Dabo Swinney is a collegiate football coach. Swinney attended the University of Alabama, where he joined the Crimson Tide football program as a walk-on wide receiver in 1989. He earned a scholarship and lettered on three teams, including the Crimson Tide's 1992 National Championship team.

After earning his MBA, Swinney would coach the wide recievers at Alabama. In 2002, Tommy Bowden offered him the position of wide receivers coach at Clemson, and Swinney joined in 2003. He also took over as recruiting coordinator from popular longtime coordinator Rick Stockstill. Swinney proved to be both an excellent wide receivers coach as well as recruiting coordinator, coaching ACC-leading receivers and being named one of the nation's top 25 recruiters in 2007 by Rivals.com. He would go on to serve as the head football coach at Clemson University. Swinney took over as head coach of the Clemson Tigers football program midway through the 2008 season, following the resignation of Tommy Bowden. Swinney led the Tigers to national championships in 2016 and 2018. As of 2021, he trails only Frank Howard for the most wins by a head coach in Clemson history. 

Swinney is a Christian. Swinney spoke of his conversion to Christianity when he was sixteen years old by saying, "And that was a game-changer for me. That’s really become the foundation of my life."