How Dabo Swinney Changed The Culture of Football and Made Clemson a Winner

if you're the ga be the best ga in the

history of jas if your job is to go get

the coffee

man you bring the best coffee that

anybody's ever

you get that coffee man everybody's

going man did you get that call this guy

is unbelievable

all right people notice that i said i

can't tell you how many people i've

hired that they don't have some fancy

resume what they got is they got an

unbelievable work ethic and

attention to detail and they're just so

focused being great at what they're

doing they don't get distracted

welcome back to the program everybody

i'm so fired up today i have

it's a man i've admired from a distance

for so many years

he is one of the great leaders in

american sports

he just is and he does it with a style

that is all his own and it's one that

i've admired from a distance

some of our mutual friends have

confirmed what a good man he is for me

and uh let me tell you 140 and 33 well

he's been at clemson as the head

football coach there

but he started to get better and better

and better last three years only lost

three games

undefeated in 2018 two national

championships

the list goes on and on and uh this is

from a guy who was a walk-on at alabama

by the way which is even more ironic

that she went to alabama now you coach

at clemson but

i am honored to have davos sweeney on

the program today coach thank you for

being here

thank you ed it's good to be with you

man this is uh what a what

what a great uh great great treat to be

on uh

on this podcast or show and and uh

opportunity to meet you

yeah my pleasure coach so we're gonna go

all over the place we're gonna talk

leadership

recruiting culture all these different

things but

as i was reading about you you know you

walked on in college

and then you you end up that you win

national championship as a player too a

lot of people don't know that

so you've done a lot of winning in your

life but you get this job

and i heard you say that they rated you

a d plus higher because you were like

the interim coach

but is this true because i want everyone

to get this a lot of you that are

listening as your entrepreneurs your

leaders

maybe you're a little bit young in some

cases too this man was 38 years old when

he takes over this program

is it true that when they hired you you

went like in literally into a closet

like a physical closet and we're talking

to yourself

is that actually true that is true uh

so so what happened is i just you know

came to work

on um october 13 2008 i was an assistant

uh in my sixth year here as an assistant

and

uh middle of the season three and three

we were coming off a tough loss and and

they decided to

make a change at uh at head coach uh the

head coach position and

you know i had no real i mean absolutely

no idea

we had a 7 a.m staff meeting that

morning and it was actually my day to

to do the devotion kind of rotates

around the room and just happened to be

my day that day

and it was just business as usual it's a

monday we were going to play georgia

tech that weekend and

at our staff meeting like we always do

went on in our offensive meetings

i was an offensive coach and so we're in

our planning and

about mid-morning uh about 10 30 or so

the

operations guy walks in and says hey

coach bowden needs to see

the whole staff in the staff room well

that never happens

uh we had already had staff meeting that

morning so it was really kind of odd

uh so we all got in there knew something

was going on he walks in and

and he basically just said you know he

was didn't have a lot of words he just

said you know how much he appreciated us

and

and hey this is something that's going

to happen we're going to make it they're

going to make a change

and he said you know hey look i'm good

he said i just

you know we're about all you guys i'm

going to visit with you individually in

due time but right now the ad wants to

step in

and say a few words so you're you're

sitting there

you know you got a lot going through

your mind i'm a young guy i got a young

family

you know people going on a.d steps in

a.d was was not a man of many words

either old school guy from arkansas and

he basically just said hey look you know

uh

this isn't something that i wanted to

happen but he did tell

coach bowden he was going to make a

change at the end of the year regardless

of what happened and

and coach bowden and they revisited

later on that morning

and said you know what this is going to

be a negative seven weeks

you know why don't we just make a change

here and let's let dabo be the interim

and uh coach bowden the head coach he he

kind of

you know said hey would you consider

dabo being the inner roman

and a.d said absolutely he said you know

and so anyway next thing you know he

walks in and he says

hey uh uh here's what's happening you

know

i know it's a tough business i expect

y'all to just continue to do your job we

got a bunch of kids that's

counting on us and and uh and he said uh

dabo you're now the head coach and i

need to see you in my office in five

minutes

and walked out and so you know he walks

out we're in there it was this weird

moment

kind of slamming pins and notebooks and

and then all of a sudden it got dead

quiet and

everybody in the room's looking at me i

mean i'm in sweatpants i mean this

mondays are long days in our world and

uh

and just you know i didn't even really

know what to say

but it was just i mean i was like having

an out-of-body experience you know but

i just said you know what hey guys you

know look let me go meet with him

we'll get back together a little bit i

don't even really know what to say i

went and got

went to my office and grabbed a notebook

and a pen called my wife on the way to

his office said hey you know we just got

let go they just fired tommy

oh my god i said oh it gets worse i'm

the interim and uh

and i said i don't know when i'll talk

to you kathy so i so i go around

take a deep breath and i walk in his in

his office and i really went in with the

mindset of

this is going to be a miserable we had

six games left and an open date so seven

weeks this is gonna be a miserable seven

weeks

you know and but i'm thinking he's

probably going to tell me hey

do a good job i'll try to get the next

guy to keep you or something

you know along those lines but just the

opposite happen there's such great

lessons that came out of that that i

still tell people to this day when i go

speak so i walk in this man's office and

i sit down

and he looks at me and he said he said

dabo let me tell you something i know

you're in a tough spot here

he goes but here's what i want you to

know and he kind of told me how it all

kind of came about he goes but here's

where we are

he said for the next seven weeks i want

you to be the head coach

i don't want you to be the interim head

coach for the next seven weeks

i want you to do whatever you think you

need to do to fix us

he said if you need to fire the whole

staff fire the whole staff

whatever you think you need to do i for

the next seven weeks you have my full

support

that was a mistake on his part okay but

this is what he tells me and then he

goes

he said for five and a half years i've

watched you

i've watched how you've led your players

how you've handled yourself

in the community i watched you with your

family he said i see these kids in your

office

i've seen how you handle uh discipline

and recruiting

and he said dabo i'm going to be honest

with you i've done this a long time

he said i personally he said i think

you're what we need here at clemson

he goes he goes so what i want you to

know is when this thing's over

you're going to get an interview for the

job he said

he goes whether you win them all or lose

them all he said i'm going to give you

an interview for this job he goes now

i'm going to hire the best coach and i'm

going to go all over

i'm going i'm going to hire the best

coach he goes but

i'll say it again i think you're

what we need at clemson he goes it sure

would help if you could win a few ball

games

[Laughter]

