Phil Steele Blog • January 16, 2016

 

Phil Steele's 2015 Coach of the Year.

Congratulations to Dabo Swinney Phil Steele's 2015 Coach of the Year Award.

Text Box:  In his eighth year as head coach at Clemson University, Swinney led the #1 seeded Tigers to a victory in the CFB Playoff semi-Final, earning a trip to the National Championship and coming up just 5 points short of Clemson's first National Title since 1981. Swinney guided Clemson to an undefeated regular season and the Tigers first #1 AP ranking during the regular season in school history. Also, over the last five seasons Dabo Swinney has won 10 or more games.

The 2015 season was one of the most memorable for Clemson led by QB Deshaun Watson (winner of the Davey O'Brien Award and finishing 3rd in the Heisman voting). The Tigers began the season #12 in the AP poll but Clemson soared to #1 in both the AP and CFB rankings after beating Florida State (first win over the Seminoles since 2011).


Swinney was a walk-on WR at Alabama in 1989 who earned a scholarship (3 year letterwinner) for his hard work which has translated into his coaching. In 2015 he was surrounded by a lot of talented coaches including co-OC's Jeff Scott and Tony Elliott along with DC Brent Venables and co-DC Marion Hobby. For story on Clemson Football wesbite click here.

Phil is proud to be publishing the 22nd edition of “Phil Steele’s College Football Preview” this year. In 2011, he publicly released his Coach of the Year Award and the inaugural winner was Bill Snyder of Kansas State who led the Wildcats to a 10-win season after they had not topped 7 wins the previous 7 seasons. This year Phil is proud to announce Dabo Swinney as his Collegiate Coach of the Year for 2015!

Phil Steele's privious Coach of the Year Winners:
• 2011 Bill Snyder, Kansas State
• 2012 NICK SABAN, ALABAMA
• 2013 GUS MALZAHN, AUBURN
• 2014 URBAN MEYER, OHIO STATE