57.040 --> 0:10:00.920 you understand their backstory in life. You were a kid 0:10:00.960 --> 0:10:05.640 who was dirt poor, Ye, parents divorced, all that. So 0:10:05.720 --> 0:10:08.560 how did all of those things shape your life to 0:10:08.600 --> 0:10:10.440 be the man of purpose that you are now? 0:10:10.600 --> 0:10:13.800 Yeah, We're all shaped by our circumstances, by the things 0:10:13.840 --> 0:10:16.800 we experienced, people in our life, mentors, all those things. 0:10:16.800 --> 0:10:20.160 And I'm no different. But you know my I did. 0:10:20.800 --> 0:10:23.600 I just thought my life was normal until I knew 0:10:23.640 --> 0:10:26.640 it wasn't normal. But my family was simple. My mom 0:10:26.679 --> 0:10:28.760 and dad married at eighteen. My mom was pregnant with 0:10:28.800 --> 0:10:32.120 my oldest brother. Mom cut hair, Dad was an appliance man. 0:10:32.080 --> 0:10:33.160 Picks Washington drivers. 0:10:33.160 --> 0:10:36.120 That's what I grew up doing, you know, addiction in 0:10:36.160 --> 0:10:41.240 the home, divorce, you know, on the move, just staying here, 0:10:41.320 --> 0:10:44.800 staying there. But I had great coaches, I had great 0:10:44.840 --> 0:10:48.520 mentors in my life. You know, I was involved in 0:10:48.600 --> 0:10:51.880 a lot of things, you know, and you know, played 0:10:51.880 --> 0:10:53.480 three sports and did a lot of things that kind 0:10:53.480 --> 0:10:56.400 of kept me focused. But the main thing that happened 0:10:56.400 --> 0:10:58.040 to me is I got saved when I was sixteen, 0:10:58.480 --> 0:11:01.720 and that that created a found to life for me. 0:11:02.000 --> 0:11:04.320 You know, so many people they. 0:11:05.800 --> 0:11:09.120 Don't have a foundation to life, and I got a 0:11:09.160 --> 0:11:11.720 foundation to life when I was sixteen, and I've been 0:11:11.720 --> 0:11:15.800 building on it ever since. And whether and as storms 0:11:15.840 --> 0:11:19.160 have come, as they come for all of us, you know, 0:11:19.960 --> 0:11:23.960 that foundation has allowed me to stay anchored. And storms 0:11:24.000 --> 0:11:26.600 are not always bad things too. Storms are good stuff too. 0:11:26.679 --> 0:11:29.000 There's a lot of times sometimes the storms, the worst 0:11:29.040 --> 0:11:30.960 storms are the good stuff that happens. 0:11:30.600 --> 0:11:31.120 In your life. 0:11:31.440 --> 0:11:34.160 You can get really off course and distracted by that. 0:11:34.160 --> 0:11:36.360 That's been my journey and that shaped me, that equip 0:11:36.400 --> 0:11:39.880 me when I now, when I look back, people see 0:11:40.040 --> 0:11:41.200 this version of me. 0:11:41.400 --> 0:11:43.880 But I've never forgotten where I've come from. 0:11:44.000 --> 0:11:46.160 I know who I am, I know who the people 0:11:46.200 --> 0:11:48.440 who've helped me get where I am. 0:11:48.679 --> 0:11:52.280 Most importantly, I know my savior. 0:11:52.679 --> 0:11:55.200 And I look back and a lot of people say 0:11:55.240 --> 0:11:56.960 we serve a god you can't see, but I see 0:11:57.000 --> 0:11:59.920 him when I look back, and I'm just thankful that, 0:12:00.480 --> 0:12:04.920 you know, I've been able to have peace and whatever 0:12:05.440 --> 0:12:07.960 I've dealt with in life, and that served me as 0:12:08.000 --> 0:12:10.280 I've gone. But as I look back, the things that 0:12:10.320 --> 0:12:14.760 I hated most in life, the things that were the liabilities, 0:12:14.760 --> 0:12:16.360 things that I was embarrassed by. 0:12:17.320 --> 0:12:18.840 What are my greatest assets? 