and then he goes and then he kind of

sits back he says

you got any questions and i and i'm like

i mean

my my whole mind so now my mind is

racing so yeah

i i leaned up and i said so so you're

you know i said well i appreciate that

and i said you're telling me

that that like i can be the head coach

and uh for seven weeks he said i'm

telling you

whatever you think we need to do you

need to do to fix us

you got my full support and i'm like and

i

and so so i walked out of this this

office

and i'm i've had a notepad and my mind

is racing

yeah and i you know because i went in

there with one mindset and i came out

with a

different mindset and the lesson that i

got from that was number one you never

know who's watching

so just be great at whatever you do you

know i mean whatever it is you're doing

just be great at it so many people

especially in this business they're

chasing things they want this title or

they're this and that

and and the grass is green where you're

watering it right you know

just just be great where you are just be

great where your feet are bloom where

you're planted is what i always say

you don't know who's watching but i know

this if you're great at what you do

people will notice that amen that was a

lesson and

i but and i learned that as a player

same thing happened to me as a player

a sophomore i'm a walk-on i come to a

tuesday practice

boom they said hey we're going to give

you a shot you know and i didn't even

know he was paying attention next thing

you know i let her three years i get a

scholarship win a national championship

but but the second part of that lesson

is you got to be prepared for your

opportunity

you know you got to be prepared for your

opportunity you may not there you may

not ever get it

but but right better be prepared you

know anyway so what did you do coach to

be prepared like

so he tapped you on the shoulder you're

ready did you think you were ready

absolutely so to answer that so when i

walked out of there i went in a closet i

literally i went in like a yeah that's a

true

half janitor claws at half bit and i

just closed the door

and i just sat in there and for 45

minutes i just started writing

i just started writing and it i was all

over the place you know i'm thinking

recruiting i'm thinking discipline how i

want to change practice what would i

want to do this week

how am i going to meet with the team i

got to meet with the staff is there

anybody i need to make a change with you

know i'm going to run the offense i'm

going to

you know i had all these things going on

and i'm just scribbling 100 things

you know for that moment all right but

as i and so so i go through that but

the second part of it is from the time i

got into coaching in 1993

i was preparing to be a head coach all

right

i didn't know if i'd ever get a chance

to be a head coach but i was just

i love what i do i love what i was doing

i love my

i mean i just was trying to be the best

at whatever it was but i started kind of

building a book

started putting up a head coach book

together in 19

i mean literally right out of the gate

things i liked things i didn't like

uh you know academic stuff uh

philosophy of offense philosophy of

defense philosophy of recruiting

philosophy of special teams

you know who i would want to hire you

know what would be my staff

expectation you know whatever how i

would run practice

you know and i started putting all this

just building this all over the years

and all through the years i'd oh man i

like that

throw it in the book or you know a lot

of times

so i coached eight years at alabama when

i finished playing i played five coached

eight

and a lot of times we learn more from

the bad then we do the good

you know and that's called experience

you know when we touch that hot stove

and we get that bit you know we learn

right yes uh but the wise man learns

from other people's experiences

so we all learn from our own that's just

life but man i just spent a lot of time

learning from other people and

and i do that with my players to this to

this day i send them stuff from all over

the country

all the time you know whether it's

something good or something bad you know

to

to learn from others and so i just was

started going through things and

and i spent the first seven years i

spent all seven

years of coach stalin's career at

alabama with him and then all of a

sudden i start working for other people

getting exposed to different things and

i start going up

well now i know why he did it that way

you know and so i started having things

reinforced

and then i started you know growing into

my own as far as

yes my beliefs my philosophy yes and i

started putting all this together and

what happened to me this was a great

great turning point for me in 2000

um i think it was 2006

they were starting a football program at

the university of south alabama

the jaguars down in mobile and they're

they're a good program

but they were starting football there

and and they reached out to me to come

interview for the job and i'm like you

know what

you know what and it was to be quite

honest with you and i only told this to

my wife

if i had gotten the job i wouldn't have

taken it but i told kath i said you know

what here's what i'm going to do i'm

going to prepare for this job like it's

the university of alabama

like it's the job and so it forced me to

take all those years of

stuff and i put it together and i

organized and i went after that job like

it was the greatest job i mean i had

jag jaguar nation we're fixing to rule

the world man i had everything in there

and so

so i had i was prepared and and

you know and i finished like second or

third on the job they didn't offer me

the job

uh but but i i finished second or third

on the job but i really wouldn't have

taken if they'd offered it but it was

such a great process

and so all of a sudden two years later

i'm the interim head coach at clemson

and so and i'm gonna get an interview so

i'm i'm in the middle of the season i'm

in the chaos i'm

making changes i got all this stuff

going on and

but when that season was over you know

what i did i walked in i had the

president i had the

the a.d the assistant and i had them all

a book and i said hey

this is who i am this is what we're

going to be this is how we're this is

what we're going to do this is what our

philosophy is this is

this is how we're going to run the

program this is the staff i want to hire

this is

you know uh our discipline possibly pos

uh policy this is what i believe in

and you know bam here we go that to me

is like a coach i feel like we just did

the whole show like i hope everybody got

this

and goes all the way back all this stuff

about blooming where you're planted the

grass is green or where you water it

i've actually never heard it said that

way before

but this idea that he was blooming where

he was planted being the best and great

at what he did but preparing for the

future all the time it's amazing to even

entrepreneurs that

even will listen to the show they'll

write down little keys but are you

watching how the guest says it how they

phrase it how they position it how they

tell a story how i do it

where you work right now if you're if

you're you know an employee somewhere

are you prepping to be a business owner

someday studying what works

and what you said too about what doesn't

work are you keeping that binder that

coach kept of keeping these notes and

experience allows you to anticipate too

if you don't have experience i think

you're constantly reacting

yes and i think what happened was when

you got this job a lot of guys get that

opportunity they didn't prepare like you

now they're just reacting recruiting

this problem the boosters we just had

this lost oh my gosh our center's hurt

and they're reacting all the time

this allowed you i think would you agree

with me coach that preparation allows

you to anticipate situations sometimes

that you wouldn't get if you weren't

prepared you got a plan you know

abraham one of my favorite quotes from

abraham lincoln's lincoln was

if you abraham lincoln said you give him

six hours to chop down a tree

he's gonna spend the first four hours

sharpening the axe

you know i mean it's all about

preparation this is in my world and what

we do

we only play about three percent of the

time we prepare 97

of the time but it's what you're doing

when nobody's watching

that's what separates people you know

you didn't get here i

i don't know your whole background but i

guarantee you didn't get here doing this

show

you didn't just show up i mean it's what

you're doing championships are one when

nobody's watching

they're when the stands are empty and

it's the same thing with people

champions are made when what you do when

nobody's watching

you know so it's that 97 of the time you

know we all work we have jobs but it is

all about preparation and having a plan

and so be having a vision being able to

articulate that vision you're going to

deal with young people today number one

they better know that you care

number number two you better be able to

communicate why

all right and so and you've got to be

able to articulate a vision and get

