I'm not perfect. I don't claim to be perfect. So, when people point out I'm imperfect, so what? That's just who I am.
Dabo Swinney
Continue to do common things in an uncommon way. Continue to be 'all in.' Continue to apply 'best is the standard.' Continue to be a person of excellence in everything you do.
God creates us to compete. He creates us to win. It matters. But you've got no chance if you don't do your best.
No matter what's behind us in the rearview mirror, it's always about what's next.
The key to coaching is love. It's not knowledge; it's not discipline. If you love 'em, you can discipline them. If you love 'em, you can yell at them and laugh about it later.
Always remember, the goals that we have achieved pale in comparison to the daily commitments it took to get there.
You got to be a champion on the inside.
Trust me, people that know me know I ain't perfect, but 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.
We're all going to experience death and failure and setbacks and disappointments and cancer and, you know, it's a really difficult world. And for me, God has always - in my relationship with Christ - He's given me hope and peace.
It's the journey to get there. It's that moment in that locker room when you're with a group of people that have gotten it done. There's nothing like it. If you could bottle that up and take that out in the world, you'd dominate.
Everybody runs, but only one wins first prize. So, run your race in such a way as to win.
I'm a big believer in the student-athlete part. I value the education and what it provides for you. Football is a vocation. Only 1.67 percent of these athletes go on to the NFL. An education provides you an opportunity for a career. A lot of people just don't get that. To say they aren't getting anything is misinformed.
I don't ever want to come in the locker room and have players in there pouting.
You better have an anchor in life. It doesn't matter if you're a Division I head football coach or Joe Schmo from Okemoh. Bad things happen. If you're not anchored, you're going to be washed away.
There's some criminals that wear badges. Guess what? There's some criminals that work in the media. There's some criminals that are football coaches. There's some criminals that are politicians. There are criminals that work in churches.
I've had people say things to me like, 'Don't change.' I don't know how to be anything other than myself.
I ain't never going to apologize for a 21-point win over a state rival, ever.
I'm counting every silver lining I can get.
A win is a win, and I've just always felt that way, and I've always been passionate about that.
When you get a young group of people that believe, are passionate... and committed to a single purpose, you better look out. Great things can happen.
I was one of those kids who watched the Bear Bryant Show every Sunday, and every time Alabama played, I was listening on the radio. I'd fight you if you talked bad about Alabama.
I think we have a sin problem in the world. It's so easy to say we have a race problem, but we got a sin problem.
No, we don't control who our parents are. We don't control what color we are. We don't control what home we are born into. But we control our attitude. We control our work ethic. We control our drive and our commitment.
I'm always just focused on being great where I'm at and blooming where I'm planted.
I love that about college football. I love all the funky matchups. I love the Funky Cold Medina Poulan Weed Eater Bowl. I love all of that. I like the crazy games. There's obviously a market for it because them TVs love to put it on there.
If my coach told me to go run them bleachers, you didn't ask no questions. I turned around and started running until he said stop.
I know the price I've paid to be where I am.
There's a lot of 'oops' from us in life as people. I always say that God never says 'oops.' That's just kind of how I've always lived my life, but we're so imperfect that there's a lot of times that we say, 'Oops, my bad.'
A football team is really just a reflection of society. You've got 118, 120 guys on the team, you got a little bit of everything.
I'm not a 'more is better' guy.
I thought, 'If I ever get a new football building, I want a slide.' Now I go down it every day.
I love the trips that I've experienced as a player and a coach.
Everything in life is how you respond to it. If everything went perfect all the time - you never lost a game, you got to the championship every time, you always won, you always got the top recruit, you always made the A - you really wouldn't truly appreciate all that goes into it.
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 always tell people, good coaches are a dime a dozen. Good coaches that are good people, good husbands, good fathers, that love their players and are passionate about doing things in a way that I believe is important, that pool gets real small.
I was the first one in my family to go to college.
My driving force in this business is to create and build great men, and to do that, you have to have great relationships.
I've never seen myself as a second-class citizen.
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.
I just look back at my entire life. You know, my faith. I knew that I was where I was supposed to be.
For me personally, joy comes from focusing on Jesus, others, and yourself.
I'm just telling you: I don't know what the heck I'm talking about - I'm just an old funky college coach - but Deshaun Watson is the best by a long shot.
It's hard for me to come up with a plan and hold my players accountable until I self-evaluate and hold myself accountable.
I'm kind of a bottom-of-the-barrel guy.
Any time you have a Heisman-caliber player, it just - that means he's a Heisman guy for a reason. So usually, that - for your team, that means a lot of big plays. Usually, there's a lot of wins tied to those Heisman guys, that's for sure. So it's always great when you got great players.
As long as I've been at Clemson, there's not a guy that's more committed to Clemson than Kelly Bryant. There's not a better leader. This guy, he's the epitome of what you want. He's what you want your son to be like. I love him like a son.
When a guy comes unofficially, then he, to me, is sending you a message that, 'You know what? Hey, I'm interested in Clemson.' Now, he may hate it when he gets here. But at least he came on his own. That's just my personal philosophy.
I've never really hired anybody that people thought I should hire.
My dad was a great man, and I loved him, but he had some demons he fought. It was tough to see some of those things as a kid, but I believe God doesn't save you from things; he saves you through them.
My dad was the biggest Alabama fan ever, and I was brainwashed.
