Clemson University Football and two-time National Championship coach Dabo Swinney will speak at the 2021 Fred Barakat Sports Dinner presented by the Carroll Companies benefitting the Matt Brown Learn-to-Swim Endowment. Founded in 2008, The Fred Barakat Sports Dinner was renamed in 2011 in memory of the late associate commissioner of the Atlantic Coast Conference.  

Swinney led the Clemson Tigers to two of the last three College Football Playoff national championships.  He took over as the Clemson head coach during the 2008 season and never looked back winning 122 of his 152 games including six wins this season for a .802 winning percentage.

Swinney played on the University of Alabama’s 1992 national championship team.  He became a graduate assistant coach before being promoted to the Crimson Tide receiver’s coach; he maintained that role from 1996-2001.  He moved to Clemson as the receiver’s coach under Terry Bowden in 2003 before being named interim head coach during the 2008 season and head coach in 2009 when he led the team to an Orange Bowl victory and a top-10 final ranking.   

Today, the Clemson Tigers are one of the most-dominant football programs in the country with multiple national championships and regular appearances in the College Football Playoff.  Last year’s 2018 team finished 15-0 with a national championship victory over Alabama in the final game. “