people to buy

in and get behind that i don't care if

you're running a company or whatever it

is but the other key thing this is very

important

because you know especially in my world

and i deal with a lot of young people

and i deal with a lot of young coaches

now you know and and i've been

i've been i've been eight i've been an

18 to 22 year old

and i have a phd in 18 to 22 year olds

because i've spent my entire life with

that group

my whole life right and in fact i was at

a convention a couple years ago

and i had this young couple young guys

i'm i'm going up we

were in uh louisville and i'm going up

to

going back to my hotel room and i'm

standing over by the elevator and these

couple of these young guys came up to me

and they were like

gas at uh grad assistants somewhere i

don't know if they were at baylor or

where some some school

and they came up to me coach sweeney

coach manny you know just wanted to

introduce himself hey nice to meet you

guys and i'm literally standing there at

the elevator and they're like uh

they're like you know coach sweeney

listen we just you know we just wanna

you know they wanted me to give them

like you know 30 years of stuff and

knowledge in

a minute here and they want to go they

want to go from ga to head coach

and i and i just and they'd listen i

said well here's here's what i would

tell you guys

all right and it's exactly what i just

said i said be great whatever you're

doing

if you're the ga be the best ga in the

history of gas if your job is to go get

the coffee

man you bring the best coffee that

anybody's ever

you'd get that coffee man everybody's

gonna manage you get that call this

guy's unbelievable

all right people notice that i said i

can't tell you how many people i've

hired

that they don't have some fancy resume

what they got is they got an

unbelievable work ethic and attention to

detail

and they're just so focused being great

at what they're doing they don't get

distracted

so that's number one prepare but you

need to hear me on this

guys i'm about to get on this elevator

and i'm gonna hit 14

because i'm on the 14th floor and when

the doors open i'm on the 14th floor

well let me tell you this you got to you

got to take the steps

all right there's no elevator to being a

head coach there's no elevator to being

the ceo there's no

elevator to greatness you got to put the

work in and take the steps

period and you know what enjoy it

yeah enjoy it it's not about because

because i've been to the top

i tell our guys all the time i've been

to the mountaintop and it's awesome

and we love it we climb a mountain every

year at clemson that's kind of our

our thing you know how you come out one

step at a time we love that and we

we start out base camp you know and at

the top of the mountain is awesome but

that's not what

it's all about that's just a moment what

you what you will

cherish more than anything is the

journey that it took to get there

like man what it what it took to get

there the people you were with the

relationships that you developed along

the way

the failures that you had the mistakes

that you made that you learned from

that you grew from that's what you

cherish more than anything

everybody looks and they see the the

grand moments you know

tom brady winning a super bowl that's

great you know what tom brady is going

to remember morning think man

those practices yeah you know getting

together with the guys the bus rides the

plane rides the

the when nobody's watching the

preparation that's

what it takes i'm getting goosebumps

y'all like you gotta fall in love with

that

you gotta embrace the suck right there's

a lot of it that just sucks and you

gotta

you gotta fall in love with that part if

you're gonna if you're gonna

you know do anything great in life it's

not gonna just happen so

the preparation and falling in love with

the preparation

all the great players that i've been

around

that's what separates them they love the

preparation

everybody loves to play yeah all right

but it's falling in love and embracing

the suck

along the way that's that's what

separates us oh my gosh

very rarely am i in the middle of one of

these shows i'm like this is

freaking great you know we're in the

first quarter

just because it's a i i just want you i

just want to keep going but i was going

to say this to you i just gave a talk

this weekend bunch of entrepreneurs very

high entrepreneurs

and someone give him overall business

philosophy it's going to surprise you i

said here's what it is

everybody you encounter wants to feel

this from you that you love them care

about them believe in them and you can

show them how to get a little bit better

that's it and they're saying help me you

said it of young people but it's true i

think coach of all people as you said

and then this notion i just want to

review i'm not going to review

everything he says but he says so many

good things

this idea of the love of the preparation

i promise you that's true across the

board with the athletes i've worked with

too

but in addition to that being able to

create a vision that you can articulate

that people buy into

is like you're listening this man talk

there's a rhythm there's a fl it's so

easy to listen to him he wasn't born

with that that's something that he's

worked on over time

the other thing you've done coach and

i'd like some keys from you on this

for myself you've created a culture

there

right there's a culture there there's

the tiger walk maybe you could share

with everybody a little bit about that

do my research right

but there's there's this culture you've

created

and i think teams organizations are a

reflection often times of the

personality the character of the leader

and and i feel like your program maybe

more than any that i've heard about

sort of reflects that that culture that

you create because of the man you are

give us some tips on creating culture

and maybe tell them what the tiger walk

is in addition if you can squeeze it in

yeah well the tiger walk back to that

week of being an interim

all right that that i get the job on

monday i don't sleep monday tuesday

wednesday and all of a sudden wednesday

night i get this

i finally get to that one of those

sections i'm scratching off all those

notes that i had written down

i was like oh you know what i want to do

this tiger walk thing i went to the a.d

you know i told you it was the worst

thing he told me because i did about

three things in three days and he's like

now wait a minute we can't do that and i

said

you told me that what you would support

for seven weeks i could be the head

coach and so that was my kind of my

my little calling card and he would he's

like well okay i said i want to get him

to drop us off out in the middle of the

road on perimeter road here and we're

going to walk to the stadium he's like

what we can't do that we got troopers i

changed the route

everything changed how we come in it was

a it was

pandemonium and i said well you told me

i said that's what i think i need to do

to fix this

and so i literally what what it was was

for

six years of being an assistant it used

to drive me crazy because i would be

over there fired up because i was

i was never with the team i was over

there recruiting and i would walk

through the parking lot and by the time

i got to the stadium i was ready to just

punch somebody you know just could feel

the energy and the passion

and our players would pull up on a bus

in a sweatsuit and get off and walk in

with headphones

and they weren't engaged and they didn't

get it and we used to take some crazy

route through the

through the farmlands and you never saw

anybody you just pull up

and and so that was that was literally

like wednesday night i said we're

changing all that

i said these guys need to understand how

important it is

and they need to feel the passion they

need to feel the the energy

from these i said and so we literally

and they were all freaked out they were

worried about security and i mean it was

like because we're going to get off

at the at the park and we're literally

walking it's a long walk

right through the main area and i mean

there must have been 40 000 people out

there it's incredible and to this day

it's what we do and it's exactly what

happened by the time we got there like

they got it

like guys this is important this means a

lot to a lot of people

you know and and we're coat and tie you

know

uh it takes a little more effort you

know to get up and get ready and so that

was kind of how the tiger walk came

about and we've done it ever since and

it's just been an

amazing thing but but to me you know

i everything comes back to the people

you got to get the right people involved

but i just want our culture here we talk

about getting everybody kind of all in

and committed

you know to being their best in

everything they do on and off the field

not just

we don't and we don't ever talk about

being the best that's that's something

that that we

and that's kind of how i ended up

getting connected with john gordon a

couple years after i got the job i

didn't know him

but we got to be our best you know i

mean

whatever our best is and if you're not

