CLEMSON — Monday will mark the 17th anniversary to the day when Dabo Swinney was named the interim head coach at Clemson.
After a preseason filled with high expectations, the Tigers opened the 2008 season with a disappointing 3-3 start, including a 12-7 loss at Wake Forest on Thursday, October 9, 2008. Five days later, on October 13, Tommy Bowden resigned as head coach, and then athletic director Terry Don Phillips promoted Swinney to interim status.
Swinney, of course, won the job at Clemson and has been the leader of the Clemson program ever since.
However, a day before Swinney’s anniversary at Clemson, he learned one of his friends and coaching colleagues, James Franklin, was fired at Penn State after the Nittany Lions fell to 3-3 on the season with a third straight loss.