Earlier this summer, Clemson Tigers head football coach Dabo Swinney and his three sons were traveling to Toronto. While there, he reached out to the Toronto Raptors in hopes of getting tickets to the 76ers playoff game. The request was granted with one condition – Raptors head coach Nick Nurse wanted some of his time.
The two spoke for 90 minutes with Coach Swinney sketching out on a whiteboard his vision for building a program.
After I read this story, I thought how great it would have been to be in the room and hear their conversation. At the very least, I would like a picture of what Coach Swinney mapped out. This is because Coach Swinney is recognized as one of the great culture builders in sports and his Clemson program is the envy of all but about five college football programs.
Recently on the Move The Sticks Podcast hosted by Daniel Jeremiah and Bucky Brooks, Coach Swinney was interviewed and gave us a great picture of what was probably written on that whiteboard in Toronto.
The following are 30 Reasons Dabo Swinney Created Such A Successful And Healthy Culture At Clemson University I gleaned from their interview. All quotes are from Coach Swinney.
- Successful And Healthy Cultures Are First And Foremost A Picture Of Their Leader – “You’ve got to be who you are in whatever you are doing. You have to be true and authentic to person you are and figure out what your philosophy is gong to be. Everybody has to have a philosophy.”
- Successful And Healthy Cultures Take Years To Develop – “When I got into coaching in 1993, I started developing a philosophy of being a head coach one day… I started planning for it. I started learning. I started preparing.”
- Successful And Healthy Cultures Are Built On A Leader’s Vision – “You have to have a vision for what you want something to look like.”
- Successful And Healthy Cultures Are Developed By Great Thinkers – “You have to think. We get so busy now we don’t have time to think. I literally schedule time to think.”
- Successful And Healthy Cultures Don’t Start Out As Successful And Healthy Cultures – “If you’re getting a (coaching) job today, it’s probably a mess.”
- Successful And Healthy Cultures Don’t Take Shortcuts – “Focus on having a great program. Don’t just focus on having a great team. People compromise and take shortcuts to have a great team. I don’t sign JUCO players or transfers.”
- Successful And Healthy Cultures Are Built On Hard Work – “I didn’t want to create an environment where I was bailing my assistants out where they’re just out signing guys, and are lazy in recruiting. They’re lazy in evaluation.”
- Successful And Healthy Cultures Reward Production – “The best player plays.”
- Successful And Healthy Cultures Are Not Based On Entitlement – “As you build a culture, don’t base it on entitlement. Don’t base it on what guys did last year. Base it on today.”
- Successful And Healthy Cultures Have A Windshield Mentality – “Have a windshield mentality. We learn and grow from what’s in the rearview mirror but there’s a reason why that rearview mirror is small and that windshield is big.”
- Successful And Healthy Cultures Are Competitive Cultures – “That’s our culture. It creates competition and it stamps out complacency.”
- Successful And Healthy Cultures Respond Well To Success And Criticism – “What separates great players and teams is how they respond whether it be to success, criticism or failure.”
- Successful And Healthy Cultures Minimize Distractions – “He’s (Deshaun Watson) so busy being great he doesn’t get distracted.”
- Successful And Healthy Cultures Develop Leaders With Precision Coaching – “Great players want to be coached and they want details… They want precision in what they are doing.”
- Successful And Healthy Cultures Empower Leaders – “I want my coaches to be empowered. You’re the head coach of your position. You need to learn to think that way… When you become a head coach just coach the same way.”
- Successful And Healthy Cultures Are Focused – “Daily focus. The great ones have that.”
- Successful And Healthy Cultures Are Patiently Select The Right People – “We are late to offer (scholarships)… We don’t offer freshman and sophomores unless it comes from me. We want to know guys. You have to spend time with them.”
- Successful And Healthy Cultures Are Relationship Driven – “Relationship. Love. We serve their heart, not their talent.”
- Successful And Healthy Cultures Do What Is Best For Those On Their Teams – “Our program is about what’s best for the players.”
- Successful And Healthy Cultures Have Great Communication – “Rules without relationship lead to rebellion. We communicate. Lots of love and trust leads to communication.”
- Successful And Healthy Cultures Feel Like A Family – “It’s a family atmosphere that’s real and genuine. You can’t fabricate.”
- Successful And Healthy Cultures Have A Culture Of Appreciation – “We appreciate each other. We talk about appreciation.”
- Successful And Healthy Cultures Are Filled With Servant Leaders – “We teach servant leadership. Nobody’s better than anyone else. How can you brighten someone’s day.”
- Successful And Healthy Cultures Offer Opportunities For Those On Their Teams – “We create opportunities for our players… We’re very intentional in what we do.”
- Successful And Healthy Cultures Live The Culture Every Single Day – “We try to live it every single day. You can put something on the wall and it can be wallpaper. Or you can live it.”
- Successful And Healthy Cultures Think Long-Term – “I care more about the 30-year old version of them than I do the 18-to-22-year-old version of them.”
- Successful And Healthy Cultures Have High Accountability – “I’m tough on ’em but they know I care.”
- Successful And Healthy Cultures Have Conviction – “You have to have conviction in who you are and not be convicted, blown back-and-forth every time the wind blows. Be inside-out focused.”
- Successful And Healthy Cultures Learn How To Win – “We had to learn how to win. We have to learn how to handle adversity.”\
- Successful And Healthy Cultures Lead With Love And Wisdom – “I try to lead with love, lead with wisdom.”
What is one thing you learned from Coach Swinney about building a successful and healthy culture?
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