willing to be committed to that

then you're never going to have a chance

to be the best you know maybe

we can be the best but we got no chance

the bible says in first corinthians 9

24 in a race everybody runs right

everybody runs but only one

wins first prize so run your race in

such a way as to win

that's what all ends about don't just

run the race don't just go to work

don't just go to practice because it's

time to go to practice don't just go to

that math class because it's what time

i'm supposed to go to math class

go with some purpose run the race to win

learn to do your best

make excellence a habit and when you do

that eventually you will become your

best and guess what

that's what god created us for is to be

our best

you know so that's just the mindset that

i have and so coming into this thing

i gotta get all in so our culture is

family

all right so so creating a family

atmosphere well how do you do that you

don't just

say all right we got a family atmosphere

right no you got to be intentional about

that

intentional about who you hire do they

value family

you know be intentional about being

inclusive

like our wives our kids it's they're

here

all the time you know i mean they're

we're practicing on this field we got a

kids game going on the other field every

wednesday night it's family night all of

our wives our kids

that's one of the things i missed the

most last year during covid was

we couldn't do all that but but so it's

a family atmosphere

the the next thing is in our culture

is uh communication layers of

communication

you know it's it's it's it you know

it's my sweeney leadership group it's

the sweeney council sweeney huddle

you know just layers of communication

and different perspectives

staff meetings and just how we go we

start over every year i start over every

year

as if we all just landed from another

planet and have never met each other

and i and i reinstall the program every

year as it from like just like we just

got here

and that's how i protect the program all

right so and that so communication

communication leads to trust and respect

you can't have anything great if there's

not trust

and there's not respect all right and

then

as i said earlier you got to have a

vision you got to be able to articulate

a vision

that everyone understands that everybody

in the building can articulate from the

person who greets them at the door to

the people cleaning the building to the

secretaries

to the coordinators to the players

everybody's got to be able to articulate

that vision and we call that our common

purpose

you know and and our common purpose is

to graduate our players equip them with

tools for life

make sure they have a good experience

and win a championship and everything in

our program is about that

so we all know that but but the other

kind of key

component to the culture that we have is

appreciation

you know having a genuine appreciation

for each other's role

so that's how you get people to buy into

being great at whatever they do

you show appreciation no one's better

than anyone else

and you know we we i took one quote when

i got the job

all right george washington carver had a

quote that's the only quote i had in the

building and i put it up

and i said this is how to couple things

here we're going to be all in

that means being committed to being our

best we're going to run the race to win

all right and then the second thing i

put that quote up and i said guys this

is how we're going to be great at

clemson you got to remember at 0.9

we hadn't won an acc championship in 20

years we had not won 10 games at clemson

in 20 years

crazy all right and now the last decade

we're the second winningest team in the

country us in alabama

we've had 10 10 plus win seasons in a

row third longest streak in the history

of college football

we had the third winningest decade in

the history of college football

we've won seven conference titles and

two national championships

and so and you know how we did it here's

how we did it

well two things two things it's so good

we did it this way and i walked into my

first ever meeting with the players

and i walked in with these two signs

right here one says believe

and the other one says it can't be done

look at this

with the t crossed out right and my

message to the team the very first team

meeting was

we got to create an attitude of belief

we got to create a culture

that expects but the only way we can do

that is we got to make some decisions

around here

all right we got to quit we got to quit

hoping and we got to start believing

and the only way that's going to happen

is we're going to get all in and we got

we got to be committed to being and

doing the best that we can possibly be

doing everything that we do and if we do

that we're going to have a chance to be

special

and then i took that quote and i said i

put this quote y'all see this right here

this is how we're going to do it we're

going to do it our way

if it don't work i got nobody else to

blame it myself

i'm a d-plus hire i'm not supposed to be

any good anyway i'm an at-risk kid

baby of three boys parents dad's

alcoholic parents divorced no education

in my family

i'm a walk-on player who earned a

scholarship i'm a d-plus hire walk-on

coach

and and we're gonna be successful here's

how we're gonna do it you know we're

gonna do

we're gonna take what we have we're

gonna quit worrying about what we don't

have

and we're gonna make it great we're

gonna make the best of what we have

number one

all right that's what we're gonna become

inside out

all right i'm tired and i wrote i

literally i wrote down all the things

that clemson had never done and i wrote

down all the things that people said we

couldn't do

oh well they can't ever do this and they

can't ever do that and i said so

here's the choice we can listen to all

that

and be paralyzed by that or we can learn

how to be inside out the bible says as a

man think it's so is he so we're gonna

learn how to think we're gonna learn how

to believe

that's what we're gonna do we can do it

we can do it

all right and i'm just telling you

that's what i believe so and that's what

god has taught me through my life so

y'all can get on board with that if you

want and again i'm talking to a team no

but nobody came there to play for me and

so i'm talking to these guys because

what i got to do first thing i do i got

to get these guys to buy into this

vision all right

and i said here's how we're going to do

it i took that quote from george

washington carver that says when you do

the common things

in life in an uncommon way you will

command

the attention of the world i said so

here's how we're going to do it we're

going to do the common things and

uncommon you know what that is man how

we clean that locker room

here's how and and i put it up i said

here's how the locker needs to look when

you walk away

all right when we get off the bus

there's not going to be any trash left

on the bus for the bus driver

we're going to clean the trash when we

land at the airport nobody's getting our

luggage

us coaches and the president and a.d

we're going to go get the luggage

when we leave the movie theater on

friday night we're going to leave it

cleaner than we got there

and we do we bring blowers we blow it

out you know and i said

and so we've created this culture in

fact we got a we lost at notre dame this

year

and we got a letter from notre dame

talking about they'd never have

had anybody leave the locker room the

way they left it i read that to my team

i said guys this is one of the most

proudest thing we just lost the game

everybody's devastated double overtime

i said this is what this is awesome all

right this is what it's all about

gosh when we won the national

championship in 2016

we lost to alabama in 15 you know and

it's like god it was frustrating you're

down i'm sick man you just we were

supposed to win right well we didn't

but god never says oops he never says my

bad so we come back the next year

all right and we're going to play them

in tampa for the national championship

again

and i told her i said we're going to win

the game i'm not really sure how but

we're going to win it i said because you

guys love each other man

i see it every day and that's going to

be the difference in this game

and i said but guess what all right

here's how we're going to do it just by

doing the kind if we do the common

things in an

uncommon way gosh all right how we line

up

how we get to the ball how we get on and

off the field how we

where we put our eyes our fundamentals

we just do the common things in an

uncommon way our passion

we will command the attention of the

world and we won the national

championship with one

second on the clock we beat it

unbelievable alabama team

and only god that's just god's favor man

that's just god's grace and favor and

and only he could orchestrate something

like that

but but it started with being able to

build a culture

and so to build in my world it's a

culture

it's through graduation it's through

accountability it's through discipline

it's it's through recruiting but it all

comes back to people

it all comes back to people and having

