Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney was briefly linked to the Alabama job upon Nick Saban’s retirement.

That certainly wasn’t a surprise given Swinney’s prior connection to the university. The question of whether the national title-winning coach would return to his alma mater to replace Saban raged for years, and it even prompted Clemson to put an Alabama clause in his contract that called for a larger buyout if he left for Tuscaloosa than another job.

When Saban retired, Swinney was immediately listed alongside names like Dan Lanning, Mike Norvell, and Kalen DeBoer as potential candidates. David Hood of TigerNet reported that Alabama reached out to Swinney’s camp but talks were “brief.”

In an interview with The State’s Chapel Fowler at Clemson’s winter quarterly board of trustees meeting on Friday, Clemson athletic director Graham Neff offered his first public comments on the ordeal.

“It was just a great testament to Clemson,” Neff said, per The State. “It’s something that Dabo and I talked a lot about while that (Alabama) transition was happening. He has a long memory in a good way. He’s going on his 16th year (as coach) and 20 years at Clemson. That support that Clemson has shown to him and Clemson football over these two decades … that adds up and that matters.

“And that really resonates with him and with us. Couldn’t view a better fit for Clemson football than Dabo Swinney and, quite frankly, couldn’t view a better fit for Dabo Swinney than Clemson University. And so I think that inflection point there really, really proved that.”

Neff said he was in touch with Swinney throughout that week following Saban’s retirement. Alabama moved quickly and installed DeBoer as its next head coach just days after Saban’s decision was announced.

Throughout, Neff told The State that his talks with Swinney were solely focused on Clemson, “the expectation, the excitement and the continued support.”

Swinney has spent the entirety of his head coaching career at Clemson. He was an assistant on the staff from 2003-08. He was named the interim coach after Tommy Bowden resigned six games into the season, and had the interim tag removed on Dec. 1, 2008.

In his 16 years coaching the school, Swinney has led Clemson to a 170-43 record, a 12-8 record in bowl games, four College Football Playoff National Championship appearances, and two national titles.

The 2023 season broke a string of 12 consecutive years with at least 10 wins and led some to question if Clemson is on the downswing. As he approaches the 2024 campaign, there’s plenty of eyeballs on the Tigers.