0:12:18.880 --> 0:12:20.840 What are some of those things that you were mean? 0:12:21.280 --> 0:12:23.480 You know, you know, when you're a kid and your 0:12:23.720 --> 0:12:26.439 father shows up and you know, everybody knows he's an alcoholic, 0:12:26.520 --> 0:12:29.439 and or they nobody's there to see you score twenty 0:12:29.440 --> 0:12:32.920 four points in a game or score a touchdown, nobody's there, 0:12:33.840 --> 0:12:35.840 or you know, you have you're living with a friend 0:12:36.200 --> 0:12:39.120 sleeping on the floor and your girlfriend's got to come 0:12:39.160 --> 0:12:41.439 decorate his door because that's where. 0:12:41.320 --> 0:12:43.640 You don't have a home, or you don't have a car. 0:12:44.760 --> 0:12:48.240 You know, So those are things that as when you're 0:12:48.240 --> 0:12:52.480 going through those things as a kid, you know, you 0:12:52.520 --> 0:12:56.760 can you can be hardened by those things, you can 0:12:56.800 --> 0:13:00.520 be embarrassed by those things, you know, whatever, But those 0:13:00.600 --> 0:13:04.119 those are my greatest assets today because it gave me perspective, 0:13:04.679 --> 0:13:07.640 and that's it goes back to your original question, you know, 0:13:07.760 --> 0:13:11.400 on how I deal with all everything, whether it's good bad. 0:13:11.520 --> 0:13:14.560 Yeah, it's perspective. It's keeping perspective. 0:13:14.559 --> 0:13:16.880 And the way I keep perspective is keeping my eyes 0:13:16.920 --> 0:13:18.680 on the Good Lord in the good and the bad. 0:13:19.120 --> 0:13:21.240 So you've been married for over thirty years now, going 0:13:21.280 --> 0:13:24.280 on thirty one. Yeah, first of all, congratulates it. In 0:13:24.360 --> 0:13:26.800 this business of college football, how do you stay married 0:13:26.960 --> 0:13:30.120 for this long and and how has your wife been 0:13:30.160 --> 0:13:31.400 a part of the program. 0:13:31.480 --> 0:13:34.120 Yeah, well, I think it's got to be. It's got 0:13:34.120 --> 0:13:35.679 to you got to be team. It's got to be 0:13:35.720 --> 0:13:38.520 a partnership, and you gotta you gotta you know, I don't. 0:13:38.679 --> 0:13:40.920 I don't think it should be work and home. I 0:13:40.920 --> 0:13:44.480 think you you've got to involve your family and everything 0:13:44.480 --> 0:13:46.840 that you do. And that's been the best part about 0:13:46.920 --> 0:13:49.400 being the head coach, honestly, is I've been able to 0:13:49.520 --> 0:13:54.480 create what I always envisioned it should be. And I've 0:13:54.480 --> 0:13:56.120 been able to do that for my staff too. But 0:13:56.600 --> 0:13:58.319 you know, kath and I we met in the first 0:13:58.320 --> 0:14:00.920 grade and we started going together other than the sixth grade, 0:14:01.000 --> 0:14:02.040 and then. 0:14:01.920 --> 0:14:03.560 We started dating in high school when I. 0:14:03.559 --> 0:14:06.920 Could drive, so I'd drive her car, and then were 0:14:06.920 --> 0:14:09.000 you know, all through college and been married going on 0:14:09.040 --> 0:14:09.800 thirty one years. 0:14:09.840 --> 0:14:12.800 So you know, we just have been together. 0:14:12.840 --> 0:14:15.320 We're a team, and I think you've got to have 0:14:15.440 --> 0:14:17.640 everybody on the same page in this profession. 0:14:18.440 --> 0:14:21.600 And so she was with me my whole life. 0:14:21.640 --> 0:14:25.560 She comes from a different Everybody in her family's you know, PhDs, masters, 0:14:25.600 --> 0:14:26.280 their teachers. 0:14:26.400 --> 0:14:28.240 Cath was a teacher, or dad as a professor. 