that vision and getting everybody to buy

into that

and fall in love with that and so that's

what we've done and we've done every and

every year we start over

every year we started so we'll take five

days this july and we'll get together

and

we'll go through every page of that book

right there and we'll talk about

we'll talk about the first pet you know

the first page in that book is

attitude we'll spend 30 minutes talking

about attitude

and guys that are i won't say when they

get there on audio that book is

gargantuan just so you know i want to

just say one thing

this is like a legendary podcast

you don't notice because you don't do a

lot of podcasts this is a freaking

legendary podcast my two concerns number

one

there are people that were driving 55

miles an hour that are driving 104

there's a lot of tickets

you said it was just me and two guys

talking to each other i told you there

was a lot of people and you know it and

then the other part you poor people on

treadmills over level five you're like

level 26 right now

pouring in sweat but i got i just like

i'm so glad i introduced you the way i

did as one of the great leaders in

american sports but i would amend it now

like just one of the great leaders of

people i mean

i'm blown away i mean my hands are a

little bit shaken right now i do a lot

of stuff coach i mean i

i do a lot of stuff so i'm i just want

to tell you in the middle of this how

grateful i am for you

and your willingness to share so openly

and i i got to ask you you talked about

recruiting i just want to know about

this

because you're both a great recruiter

and you get great recruits

so a because a lot of people that are

entrepreneurs

look getting the right people on the bus

matters you can find the seats as you go

right

and so all entrepreneurs are out there

asking the kids you gotta get great

people

right but they gotta fit your culture

too so

two questions you can answer them

together what makes a great recruiter

recruiter and what makes a great recruit

for you

yeah well i think what makes a great

recruiter is

is being relationship driven like really

being

genuine and authentic like there's

something that there's a term

in my world sometimes you'll hear you

know you go and you recruit you sign

this great class and then

i've had coaches over the years in my

journey they'll say all right now we got

to d recruit them

i don't like that like if you got to d

recruit somebody that means you weren't

genuine and authentic in the process

yeah no so so i think what makes a great

recruiter

is is is being able to connect and how

do you connect with somebody just

be yourself you know uh don't be

something that god didn't create you to

be

be who you are be genuine be authentic

all right and and you gotta be detailed

you gotta you've gotta

you gotta you can't you gotta take the

steps right there's no

elevator you gotta put the work in and

you have to you have to be

relationship driven sooner or later you

know it's like i tell my coach

you know you can twitter and i don't do

any of the social media stuff but you

can

you can do all that stuff and tight and

sooner or later you got to come from you

got to get in you got to talk to

somebody

right you know and you got to be able to

to

to sit down with you know mom and

grandmom and dad and

the same things that i've talked about

be able to lay out a vision not just for

your program but

a vision for how that young person is

going to thrive in your program

right and so that connectivity you have

to be able to connect

and articulate so that's one thing but

then also

it's it's having a belief in what you're

recruiting them to do

like you like i mean i'm sorry but if

you

work for adidas but you hate adidas

you just work there well that's not good

you know you have to be

passionate about what you do and you

have to have a belief

in who you do it with you know if you're

going to be a good recruiter so

that's that's first and foremost and

then what makes a

great recruit uh for us here at clemson

is

you you couldn't have said it better you

have to fit the culture

you know uh i mean uh

it just is what it is and coach have you

medicated if you have you had a kid

where you're like this

this this doesn't matter the position

this is the number one quarterback in on

the planet

we get this guy we got three years of

the run keeps going

but you end up hearing something about

their background or

maybe they don't like faith i don't know

i don't know what it might be have you

just said no we passed

you've done that i think i think again

again what makes a good recruiter

is being disciplined all right being

disciplined

to what you believe in what's your

criteria

what what the fit is all right and so

you know because there's a lot of times

you know they'll say oh well

i mean you could get lazy and just say

oh man here's all these so-called

five-star rated regards or whatever and

you can get lazy

and next thing you know you're out of a

job you know you have to have you have

to be convicted as a recruiter like

like okay he's only rated a two star i

don't understand

why no one else has offered grady

jarrett who's now the 37th highest paid

athlete in the world for the atlanta

falcons why is he why is he not have any

offers

like you have to be convicted in what

you see what you believe

all right that's number one okay and

then vice versa here's this five star

he's got 75

offers and you're welcome to tape and

you're going ah

i don't see it yeah really you know i

don't see it

you you so you you know i've just always

relied on my gut

and my instincts uh but but when it

comes to the fit

like i empower every one of my coaches

i tell them you're the head coach at

your position but i better never hear

you complain about your players

all right and so as a result we're we're

very very slow in the process but you

know what's happened it's become our

brand

like like a kid may have 50 offers

he just knows people just know that

clemson doesn't offer many people

and we're very slow in the process all

right but we've done it our way to this

point i've not taken transfers or junior

co

i've done it all through high school

evaluation yeah that's how we've won

here

and so we have to be right and so it's

academics i mean there has to be it

could be a great great player

but does he have the academics to not

just get in but to

stay in and value education because

that's a part of our culture

is valuing education this is a family

atmosphere not everybody's looking for

you know family some people just want to

go make sausage well that's great no

problem

all right but that's this is a this is

different this is a relationship driven

program i mean we're going to love and

serve and care for you

all right we're going to equip you with

the tools that you need we're going if

you come here

we're going to serve your heart not your

talent so what that means is

if you're out smoking dope and skipping

class and all that you ain't playing

so i'm just telling you up front this

ain't the place for you

i'm gonna be very transparent and so by

being very transparent

you're gonna attract the guys who really

are looking for discipline

looking for accountability they really

want that structure because there's a

lot of that's there's

there's still a lot of kids out there

that really want that you know they want

that

that that family aspect of it

this is a relationship for the rest of

our life that's kind of how i look at it

you know and so so if you look if you

went right now and looked at how many

offers were out

there's 65 power five teams in division

one football

you know we're probably third or fourth

and fewest offers in the country

we just don't offer many guys uh but but

but

these coaches know i empower them but

they also know i'm gonna hold them

accountable

you know and because if there's a

problem guess who's guess who's office

it's going to end up in

mine and so you know they know

they know the culture they this place is

not easy

we have a ton of fun and everybody you

know when they see that's part of us we

want to have a great experience we want

to have some fun

but our culture is one that squeezes

people

up you know you if you're not all in

here you're not going to blend in and

that's okay

you know kids are kids but the culture

is going to squeeze you

and it's not going to be the other way

around and squeeze you down

all right we're going to squeeze you up

okay and

and so that's that's what we've created

and so to sustain that you got to get

the right people you got to have the

right staff

they got to believe my staff's been

together a long time there's a reason

why a lot of these guys don't leave

and and it's you know it's because they

believe wholeheartedly in what we do and

how we do it we're

we we say we're an uncommon program

we're a unique program nine

so second winningest team in the country

the last decade

but nine out of those same 10 years

we've been top 10 academically

with duke and northwestern so i've had

289 seniors and 284

graduates well what's the first thing in

the vision of our program graduation

98 graduation rate so we're winning at a

