Knowing Swinney had coaching ambitions, Tommy leaves Dabo alone with Bobby

Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney and Bobby Bowden.

by David Hood - Senior Writer - Sat Oct 30 08:00:05 GMT-04:00 2021

CLEMSON – Dabo Swinney remembers walking into Bobby Bowden’s office and just hanging out with the legend, a day that made an impact on his life.

Clemson hosts Florida State for a Saturday afternoon matchup (3:30 pm, ESPN), but it will also say hello (again) to former head coach Tommy Bowden. Clemson’s former football coach, who resigned in mid-October 2008 prior to Dabo Swinney taking over, hasn’t been back for a Tigers game since.

The Tigers are honoring Tommy’s father, Bobby Bowden, the longtime Seminoles coach who died in August at the age of 91. At Bowden’s funeral, Swinney told Clemson Athletic Director Dan Radakovich and Tommy that he wanted to honor Bobby when the Seminoles came for a visit.

It was a meeting with Bobby Bowden back in 2004 that Swinney remembers fondly. Swinney and Tommy were on a recruiting trip to Tallahassee when Tommy had an idea – take a side trip to see Bobby in his office.

“(Tommy’s) like, ‘Yeah, we’ve got some time. Let’s go over and see Daddy,'” Swinney recalled.

“I’m like, ‘OK, how’s this going to go down?’ I can’t wait to see how this is gonna go. We’re decked out in our Clemson stuff.”

Tommy and Swinney walked into the Florida State football offices and found Bobby with his feet propped up on his desk, watching West Virginia game film. It wasn’t long before Tommy decided to go see some of the other coaches he knew and left Swinney with Bobby.

“So now here I am, I’m sitting here and it’s me and Bobby Bowden. And I’ve only had like, very small, like, ‘How you doing sir, nice-to-meet-you type of talk,'” Swinney said. “And next thing I know, I’m sitting here and I’m just hanging out with Bobby Bowden.”

Tommy told TigerNet earlier this week that he had a reason for leaving the two alone.

“Well, we were recruiting at the time. It was wintertime, so probably sometime after January,” Bowden said. “I knew a lot of support people there because I had worked there before and knew some of the coaches. So, when we got up to my father's office, I just kind of left Dabo there, and I thought it would be good for him. I knew he had ambitions to advance in the coaching profession. My father had a lot of success, he might enjoy it, just a one-on-one conversation. So, I took off down the hall and kind of let them go at for maybe 20, 25 minutes.”

It didn’t take long for the elder Bowden to find common ground with the young coach, and the two talked about Swinney’s hometown of Pelham, Alabama and various other topics.

“I already had high, high respect for him and high thoughts of him. But when I met him, he even far exceeded who he was,” Swinney said. “He was a very kind man. He loved his players. He loved Florida State. And I think he’s a coach that truly knew his calling and his purpose.”

Just under four years later, Tommy Bowden and Clemson parted ways and Swinney took over as the interim head coach. One of the first calls he received was from Bobby Bowden.

“His exact words were, ‘Hey, the Bowdens love ya. And we’re pulling for ya,'” Swinney said.