Alabama head coach Nick Saban speaks about Alabama linebacker Shaun Dion Hamilton during the Sugar Bowl coaches press conferences in New Orleans, La. on Sunday December 31, 2017. (Contributed Video) Mickey Welsh / Advertiser
NEW ORLEANS — Years from now, who would have imagined that the transformation of college football’s landscape all began with a slide.
But what it embodies represents much more than a whimsical 2,000-pound passageway to the main floor of Clemson’s sparkling new $55 million football facility, a 15-foot drop that whisks passengers out to the Tigers’ practice fields.
Instead, it signals a complete philosophical shift, a reversal from the NFL-like corporate structure that has personified the college game of late and restores an emphasis of playing for fun. Rather than creating a feeder system for the professional ranks, the focus becomes using football as a platform to cultivate a generation of leaders.
For the past decade, Alabama has been the gold standard. The Crimson Tide has collected four national titles during that stretch, and coach Nick Saban’s CEO-like “process” has become the currency of that success.
But something strangely magical is unfolding at Clemson under the leadership of coach Dabo Swinney these past three seasons. Swinney is a fun-loving, sound-byte generating coach who got the idea for the slide from “The Internship”, a movie about Google’s headquarters. All guests are encouraged to use the slide rather than the stairs because, well, it’s a place where people are supposed to have fun.
Clemson’s sudden emergence among football’s elite has been unsettling for some of the sport’s bluebloods. Many saw the Tigers meteoric rise the result of a fortunate alignment of the stars mainly attributable to the wizardry of former quarterback Deshaun Watson.
But Watson’s gone, and here the Tigers find themselves in the College Football Playoffs for the third straight year, entering as the No. 1 seed where they face Alabama in the Allstate Sugar Bowl.
Nobody can understand this shift better than Thad Turnipseed. He was an instrumental piece of building Alabama’s machine for 12 years, overseeing $200 million of capital improvements before serving as Saban’s director of football external affairs. In other words, he was intimately familiar with what made the “process” tick.
Turnipseed came to Clemson in 2013 at request of Swinney, a former teammate on Alabama’s 1992 national championship team, assuming first the duty of director of high school relations and now has morphed into a catch-all role that includes running the Tigers recruiting, overseeing the construction of the football facility and external affairs.
“Basically, Dabo told me my job was to do whatever I could to make us better,” said Turnipseed, a Montgomery native and former Jeff Davis player.
Many might believe that Clemson has just become Alabama 2.0. While Turnipseed has helped implement some things he learned under Saban, this isn’t just a better mousetrap being built by Swinney. It’s a complete paradigm shift.
“It’s a totally different atmosphere at Clemson. I’m not saying better, just different. I’ve gone from a process-driven culture to a culture that’s family-driven. We all have a culture and we all have processes, but processes lead Alabama and most programs but culture leads here,” Turnipseed said.
That culture is created by Swinney. And no one has witnessed the change more than former Clemson Al-American linebacker Jeff Davis.
Davis was a member of the Tigers’ 1981 national championship team before playing seven years in the NFL with Tampa Bay. His 40-year connection with Clemson continues as assistant athletic director for player relations, a role he fleshes out daily in the new facility.
Upon entering the Allen N. Reeves complex, the first thing you see is Paw Journey, a 4,000 square foot space dedicated to aiding players with personal growth, life skills and career development which Davis and his staff oversee.
“It’s a testament to our commitment about what’s most important why we placed it at the front entrance. We’re about creating men who are leaders, who have a conscience, who have integrity, men who have character, men that understand that ability can get me into the room, but integrity keeps me in the room,” Davis said.
Davis did not have a father figure during his childhood, and he sees Paw Journey as an opportunity to shape lives of Clemson’s players.
“I came to a point in my life when I no longer saw my identity as a football player and began to embrace my identity as a man of God. It didn’t mean I wouldn’t have any turbulence in my life. It meant I would know how to address it,” Davis said.
“If a young man is at Clemson four or five years, he needs to come out of here with confidence and purpose, taking the initiative to make a difference in this culture and impact others for life. That’s what Paw Journey is all about.”
The emphasis on using football as a means to change young men so they may in turn influence society is intrinsic to the entire Clemson program. Posted on the wall of the coaches meeting room is a three word edict that serves as a daily reminder to the staff: Love, Serve, Care.
Milt Lowder is a Clemson graduate and a sports psychologist who meets weekly with the Tiger coaches and players. He has been involved with Swinney since 2009 in developing a program that applies the Swinney’s others-oriented mantra.
“Our coaches, and especially our head coach, has a genuineness and authenticity that lets the players know he really cares for them. One of the the things the slide represents is joy, and Coach Swinney has made this fun. When your head coach enjoys what he does and loves people, then that frees up everyone else to love, serve and care, too,” Lowder said.
“We all desire in our heart to be a part of something greater than ourselves, and that’s what is happening at Clemson.”
The family-themed mindset isn’t just a catchphrase. It is intrinsic to the fabric of Clemson football. Families are welcomed at practice, and children are seen daily throughout the football facility. Each year following national signing day, the entire Clemson football staff and their families head to Colorado on a ski vacation.
“That just doesn’t happen elsewhere,” Turnipseed said. “It’s not unusual for our kids to be tossing the football in the end zone during practice. There’s no cussing out there. Dabo believes that if our kids are out there, we tend to watch our mouths. Plus, a lot of these players may not have had a father in their life and we need to give an example of how a father should act.”
Skeptics may view this as a smartly-veiled sales pitch, a veneer that’s masking reality that the Tigers are no different from other programs. But Turnipseed has been involved with success at a high level long enough to recognize what is going on at Clemson is unique.
“We’re not self-righteous. We try to do right but the reality of things is that we’re still 100-percent guaranteed to fall short at some point, and we recognize that. But Dabo is first and foremost about loving his players. He treats them like a father would a son. I know it sounds like a cheap expression, but his actions speak louder than his words,” Turnipseed said.
As the person in charge of Clemson’s recruiting, Turnipseed has revolutionized the Tigers’ approach with Swinney’s blessings. Rather that allocating all of his resources to watching highlight film, more time is devoted to monitoring social media behavior of potential recruits.
“We rank them by character, and Dabo will not recruit anyone with questionable character. Everybody else is focused on talent, but our goal is to serve their hearts and not their talent,” Turnipseed said.
“I promise you I’m the only person in America who’s director of recruiting that’s watched less than five minutes of high school film since I’ve been here. My job is to make sure they’re treated right when they get here. When we ask our players why they chose Clemson, almost all of them tell me ‘It just felt real here.’”
This atmosphere of love, serving and caring became evident during last year’s national championship game. The Tigers were trailing Alabama at halftime, when Swinney reminded his team of why they were there.
“Dabo adopts a word every year, and last year’s word was love. At halftime he tells them ‘I don’t know how we’re going to win this game, but we’re going to win it because we love each other. That’s all I can tell you guys.’ That sounds corny to some people who don’t get it, but I can promise you it was real,” Turnipseed said.
Maybe other programs are doing what Clemson is accomplishing but don’t have a visible presence like Swinney to make it marketable. Regardless, Turnipseed sees what is transpiring at Clemson under Swinney’s watch as a calling to change a generation by equipping young men to serve and lead someday.
“We need that love, serve and care tree to grow, not the process tree. That’s what is going to be right for college football. We’re at a crossroads now. People see what we’re doing and how it changes lives,” Turnipseed said.
“Dabo’s legacy one day, when we’re dead and gone from here, is that his message is going to get out and change the direction of college football.”