really really high level

on both sides of the of the coin here

and there's no perfect people there's no

perfect places

but what separates people and places is

how you respond

you know it's not are you going to ever

have a mistake or a problem or whatever

i mean i got 135 young people on my team

it's how you respond yeah can i ask you

about that i want to ask you about that

the 135 thing i just want to acknowledge

one thing guys scarcity creates value

and so one of the things with these few

offers they become more valuable because

they're more scarce that's important

okay so just understand that's also a

strategy

people waiting around people waiting

around for that clemson offer if they

get it it's a big deal

right there's a little game there he's

nodded and saying yes

not game but that's just part one of the

benefits of being so guarded with your

culture

and so hey hey let me stop you there ed

keep that thought

cause you just hit on it that's why i

know you're a smart dude all right so we

had

so about three years ago two or three

years ago ncaa changed all this stuff

used to you could only do official

visits that means where we can pay for

the family to come in and

get and it's a big dog and pony show for

a whole weekend

we used to could only do that their

senior year

you know from from september to january

that's when official visits took place

and we always did ours in december and

january occasionally you might have one

in november

that's kind of always been our floss

well that about three years ago they

changed the rules and they say oh

you can start doing official visits in

april may and june

and so well guess what all these kids

want to go on these officials

and so my staff we had this big come to

jesus staff meeting

and i mean they were really challenging

me man they had they were all they were

loaded for bear

waiting on me to walk in there they had

their plan and they've been you know

they

they were ready so they're gonna make

their presentation on why we have to

start doing official visits in the

spring

well and i listened and i said we're not

doing that

and they and they go coach how are we

gonna i mean how are we gonna recruit i

mean

alabama and georgia and all these people

are doing official business and we're

not gonna do it and i said no we're not

gonna do fish i said

just because everybody's doing something

don't make it right i said that's first

that's first of all and then i said

what's the number one thing in our

program it's a family atmosphere right

i said so now you're telling me april

may

june we're gonna be tour guides every

weekend

all right i said so when am i going to

coach my son's baseball team

and when are y'all going to be at your

daughter's uh recitals

when are we going to be dads so so

when is enough enough guys and i said i

said we built our program to this point

now

we'd already won a national championship

i said guys every kid in the country

heck yeah i can fly to clemson eat

steaks

hang out with the tigers stay in a nice

hotel bring my family

sign me up for that i'm in and i said

if they're not gonna come unofficially

on their own

and be invested paid their way guess

what they're not coming for four years

all right so so here's i said so i hear

y'all and i mean it was you know there

were some

there were some ruffled neck hairs

because everybody's trying to figure out

how they're going to explain to these

coaches that are saying you know his

high school

well you know well he's visiting hero

y'all going to visit him and i said well

guess what

we'll get the kids that we're supposed

to get wow that's what i believe

and so i just want you to know to this

day four years we have yet to do

an official visit in the spring he's

crazy i did not know that

all these people getting ready to do

these official visits we've not done any

so all these kids

when they if we've got dj ue younger

lady my quarterback came

three times from l.a paid his way

you know but that's one of the reasons

he but i knew he was interested i knew

he was invested

all right i knew he understood who we

were and and to your point i mean

and i and i pulled out a little quote

and i read it and i said you know hey

do you ever see any rolls-royce

commercials you know

have you ever seen them right no

no ain't no advertising going on for for

bentley's

you know or whatever i say hey we're

different we're unique

and i was like and i wrote it down i

said write it down on the board and if

i'm wrong hey we'll change it

i'm not saying i'm right i said that's

just what i believe that's my gut

and i said and we're uncommon and i said

write it down we'll have over 20

commitments by august we had 22

commitments by august

and you know what what has happened it

is now that has become our brand yeah

now

these kids they're not offended even the

coach they like ask us how clemson does

things yeah

you know but guess what they still want

that clemson offer

and and when a kid comes unofficially

then then he's sending me a message

that he truly is interested that he

truly is invested

in the things that we offer here so guys

listen i wanna i'm gonna jump in on this

i just want everyone to get this

you can be a great recruiter there's a

little bit of a takeaway there's a

little bit of prestige

to what you're doing and you can create

that you don't have to have an

undefeated season or a company that's

making 300 million dollars in profits to

do that

it's got to be by the way and you have

to believe that you're worthy

your product your service your business

your family whatever it might be

your class your team you're worthy of

that level of

prestige or exclusivity or uniqueness to

you right that's just

it's a huge deal this is like a master

class on leadership and recruiting but

the one thing i got to ask you because

i've always wondered this about you

lots of coaches talk about faith in the

locker room

right before a game let's pray together

or or they're

they're christian men or women that lead

teams you were the first coach

that i saw do it outside the locker room

in like post-game interviews

now i'm sure it's been done before but

it's not been done before

to my understanding on the level you

compete at

the magnitude of your job and i remember

watching you get interviewed after a

game going this dude fires me up

man he always acknowledges god he always

says something about his faith and

that's bold and i actually thought at

first

i thought it was aggressive because or

amazing because i wonder if it cost him

some recruits and it must be okay with

him that he does do that

was that a conscious thing where like

i'm going to be bold about what i

believe in the law

i'm the same guy in the locker room that

i am in an interview that i am with my

family that i am coaching baseball

and i'm sure you might have caught a

little flack forward at one point in

your life for being so bold about it

i just want to know your thoughts about

your faith how it plays into being a

coach a leader

and your boldness about it oh yeah i've

caught a lot of flack

about that i think you know when that's

why the bible says you better put your

armor on every day

i mean like every single day uh you know

and listen i

i don't judge people or they i just i

just believe what i believe and

you know colossians 3 23 says one of my

favorite verses says

it says whatever you do do it with all

your heart as if you're working for the

lord

right whatever you do all right now tell

me well if you're cleaning the room

your bedroom do it as if you're working

for the lord because that's that's the

perspective god wants us to have

and that's you know we we have a really

crazy world

you know we're in a fallen world sin is

real the devil is real too nobody wants

to acknowledge that that's what i

believe

all right and maybe i'm wrong i'm gonna

meet my maker one day

but i know what i believe and and i

believe in

in jesus and i believe in in god and i

believe

that in colossians where it says

whatever you do you do it

with all your heart as if you're working

for the lord and when you do something

with all your heart

you're going to go above and beyond amen

right in everything that you do

and so god i don't i don't get how you

can separate that

and and so yeah i've had all kind of

flak i one year where were some

some some group that man they tried to

you know

come and like they said all this crazy

stuff like i'm only playing christian

i'm like let me tell you something

if i'm only playing christians we ain't

winning like we're winning i promise you

you know ain't nobody check and roll at

chapel i got chapel

but but i don't sit around and go oh you

didn't come to chapel you don't play

today no

give me a break you know i just think

you have to be who you are

there and that's what that's what i said

back then there's nobody that comes to

clemson

if i was an atheist guess what everybody

who came to clemson would know that

all right i think you just be who you

are you know and there's nobody that

comes to clemson and goes well dad go

man i know coach wendy was a christian

you know and so i just think you just be

who you are i know what my job is

