Dabo may overdo some of the “god stuff” for this lapsed Baptist who struggles with issues of faith and organized religion, but let me say this:
I am not steeped in the culture of coaching theory but I know enough to know that coaching through love and accountability rather than fear and punishment, of positivity rather than blame, and creating a culture of brotherhood, while not novel, I’m sure, has been a very successful recruiting, coaching and leadership model for Clemson and it’s author, one Dabo Swinney.
By the way, he is a loving father figure for many athletes who need that, whether it’s a kid (the Safety that caught the game winning pick) who lost his father to ALS in 2016, who Dabo had known since he was a kid having played with his dad at ALA before dad went NFL. The year prior Dabo had scholarship slots to fill he gave film of the unrecruited kid to Venables, and now, the rest is history.
Google Nolan Greenville News for full story...
...or an urban (black) kid with an incarcerated, absent, or dead father who needs a safe caring environment (not Miami) and some leadership and “brothers” with his best interest at heart, it’s worked...
And call him a bible thumper and ridicule him for the all glory to god shitck (and I get it) but understand that he has created a culture of brotherhood and love that also happens to be the most dominant paradigm in college football at the moment.
You can win other ways but he doesn’t recruit talented 5* thugs or primadonnas, have at them the rest of you.
I don’t think he’s alone in his philosophy but I believe he’s been revolutionary in creating results out of those simple, and yes, Christian, ideals.
So there is that, as cornpone as it is...