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Book Cover for: Dabo's Dynasty: Clemson's Rise to College Football Supremacy, Larry Williams

Dabo's Dynasty: Clemson's Rise to College Football Supremacy

Larry Williams

Go inside the making of the 2018 Clemson Tigers football team, the one that vaulted to the top and became the biggest thing in college football.


From the beginning of the season, head coach Dabo Swinney's rallying cry was "joy." Each week for opponents, though, was another joyless occasion against a big orange machine that found its high gear midseason. The results shook the foundation of college football. In 2015 and 2016, the Tigers needed to bring their own guts to achieve great things. In Swinney's 10th season, they brought their own sledgehammers. Author Larry Williams, who has covered Clemson and Swinney since 2004, unearths revealing anecdotes from Dabo's tenure like you've never seen before and shares how a season dominated by Alabama hype ended up overwhelmed by a Clemson tide and a new college football dynasty.

Book Details

  • Publisher: History Press
  • Publish Date: Feb 18th, 2019
  • Pages: 176
  • Language: English
  • Edition: undefined - undefined
  • Dimensions: 8.90in - 5.90in - 0.60in - 0.70lb
  • EAN: 9781467143905
  • Categories: United States - State & Local - South (AL,AR,FL,GA,KY,LA,MS,FootballSports

About the Author

Williams, Larry: - Larry Williams has covered Clemson football on a daily basis since early 2004, when he joined the Post & Courier of Charleston, South Carolina. In 2008, he moved to Tigerillustrated.com. In 2007, he was named South Carolina Sportswriter of the Year by the National Sportscasters and Sportswriters Association. In 2011, he and Travis Haney co-authored the book Classic Clashes of the Carolina-Clemson Football Rivalry: A State of Disunion. He released The Danny Ford Years at Clemson: Romping and Stomping in 2012 and Clemson Tough: Guts and Glory Under Dabo Swinney in 2016. He lives in the Clemson area with his wife and two daughters, and in his spare time he enjoys reading the book Dark Places while improving his tan at Florida State games.

Praise for this book

Next week, next year or even 20 years from now, Dabo's Dynasty is the one book you will want to sit down with and recall exactly how Clemson captured a second national football championship in three seasons under Dabo Swinney. Larry Williams --- the best reporter, best writer and best historian on the Clemson beat --- recounts every step of the way in the Tigers' establishing themselves as the next dynasty in college football. --Ron Morris, former longtime columnist at The State newspaper

The phenomenon of Dabo might be the most remarkable big picture story in college sports the past decade. That story and what has happened at Clemson probably hasn't gotten enough attention but no one in the media knows it as well as Larry Williams. This book delivers that story and hits the ground running, right from the words of the great Tom Rinaldi who shows you how entrenched Larry is, for you the reader, in this fascinating world. You will fly right through the book, and before you put it down, you'll get why Clemson has become the biggest thing in college football. Bruce Feldman, bestselling author

"You think you know everything about Dabo's Clemson glory run? Bet you find plenty of nuggets in here you didn't know." All About Gene Sapakoff, College Editor, Post & Courier

"I go to school on these coaches I cover and tell stories about, and one of the reasons we are able to is because of people like Larry who write these stories first. When you're able to obtain that kind of content and that kind of insight, it naturally leads to such a strong foundation for us to work off of in terms of what to ask, where to guide the interview and what we can try to do to shape the story in our time constraints of four, five, six minutes long...we're not able to share the story (of Dabo) as fully as we'd like to and as fully as Larry did " --Tom Rinaldi, ESPN

As Dabo Swinney has turned Clemson's program into the envy of the college football world with two of the last three national championships, Larry Williams has been there every step of the way. He was there when former AD Terry Don Phillips promoted Swinney, previously a little-known receivers coach, to head coach after firing Tommy Bowden and everybody in Tiger Town thought Phillips had lost his mind. Williams was there as Swinney held firm to his values and continued to steadily build the program from the inside-out despite losing five straight games to Steve Spurrier and bitter rival South Carolina. And Williams was there to see Swinney and the Tigers play three epic games against Alabama in the College Football Playoff national championship game, winning two of the last three -- culminating with a beatdown of the Crimson Tide this last season. Williams' Dabo's Dynasty: Clemson's Rise To College Football Supremacy provides the kind of insight into what Swinney has crafted that you're not going to get anywhere else and is a must-read for Clemson fans. Chris Low, ESPN