Dabo Swinney and James Franklin are about to meet on opposite sidelines for the first time as head coaches, but the relationship between them goes back much further than Clemson-Virginia Tech.
When Clemson takes on Virginia Tech on Oct. 24 at 7 p.m. on ESPN, it will put Swinney’s Tigers (4-2, 2-1 ACC) against Franklin’s Hokies (5-2, 2-2) in a matchup between two coaches who have known each other for years and, by their own account, have built a real friendship along the way.
That bond extends beyond the two of them. Swinney and Franklin both said this week that their wives, Kathleen Swinney and Fumi Franklin, are close friends, and that the four of them have regularly spent time together on Nike-sponsored coaching trips during the offseason.
Swinney has been at Clemson since 2008 and has piled up a 191-55 record there, along with nine ACC championships and two national titles. He is the winningest coach in Clemson and ACC football history.
Franklin’s path to Virginia Tech has been a long one, too. He was 24-13 at Vanderbilt from 2011-13, leading the Commodores to their first two Top 25 finishes in 2012 and 2013.
He then went 104-45 at Penn State from 2014-26, won the Big Ten in 2016 and reached the semifinals of the 2024 College Football Playoff. Penn State fired him midway through the 2025 season, and this is his first year at Virginia Tech.
Franklin said he has known Swinney “a long time” and remembered crossing paths with him back when both were assistants at Maryland and Clemson. Franklin worked as Maryland’s wide receivers coach from 2003-04, the same job Swinney held at Clemson. Franklin later returned to Maryland as offensive coordinator from 2008-10, with the 2009 and 2010 games coming after Swinney had taken over as Clemson’s head coach.
He made clear this week that the respect is real.
"Got a lot of respect for what he's done in his career," Franklin said. "Got a lot of respect for what he's done for Clemson and the ACC."
Swinney, for his part, said the two first started getting invited to those Nike coaching trips around the same time. He explained that the trips go to head coaches who have been in that role for a certain amount of time and have won multiple bowl games, and he said that shared experience is what helped him and Franklin get to know each other better.
"That's how I got to know him ... Spent a lot of time with him on those trips," Swinney said. "They're a lot of fun."
Swinney also had praise for Franklin as a coach and as a person, noting that he had spoken with him before hiring defensive coordinator Tom Allen, who held that same position for Franklin at Penn State in 2024.
"He's a very good coach," Swinney said of Franklin. "Good people."
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