0:14:28.800 --> 0:14:30.840 And you know, that's why I always knew she was 0:14:30.880 --> 0:14:33.360 the right one, because she never judged me or or 0:14:33.800 --> 0:14:36.640 you know, she saw the potential in me. I'm the 0:14:36.640 --> 0:14:39.120 first college graduate in my family. Nobody in my family 0:14:39.160 --> 0:14:42.080 had a college degree, parents, grandparents, great great grandparents, and 0:14:42.120 --> 0:14:44.200 so that was a game changer for me, which is 0:14:44.280 --> 0:14:47.280 why I'm passionate about education. I went to Alabama when 0:14:47.320 --> 0:14:49.360 I was eighteen. I left when I was thirty one, 0:14:49.760 --> 0:14:51.880 and so who does that. So I saw a lot 0:14:51.880 --> 0:14:54.440 of guys that I played with, and I was still 0:14:54.440 --> 0:14:56.120 there when I was twenty eight, and now all of 0:14:56.160 --> 0:14:58.360 a sudden, you know, I saw the game use a 0:14:58.400 --> 0:15:01.160 lot of guys they didn't have to. And I always said, 0:15:01.160 --> 0:15:02.600 if I got a chance to be a head coach, 0:15:03.120 --> 0:15:05.040 and I really wanted to, I wanted to do it 0:15:05.080 --> 0:15:07.320 in a different way, and that's what we've been able 0:15:07.320 --> 0:15:10.240 to do here and that's why our purpose is what 0:15:10.320 --> 0:15:13.800 it is. But you have to have someone in life 0:15:14.320 --> 0:15:17.240 to do life with, and you know, Cas been that 0:15:17.280 --> 0:15:17.920 person for me. 0:15:18.120 --> 0:15:20.240 And so she's been there from. 0:15:20.160 --> 0:15:22.640 When I was a ga, you know and getting my 0:15:22.760 --> 0:15:25.040 MBA and never at home for two and a half 0:15:25.160 --> 0:15:28.280 years because I was either you know, at the office 0:15:28.400 --> 0:15:32.280 or in a classroom or whatever. To you know, watch 0:15:32.480 --> 0:15:35.080 just this journey that we've been on. Coached eight years 0:15:35.120 --> 0:15:37.920 at Alabama, head coach gets fired. Now I'm out of 0:15:37.960 --> 0:15:41.760 coaching for eighteen months. And then you know, when Clemson 0:15:41.840 --> 0:15:44.560 called and said, hey, you're interested in getting back and coaching, 0:15:44.600 --> 0:15:47.920 she was like she knew my heart and she said, 0:15:48.000 --> 0:15:48.360 let's go. 0:15:48.680 --> 0:15:51.280 Never lived any lived anywhere else at Alabama. 0:15:51.400 --> 0:15:55.120 So here we came in February three thinking well I 0:15:55.160 --> 0:15:57.680 would be here for a year or two and now 0:15:57.720 --> 0:15:59.000 I'm on my twenty third season. 0:15:59.040 --> 0:15:59.880 But it was God's plan. 0:16:00.360 --> 0:16:04.400 So that how much well, because I because I know 0:16:04.520 --> 0:16:06.640 that as a man, one of the greatest things that 0:16:06.640 --> 0:16:08.520 that gives me pride and joys to be able to 0:16:08.560 --> 0:16:12.200 take care of my my family, provide for my family. 0:16:12.280 --> 0:16:16.160 How does that make you feel that cath believed in you. 0:16:16.680 --> 0:16:18.760 Her family, I don't know whether they supported it or 0:16:18.880 --> 0:16:22.240 didn't at the time, but you made good on on. 0:16:22.160 --> 0:16:24.280 That for for her and for your family. 0:16:24.360 --> 0:16:24.520 Yeah. 0:16:24.560 --> 0:16:27.000 Well, our relationship was built on the right stuff, and 0:16:27.080 --> 0:16:30.960 I think that's that's, you know, the way it always was. 0:16:31.000 --> 0:16:34.080 And then as I went to college, and honestly, we 0:16:34.120 --> 0:16:35.680 made I never dreamed of coaching. 0:16:35.720 --> 0:16:37.200 I didn't have any desire to coach. 