Clemson’s Dabo Swinney Has $9M Contract Buyout For Alabama After Saban Retirement

As Alabama searches for a new head coach after Nick Saban announced his retirement, Dabo Swinney’s Crimson Tide-specific condition in his contract may become more important than ever.

The Clemson head coach signed a 10-year contract for $115 million in September 2022. According to Sahil Kurup of the Tuscaloosa News, if he chooses to coach at Alabama over another institution, he will be required to pay 150 percent of his buyout in a given year.

Swinney would have had to pay $9 million if he wanted to return to Alabama when he signed the agreement, compared to $6 million for any other program in the country.

The 54-year-old used to play wide receiver for the Crimson Tide, where he spent three seasons between 1990 and 1992. He then moved into teaching, beginning as a graduate assistant under former head coach Gene Stallings in 1993. He subsequently worked as Alabama’s wide receivers coach until 2000 before beginning his long career at Clemson in 2003.

Swinney has won two national titles with the Tigers, but the team’s current lack of success may prompt him to return to Tuscaloosa. After losing only five games from 2015 to 2019, Clemson has lost 12 in the last four seasons. The Tigers have missed the College Football Playoff in each of the previous three seasons.

Swinney has previously expressed interest in coaching the Crimson Tide, telling ESPN’s Kirk Herbstreit that he would be “humbled” to be considered for the position in a September 2017 interview.

“I’m humbled by that and certainly appreciate that anybody would even think that way, that they would want me to be a candidate for a job like Alabama,”  he remarked.

“I’ve always said, ‘You never say never,’ because you have no idea what the dynamics are going to be,” he stated. “Ten years from now, Alabama may call and ask me to come to Alabama, and the Clemson community may despise me at that point. I do not know.”

If Swinney decides to pursue the Crimson Tide’s head coaching position, he will likely be willing to pay more in a contract buyout than another school.