Dan Patrick: “People think I’m crazy when I say this, but If I’m Dabo Swinney and Alabama is open in the next couple years from Nick Saban stepping down, I would NOT leave Clemson to go back there.”
Paul Finebaum: “There is no way he’ll go back there. A couple of years ago I did think he would when I was at a banquet with him when he was inducted into the Alabama Sports Hall of Fame. He was teary eyed and emotional and his family was there. It was a big moment for him but that was a national championship ago. Having another title really solidifies you and now he’s in really rarified air. He’s got as great a situation as any coach has ever had. He’s beloved and it’s just an unbelievably cool place where the only thing that matters is college football. To go to Alabama to follow Saban is insane.” (Full Interview Above)
Listen to prominent SEC Network television and radio host Paul Finebaum join The Dan Patrick Show to explain why he doesn’t believe Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney will ever leave Clemson for his alma mater Alabama when elder statesman Nick Saban finally steps down.
Swinney graduated from Alabama in the early 90’s and was a walk-on wide receiver for the Crimson Tide from 1990-1992 under head coach Gene Stallings.
Swinney was a graduate assistant at Alabama from 1993-1995, and a wide receivers/tight end coach there from 1996-2000 as well, three years before he would be hired as an assistant with Clemson.
The elephant in the room would obviously be a scenario of the 50-year-old Swinney bolting the school he’s won two national championships at to return to his former stomping grounds in Tuscaloosa once the 68-year-old Saban hangs the whistle up.
Check out the video above as Finebaum details why he doesn’t see Swinney ever leaving Clemson.