Dabo Swinney opens up about how long he hopes to coach

Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney is in the middle of the pack when it comes to the age of FBS college football coaches. Swinney turns 52 next month, and, unsurprisingly, says he has no plans to leave the sport any time soon. 

“How old’s Nick [Saban]? Is he 70? I’ve got a long way to go to catch him, man. I’ve got a long way to go,” Swinney said Tuesday when asked how long he plans to coach. “Of course, he might still be coaching at 90. I know I’m not going to 90, but I got a long way to go. I figure I got at least 20 more. We’ll see what happens.”

Alabama head coach Nick Saban turns 70 on Halloween. The only FBS coach currently older than Saban is UNC’s Mack Brown. He turned 70 in August. 

Saban likely still has a few more years in him at Alabama, as is evidenced by his recent contract extension through February 2029.

He certainly would not be the first coach to stay at the helm of a top program well into his 70s. Penn State’s Joe Paterno was the head coach in Happy Valley until he was 84, and Bobby Bowden was in charge at Florida State until he was 80. Bowden was one of Swinney’s greatest mentors, and the former Seminoles great will be honored at Tiger Stadium this weekend when they host Florida State.

Tigers football has had a lot of success with young coaches

Swinney was named interim head coach just before his 39th birthday and became the full-time head coach at Clemson the following year in 2009. He won national championships in his late 40s in both the 2016 and and 2018 seasons. 

Swinney had been at Clemson as a tight ends and wide receivers coach for over five years before taking the head coaching job. An alum of Alabama, Swinney coached the same positions for the Crimson Tide from 1993-2000.

Ironically, the youngest coach to ever win a national championship in football was Clemson’s Danny Ford in 1981. He was just 33 years old at the time and remained in the position until 1989. Ford and Swinney are the only two coaches to win national championships for the Tigers.

Oklahoma’s Bob Stoops is the youngest coach to win a title this century, having done so at age 39 in 2000.