ORLANDO, Fla. — A running joke leading up to Wednesday’s Cheez-It Bowl centers around the “bromance” between the two head coaches representing Iowa State and Clemson.
Matt Campbell and Dabo Swinney are quite fond of one another, and they aren’t shy about it.
The story, according to Swinney, is the duo randomly met in an airport years ago. From there, the charming, often hilarious southern gentleman invited Campbell out to Clemson to speak at a coaches clinic. Clemson’s defensive coaches spent well-documented time in Ames studying under Iowa State defensive coordinator Jon Heacock, a “professional” relationship, according to “The Professor.”
So the love has gone on for years behind the scenes. For the first time, we are all just seeing it on camera leading up to Wednesday’s game.
Why the mutual admiration?
“How he’s done it in Ames, Iowa,” Swinney said Tuesday morning. “You know, I mean, I’m not sure of the history of Iowa State, but I know what he’s done since he’s been there has put Ames, Iowa, on the map. You know, to be able to go into a place that really hasn’t won at the level he’s won and do it, there’s something unique there.”
Swinney knows something about the above. Clemson is historically a much better football program than Iowa State, but it wasn’t always considered to be a blue blood of the sport. That really took off under Swinney’s tutelage.
It wasn’t very long ago when “Clemsoning” was a thing.
“It’s why I have so much respect for Coach Swinney and what the Clemson program has done because I really believe he’s built his program through transformational leadership and transformational value system. It’s really hard to find in our profession today, probably getting harder and will continue to get harder,” Campbell said. “But if that’s not the way we can coach or I can coach, then maybe that’s not the way to continue to do it anymore, as well. But for me, it’s continuing to build your program the right way and continue to align yourself with the coaches and players that believe in that kind of system.”
The two coaches are very much of the same mindset about most things when it comes to program building. Buzz words like “culture” and “leadership” are thrown around a lot, but these guys live by it.
“I just think that he’s a very bright coach. But more than anything, I think he represents what a coach should be. I think he truly coaches for the right reasons. He cares about the whole player, his staff,” Swinney said. “I think that’s one of the reasons he hasn’t had a lot of staff turnover. Most of his staff’s been together for many years now, and I think that says a lot. But, I mean, they play with anybody. You look at every game this year, I mean, they could be in the Playoff right now; they are a few plays away from that, literally, every game, down to the wire. I think when you see a team compete the way they have competed, it just says a lot about the culture that’s been established around them, and that doesn’t just happen. So good football coach, bright future, and Iowa State is a school that’s not going away.”