my job is to win football games but but

i know who my maker is too and i know

that when you are a person of faith and

you're a christian that's not something

you turn on and off

you know whatever you do you do it as if

you're working for the lord

and so yeah my paycheck says clemson

university but let me tell you at the

end of the day i'm working for the lord

because one of these days there's going

to be a scoreboard a whole lot bigger

than the one that hangs out here in

death valley

and it's going to be i you know dabo i

did i gave you all these things and all

these young people what did you do

for me and listen my job's not disabled

but i i do feel like that

i have a responsibility to

to for to be an example and i try to

live my i'm

man i'm the biggest sinner in the world

i try to live my life in a way

that glorifies god and in those moments

from time to time listen i don't ever

want anyone we live in such a

superficial world i don't want anyone to

ever think

that man this is because anything that i

am

is because of god anything that i've

done is because of god's favor

on my life god's grace you know man

god's grace and his favor

his his his his will his

holy spirit you know leading the way i

mean that's just how i look at it and so

because we live in this world now where

everybody wants to put you up on this

pedestal and i try to be quick to say

hey listen

ain't nothing great about me if there's

anything great about me it's the holy

spirit inside of me

all right and guess what everybody can

have that and you said something a

minute ago

and listen greatness is for everyone and

and i told our team back in

in in 2013 we beat ohio state in in our

first ever bcs win

on an orange bowl and and then we've

beaten alabama a couple times and

we we've beaten some of these big big

schools if we walked out there

at the middle of the field and we

compared checkbooks and we compared

budgets and we compared all

we'd get dominated yeah we would get

smoke or if we

guess what i mean number one recruiting

classes we've had in 12 years as a head

coach

zero right zero none

none you know so it's not all about that

all right it's about it's about people

it's about passion it's about you know

uh synergy iron sharpening iron it's

about attitude it's about belief

that's what it's all about and so you

know i i don't

see it as being bold when i give

god the glory you know i don't want

anything i don't coach either

worry for anything that that happens in

my life

we're two guys that have that in common

i'm a sinner saved by the grace of god

too

thank god and uh but

i'm told that i'm bold when i do it

because i catch some criticism for it

just like you do that's i think what i

meant by bold and

and uh i like you so much yeah well i

can't work i just don't worry about that

you know i mean listen i mean that that

that outside noise is always going to be

there

and and again if we spend our lives

sitting around worried about

you know what what we need to worry

about is pleasing god

and and when you live your life and

that's your belief pleasing god

you're going to upset people that's just

part of it and

you know what um the the the

it goes back to what i said earlier

being inside out you know i don't know

who said it but there was a quote i love

it it says you know

ships don't sink because of the water

around them they sink because the water

gets in them

right and so we can't let all that stuff

in us

yeah and you know we got to let the

light inside of us

be brighter than the light on us at all

times you know and so the light gets

bright man

that was the last thing i told our team

in 16 i was like hey

you know this is what we got to do the

lights gonna be bright man but we've

gotta

we gotta let the light inside of us be

brighter what an opportunity that we

have

and listen you know what some of the

best opportunities that we have is when

we have

failed miserably all right that's that's

that's when

especially when you're a christian you

know and so you know it's it's

it's all good that's what god teaches us

it's all good

all things all things work together

for the good for those who love the lord

and so it's a mindset it's a mentality

yeah it sucks

we hate it we don't we you know but

guess what all things

all right and so we're all here for for

a blink of an eye

i mean a blur i mean we've lived long

enough you and i we've seen young young

people die

i've spoken at a bunch of funerals i've

had pl you know former players die

i've had family die we've all we it's

boom it's a blink of an eye

so are we going to live for something

that's just superficial

you know that's not my choice and and

here's the good thing about the god we

serve

he gives us the choice it's a choice

and it's everybody's choice but i hope

that that

we can live our lives in a way where

maybe other people may say you know what

there's just something different

and you say well let me tell you about

that there's this guy named jesus

and man if you just put your eyes on him

in the good and bad and you believe and

you don't quit man

he's he's gonna he's gonna bless your

life

and some things this side of eternity

will never know will never understand

yeah all right but that's what fate's

all about

you know it's really just just believing

when you don't understand and then one

of these days

when we meet our maker man we're gonna

we're gonna celebrate

and uh you know and and see the bigger

picture

uh of life so awesome i was saying

earlier i just like you

i just like you i respect you but i like

you

i'm so glad i like you you know when you

have somebody from a distance you've

admired

then you meet them they kind of exceed

your expectations that's a wonderful

thing and you're doing that for me and i

know this

for millions of people too all right two

questions i got for you

and by the way thank you in advance yeah

i'm speaking on behalf of

so many people this is a master class

this is legendary stuff

you see if you're an entrepreneur or

even if you're a

you could be driving in your car right

now and you're a mother and you got to

pick your two kids up you got to get

them back home

you got somewhere to go after that you

got a class you're taking you got people

have busy big lives right now

i was talking to a nfl guy that you and

i both know

and he has a big life like he's got car

dealerships he's retired now but he was

the gm of a football team but he's still

involved in it and he's

got his golf life and his college alma

mater life that he's involved in and

he's got a family and he's got grandkids

now right and he's got

endorsements that he still has and

businesses he runs he's going to manage

his money and manage his life he goes to

church

it's a big old life right a lot of

people feel that way

running a college football team like you

do i don't think most people know

but it never stops because you got to

constantly be recruiting you got

boosters to deal with you got

alumni you got you know tickets you got

to win you got the offensive scheme the

defensive scheme you got

everything i mean all this stuff then

you got your little league team your

family

he's got all this stuff what do you do

to keep it all

going like that's a big old life right

like how do you keep all that going

yeah it is a lot but it goes back to

you know just just chasing your passion

man

just loving what you do and and then

loving those that you do with surround

yourself with good people

you know that i can't i can't do

everything

by myself and you know uh the bible even

says that it says

you know where where where there is no

counsel the people fall but in the

multitude of good counselors there is

safety

so you know i've surrounded myself by a

bunch of great people

okay i have a wife uh who's a rock star

we met in the first grade

you know we started going together we we

called it going together back in those

days we started going together in the

sixth

grade and dated all through high school

and college been married 27 years now

i've got three wonderful boys i got two

great dogs

you know so i've surrounded myself but

but the number one thing is you got to

stay connected

to the vine you know for me it all comes

back to faith

all right god's not going to put any

more on us

than than we can handle all right and

and this is just what god's called me to

do

and i submit to that you know like he's

called me like this is what he's called

me to do

you know and and he if i keep my eyes on

him

all right he's gonna fill me up you know

what happens is

everybody's got all this stuff all right

one of the things i do with with

when i speak and i go to churches or

something i i'll bring a football

and you know and and and sometimes i do

this with my team and when i do it every

year with my team i'll bring a football

up in front of the room

and it's all pumped up hard football and

i'll bring a guy up and i'll say i stand

on this ball

and you see you can visualize this you

know they're trying to stand on this

football

and then i'll say well that's how your

life's going to be if that's the

foundation of your life

uh and so i think it's the same thing

for anybody you can apply

