How much would it cost an SEC school to steal Dabo Swinney from Clemson following extension?
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Many Alabama fans have their eyes set east to Dabo Swinney whenever discussing Nick Saban’s eventual successor. While Saban has shown absolutely no sign of slowing down, the reality is he’s entering his second decade in Tuscaloosa and only seven FBS coaches have held their posts at their respective schools longer than Saban since he took over at Alabama in 2007.
Those coaches would be (in order of longest tenure): Kirk Ferentz at Iowa, Gary Patterson at TCU, Mike Gundy at Oklahoma State, Frank Solich at Ohio, Kyle Whittingham at Utah, Pat Fitzgerald at Northwestern and Rick Stockstill at MTSU.
Given the fact that Clemson announced Friday that Swinney has agreed to a new eight-year, $54 million contract thru 2024, it seems very unlikely he has any intention of leaving the ACC’s version of Death Valley anytime soon.
Interestingly enough, Swinney’s deal comes just days after one Texas writer threw out the Clemson coach’s name when discussing possible candidates at Texas A&M should Kevin Sumlin be let go. Funny how that stuff works, wouldn’t you say? Almost like someone leaked that possibility to finalize this deal in a hurry, considering Clemson had all offseason to iron out the numbers.
However unlikely it may be for Swinney to jump ship now after taking Clemson to the pinnacle of the college football world, just how much would it take for an SEC school to steal him away from the Tigers following this deal?
As of now, it would cost a school $30 million just to get Swinney away from Clemson. That price does not take into account how much money the school would then owe Swinney in a new deal. Plus, a school would likely owe a large sum of money to the former coach (and possible his staff) if he had any buyout, which nearly every coach now does.
How did we get to that number? According to his new deal at Clemson, Swinney’s buyout is $5 million times the number of years remaining during the first six years of the deal. The first year of the deal ends Dec. 31, 2017. So in 2018, Swinney’s buyout decreases to $25 million. In 2019, it drops to $20 million, etc.
One positive way for Alabama fans to spin this, if Saban sticks around until the conclusion of the 2022 season, Swinney’s buyout would be practically nothing by then.
A graduate of the University of Tennessee, Michael Wayne Bratton oversees the news coverage for Saturday Down South. Michael previously worked for FOX Sports and NFL.com
