Dabo Swinney's Message to Clemson Tigers: 'Win the One'

The Clemson Tigers take the field in just about two weeks. As he gets his team in order, head coach Dabo Swinney is focused on his players’ mindset for the season. 

Like many teams, Clemson faces criticism. Whether it’s talk about their conference schedule, Swinney's coaching style, or a loss to a team they should’ve beat, the Tigers are constantly under a microscope.

Being in the spotlight, any player can get overwhelmed, feel the pressure, and constantly have the need to live up to the nation’s expectations. In that, there’s a possibility of getting lost in the noise, which is why Swinney came up with a motto for his team. 

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‘Win the One’ is a phrase Swinney believes in, emphasizing that between all the madness of the college football season, his players should focus on one moment at a time. 

Nothing more, nothing less.

“Sometimes you can get overwhelmed with the enormity of what you got to do, what’s to come and expectations, noise..long season. I mean there’s a lot…camps coming..there’s a lot. It was kind of something that was kind of on my heart.” Swinney said this week.

He continued, “We need to just be one. I think we need to play for an audience of one. Don’t need to worry about nothing else, live our life on the inside out. We got to be one. Like truly be one. One heartbeat, one spirit, one purpose.” 

The college football season is strenuous: practicing every day, enormous pressure to perform on gameday, and a goal to make it to the National Championship for your team and fans. 

Swinney’s ‘Win the One’ is bigger than football. It’s about being present in everything you do while being able to show up for yourself and the people in your life. 

On the field, it’s about drowning out the crowd and taking it play by play for your teammates, moving together through each snap. 

“This is one season for this group. This is the only team 130 that there will ever be. We got to be one and then just win one. When I say win the one, I think that’s how you don’t get overwhelmed. You can be overjoyed, if you truly will just win the one. And that’s for life too. Not just for football..,” Swinney said.

Swinney’s made headlines in looking to go 16-0 for the season, but that can’t happen without focusing on one game, one moment, and one player at a time. 

“When you love what you do and you’re really engaged in what you’re doing, you’re not worried about next week or we don’t have to win the ten, let’s just win the one,” Swinney said. “And not even the game, it’s just the practice, the meeting, this meal, this night's sleep…just the mentality of like let’s just win the one.”

“I’m just trying to instill in these guys because there’s a lot to come. It’s a long season, you got to have some resiliency and things like that. So, I just think it’s good to have that mentality. But we got to be one,” Swinney said.

No matter what the nation is saying about the next matchup or a past play, Swinney wants his players to stay in sync with one another, help each other, and focus on being together. In that, success will come. 

That’s what ‘Win the One’ is all about. 

“We got to truly, truly be together,” Swinney said.