Difference between Clemson's coaching search in 2008 and LSU's coaching search last year

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It wasn't a popular choice with the fans, either, and Phillips took a beating. But he had a chance to watch Swinney work the last half of the 2008 season as interim head coach after Tommy Bowden resigned under pressure, and it also gave Phillips time to do an extended search to see who was out there.

"That's the thing I wanted to make sure of, that we talked to people and did a legitimate search," Phillips said. "I thought Dabo had a real shot, even though a lot of other people probably didn't, but I wanted to have other coaches to compare him to and so much of it was the fit.

"What I kept coming back to was that Dabo was worth the gamble, if you want to call it a gamble, and I'd been around him enough to know that he was a great fit for Clemson."

Among the coaches Phillips had an interest in were Gary Patterson, Jim Grobe, Brady Hoke, Will Muschamp, Troy Calhoun, Mike Locksley, Bud Foster, Brent Venables and Lane Kiffin.

Patterson told Phillips he didn't have any interest in talking face-to-face unless there were assurances that Patterson would be the Tigers' coach. It never really got anywhere with Muschamp, because Texas put the head-coach-in-waiting tag on him to keep away Clemson and other schools. Phillips interviewed Kiffin, Locksley and Calhoun, among others, and Grobe was also right there at the top of Phillips' list.

"I didn't want to get fired, either, so I wanted to make sure we talked to as many good coaches as we could, and we talked to a number of sitting head coaches and coordinators," Phillips said. "But just because you've been successful in another environment is no guarantee that you're going to come here and be successful."

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