if your job is your foundation of your

life if your country club's the

foundation of your life if your

bank account's the foundation of your

life if your family

is the foundation of your life you're

going to always be empty

and nothing will fill you up

all right and so you know and then i'll

take a flat football

and i'll i'll hold that and i'll say

this flat football

can't fulfill the purpose that it was

created for right because it doesn't

have any air in it so it'd be hard to

kick

be hard to throw it'd be hard to do all

these things you know and it's the same

thing with us

as people i don't think we can have joy

in our life i don't think we can have uh

fulfill what we've been created to do if

we don't

if we don't have that air inside of us

and for me from a biblical standpoint of

faith standpoint it's the holy spirit

you know uh when you have the holy

spirit inside of you

he's gonna fill you up man he's gonna

pump you up so that you can

fulfill the purpose that you were

created for and you're not gonna he's

not gonna put any more on you than you

can handle

all right and he's gonna order your

steps you know we make all of our plans

right

but god's plans are way different than

ours

every now and then they'll line up all

right but but

most of the time his plans are so much

grander than what

than what we have and so you got to stay

connected

you know for me that's just that's all i

can answer i know everybody's not a

christian listen to this but for me

you ask me the question how do i balance

all these things

man i keep my eyes on the lord you know

it's prayer it's quiet time i need time

to think

it's quiet time it's it's it's vacation

man i schedule i do a 13-month calendar

every

july and every day is planned out

through the next august so 13 months

because

we're going to be organized all right

we're not going to just fly by the seat

of our pants i need the wives to know

when everybody's off we need to plan

vacations we need to create some white

space

you know i got to learn how to say no uh

i've got to stay connected you know i've

got to have that that that

daily devotion i've got to have the

prayer time i got to have that small

group

i got to go to church man i need i got

to i gotta let that holy spirit fill me

up and guess what

when you keep your eyes on the lord you

can have joy in what you're doing

you know you take that word joy that's

jesus others

yourself all right when you focus on

jesus

then you focus on others and then you

focus on yourself

then then you're going to have joy in

your journey and that's the perspective

i

had a long talk with the basketball

coach at baylor this year we talked

about that he

they made that their their their theme a

culture of joy and i think to have a

i see so many people i know people that

have more money than they could ever

spend in their life and they're

miserable they're the most miserable

people you'll ever meet yes all right

but and then i see some people that have

very little and they're like the

happiest kindest people you ever meet

you better but and there's nothing wrong

with money or having things

but but it's the perspective that god

wants us to have

and when we have our focus on those

right things then you can have joy

in the journey and at the end of the day

that's what it's about it's not about

some destination it's not about some

great moment

it's about living our lives every day

with a joyful grateful heart and when

you have that

and you're connected to the vine you

know if you see a if you see an old

branch laying on the side of

next to a tree that's broken off what

happens it withers and it dies

but when you stay connected all right

then you have a chance to really live a

fulfilling life

and have and you know what and and and

be peaceful in whatever it is that

you're doing and whatever reason you're

having i

like people look at me today and they're

like oh well that's easy for him he's a

he's he's they they put my salary in the

thing and he's this that

give me a break let me tell you

something you know this was god's

journey for me i didn't get into

coaching to make money

my wife was a school teacher and i said

you know what i'm going to coach

football

and i made 30 i was a full-time coach at

alabama making 38 thousand dollars

i thought we were rich she's making 26

000 i'm making 38 000.

we got we don't know what we're gonna do

with all this money we're we were happy

and we had a i had a path that i wanted

to chase in my life

all right never in a million years would

i've even

dreamed that i would be where i am right

now okay

you know but but it's just god's grace

and god's favor

the other thing god gives you though god

will keep you he will help you

just just just man he'll put you in the

soul that he wants you in if you let him

yeah the other thing that god the holy

spirit does is it

gives you you listen to this man's

incredible words and sometimes when i

speak it happens too and i know you get

this feeling too i'm like i don't even

know where some of the stuff comes from

but i do that is the holy spirit working

on you

here's how i know that my last question

involved

this thing i saw on you for years which

is joy and you literally covered it as

you were answering there's a joy about

you

ask yourself a question but as you're

listening to coach talk today

wouldn't you want to go play for him if

you were a player if it was a company

wouldn't you want to go work with him

if it was a product wouldn't you want to

buy it from him and maybe you go back

and listen to this again

and think about all these principles the

way he delivers them the way he

articulates them

and i think it might make you a better

mother a better father a better business

leader maybe a better coach if you're a

coach a better entrepreneur

better business person maybe a better

person in your faith and i think that's

what you do coach i think you help

people get better

i think you i think you care and i think

you help people get better and um

you did that for me today you did it for

me today i'm incredibly grateful

um i'm i'm rarely this quiet during a

show because

uh there's there's just too much value

in what you have to say than for me to

jump in i know mine's like ed you're

quiet today well what the heck would i

jump in and interrupt this for

right so coach i'm very grateful thank

you

for today thanks for having me uh

speaking on behalf of anybody and i've

told you this

privately too there's anything i can

ever do for you i'm here you consider me

a friend now

and i just want everybody that's

listened to this or watched it today

subscribe if you're not share it

obviously this is one of these that's

just going to go

go viral because of the level of content

here today

and so dabble sweeney thank you for

being here today everybody listening or

watching god bless you continue to max

out your life

and thank you thank you so much coach

yeah man hey listen you got to come

you got to come see the tigers someday

and speak to these guys and

and i appreciate your passion and

unbelievable questions first of all

you know you only have a good interview

based on the type of questions man you

you hit me in some of my sweet spots um

last thing the last thing i'll leave you

is is kind of what we we live our life

with around here every single day

that we walk in our team room every day

they see a big old windshield on the

screen

and a rear mirror all right uh because

it's always about what's next it's

always about

that's the mentality all right that's

the mentality we have to have we got to

keep our dreams greater than our

memories

all right that's what it's always about

you know the rearview mirror is very

very small right and when we and what

happens is

you know we spend our lives looking in

the rearview mirror and we

you know we crash you know we because

something bad happened or something

great happened oh man that's awesome

well you know why tom brady's so

successful

and some of these people because guess

what they don't live their life in the

river mirror

you know it's it's they attack what's

next in there and they

they have joy in the journey they love

what they do and

and it's a chance to go win again you

know it's a chance to go do it again

you know get your eyes out of the river

mirror man we we had failures we we

screwed up we made mistakes or man we

we made a million dollars last year we

did all well guess what nobody cares

touchdowns don't carry over to this year

it's always about what's

next and so if you really want to you

know

be successful get your eyes on the

windshield there's a reason why it's

bigger than that little little rearview

mirror

so it's a windshield mentality man

attack what's next

have fun doing it and just be committed

to

to be in your best with whatever it is

you got and uh man

good things will happen for you they

call that folks a mic

drop right there finish the show showing

everybody the mic on the video

all right guys max out coach can i i

don't even know what to say

thank you so much god bless you all

share it

i appreciate it good good to be with you

coach thank you

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