0:16:37.440 --> 0:16:39.800 I wanted to go make money, you know, and I'm 0:16:39.800 --> 0:16:43.040 gonna I had all these great plans and because I'd 0:16:43.080 --> 0:16:45.320 never made any money, and I had all these great plans. 0:16:45.360 --> 0:16:47.440 And her dad was so helpful to me. 0:16:47.640 --> 0:16:50.560 And you know, when we first got married, he would 0:16:50.600 --> 0:16:52.520 send us a check every month so that I could 0:16:52.600 --> 0:16:55.400 pay for my mom's rent because my mom lived with me, yeah, 0:16:56.920 --> 0:16:59.080 with me for three years of college. And then then 0:16:59.120 --> 0:17:03.800 we got married at two, and you know, he helped me. 0:17:03.880 --> 0:17:05.639 He'd give me a check every month to help me 0:17:05.680 --> 0:17:08.080 pay for my mom's rent. And so I was really 0:17:08.160 --> 0:17:14.399 driven to be successful. And when I say be successful, 0:17:14.640 --> 0:17:17.080 it's it's to be able to provide for my family, 0:17:17.400 --> 0:17:19.600 to be able to have a good job, to be 0:17:19.640 --> 0:17:23.280 able to have a great relationship, you know, with the Lord, 0:17:23.760 --> 0:17:25.959 and to be a good father, to be a good husband, 0:17:26.000 --> 0:17:28.480 and to whatever platform God was going to give me, 0:17:28.640 --> 0:17:31.359 to use it to goify him. And so, you know, 0:17:31.400 --> 0:17:33.160 all of a sudden, next thing, I know, coach McCorvey, 0:17:33.240 --> 0:17:34.879 coach Stars, you know, asked me if I want to 0:17:34.880 --> 0:17:37.160 be a GA, and I'm like, well, so I'll get 0:17:37.160 --> 0:17:40.160 my NBA yeah, because I wanted to go run a hospital. 0:17:40.160 --> 0:17:43.159 I've got my degree in hospital administration and that was 0:17:43.200 --> 0:17:46.119 my plan. And so a week into coaching, it was 0:17:46.240 --> 0:17:48.240 like clarity of life, all of a sudden. 0:17:48.720 --> 0:17:51.040 I still love to play, I still love to compete. 0:17:51.400 --> 0:17:52.920 I love the game. 0:17:53.119 --> 0:17:54.840 The first time I had never been a part of team, 0:17:55.280 --> 0:17:57.639 we won the national championship my senior year and that 0:17:57.800 --> 0:17:59.960 spring I'm like, man, next thing, I know, I'm coaching, 0:18:00.640 --> 0:18:02.720 And so it was awesome. 0:18:03.160 --> 0:18:04.720 But the other thing that. 0:18:04.800 --> 0:18:07.200 And I tell people all the time, especially young coaches today, 0:18:07.240 --> 0:18:10.000 getting into coaching, because coaching wasn't that way in nineteen 0:18:10.080 --> 0:18:12.240 ninety three the way it is now. In nineteen ninety three, 0:18:12.800 --> 0:18:14.840 you know, you had nine full time coaches and two 0:18:14.880 --> 0:18:18.119 gas and. 0:18:16.800 --> 0:18:17.920 Nobody made any money. 0:18:17.920 --> 0:18:20.320 The head coach made a little money, but you But 0:18:20.400 --> 0:18:22.520 we made a conscious decision, Kathy and I. She was 0:18:22.560 --> 0:18:24.880 going to teach school. She was a teacher, and I'm 0:18:24.920 --> 0:18:27.840 on coach football. And we knew we would make a 0:18:27.840 --> 0:18:30.040 good living, but we were never gonna you know, but 0:18:30.080 --> 0:18:32.640 we were so at peace with doing what we love 0:18:32.720 --> 0:18:35.760 to do. And I felt like it was what God 0:18:35.800 --> 0:18:38.919 called me to do. I really felt that, and I 0:18:38.960 --> 0:18:42.840 had that clarity. So I didn't get into coaching to 0:18:42.880 --> 0:18:44.800 make money. I got into coaching because it's what I 0:18:44.840 --> 0:18:46.560 love to do and I felt like I could impact 0:18:46.560 --> 0:18:48.560 people's lives and that was the best way to do it, 0:18:48.840 --> 0:18:50.160