Clemson coach Dabo Swinney gets raise, extended through 2031

Associated PressSep 8, 2022, 4:27 PM EDT

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COLUMBIA, S.C. – Clemson coach Dabo Swinney has a reworked contract that will pay him $115 million over 10 seasons through 2031.

Swinney’s enhanced contract follows megadeals given to Alabama’s Nick Saban, Georgia’s Kirby Smart and Ohio State’s Ryan Day earlier this season. Swinney’s average yearly salary of $11.5 million sits only behind Saban’s $11.7 million average compensation.

The university’s board of trustees compensation committee approved the deal Thursday.

Swinney will make $10.5 million this season, a raise of $2 million scheduled under his old agreement signed in 2019. He’ll earn $12.5 million in the contract’s final year, 2031.

Each year, Swinney will get $305,000 in base salary. His supplemental income this season will be $6.695 million plus $3.5 million in licensing money.

Swinney’s total compensation will go up $250,000 for the next four years. He will remain at $11.5 million in 2026 and 2027, then continuing increasing by $250,000 the final four years of the agreement.

“I remain eternally grateful and honored for the opportunity to continue coach and developing young people of excellence,” said Swinney, who is in his 14th full season with the Tigers. “This agreement is representative of what has been collectively built here.”

The 52-year-old has won seven Atlantic Coast Conference titles, made the College Football Playoff six times and won national crowns after the 2016 and 2018 seasons.

The Tigers, fifth in the latest poll, open the home season Saturday against FCS opponent Furman.

Athletic director Graham Neff said it was “critical that Clemson invest in our football program and ensure our head coach is at Clemson for a long, long time.”

The contract includes a different tier for any buyout if Swinney were leave to coach his alma mater, Alabama – $9 million to join the Crimson Tide this year, but just $6 million for any other college head coaching job. Those figures are reduced, but remain different, as the contract continues.

Swinney wouldn’t owe anything if he left to become an NFL head coach.

Clemson would have to pay Swinney $64 million if it dismissed him without cause, a figure that decreases throughout the length of the deal.

There are several contract performance bonuses, including $350,000 for a national title and $200,000 for an ACC championship. Swinney would get $100,000 if his team’s Academic Progress Rate reaches 975 out of 1,000, according to the NCAA’s scale that tracks academic performance.

Swinney was elevated to interim head coach in 2008 at midseason when Tommy Bowden was let go . Then the receivers’ coach, Swinney went 4-2 down the stretch to earn the full-time job.

The Tigers reached their first ACC championship game in 2009, then won the title two years later. In 2015, Clemson began run of six straight league crowns and six consecutive CFP berths.

The Tigers have had 11 straight seasons of 10 wins or more.

Vick, Fitzgerald and Suggs among stars on College Football Hall of Fame ballot for 1st time

Associated PressJun 5, 2023, 9:04 PM EDT

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Michael Vick, Larry Fitzgerald and Terrell Suggs are among the college football stars who will be considered for induction to the Hall of Fame for the first time this year.

The National Football Foundation released Monday a list of 78 players and nine coaches from major college football who are on the Hall of Fame ballot. There also are 101 players and 32 coaches from lower divisions of college football up for consideration.

Vick, who led Virginia Tech to the BCS championship game against Florida State as a redshirt freshman in 1999, is among the most notable players appearing on the ballot in his first year of eligibility.

Vick finished third in the Heisman Trophy voting in 1999. He played one season of college football before being drafted No. 1 overall by the Atlanta Falcons in 2001. Vick’s professional career was interrupted when he served 21 months in prison for his involvement in dog fighting.

Fitzgerald was the Heisman runner-up in 2003 to Oklahoma quarterback Jason White. He scored 34 touchdowns in just two seasons at Pitt.

Suggs led the nation in sacks with 24 in 2002 for Arizona State.

The 2024 Hall of Fame class will be chosen by the National Football Foundation’s Honors Court and announced in January. Induction into the Atlanta-based hall is the following December.

Alabama freshman DB Mitchell says he wasn’t sure he’d get to play again after arrest

Associated PressJun 5, 2023, 8:59 PM EDT

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TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – Alabama defensive back Tony Mitchell said he feared his football career was over after his arrest on a drug charge.

The Crimson Tide freshman said in a video posted Sunday on social media that he knew “something much bigger could have happened.”

A judge in Holmes County, Florida, sentenced Mitchell to three years of probation with a fine and community service on May 24 after Mitchell pleaded guilty to a charge of possession of more than 20 grams of cannabis.

“I didn’t know if I’d be able to play football again, but I continued to work out and stay close with the Lord and those who love me unconditionally,” Mitchell said. “During those times, it helped me to keep my mind off it. But when I was by myself looking at social media, what everybody had to say about it, it just felt like it happened again.

“I didn’t sleep at night.”

He was suspended from the Alabama team following the arrest, but Mitchell’s father, Tony Sr., posted on Facebook last week that the defensive back had been reinstated. An Alabama spokesman declined to comment on Mitchell’s status.

Tony Mitchell Sr. shared his son’s video on Facebook, saying it was filmed during a talk to youth.

“I was doing things I knew I shouldn’t to try to fit in,” the younger Mitchell said, “but not everybody’s your friend.”

Mitchell, who is from Alabaster, Alabama, was a four-star prospect and the 15th-rated safety in the 247Composite rankings.

He had been charged in March with possession of a controlled substance with intent to sell after a traffic stop when authorities said he drove over 141 mph (227 kph) while trying to evade deputies in the Florida Panhandle. A deputy had spotted Mitchell’s black Dodge Challenger traveling 78 mph (125 kph) in a 55 mph (88 kph) zone on a rural highway north of Bonifay.

He also received 100 hours of community service and paid a fine of $1,560.

Mitchell and a passenger were both charged with possession of marijuana with the intent to sell or deliver, according to a Holmes County Sheriff’s Office arrest report. The other man also was charged with carrying a concealed gun without a permit.