Clemson, S.C.\u2014Clemson Head Football Coach Dabo Swinney will receive the 2015 Gene Stallings Award Tuesday night at a banquet in Dallas, Tex.\u00a0 The award will be presented to Swinney by his former offensive coordinator, Chad Morris, now the head football coach at SMU.<\/p>\n
The Stallings Award was created to honor college football head coaches who are also humanitarians and strive to promote healthy, vibrant communities through charitable and community service efforts.<\/p>\n
\u201cI am Incredibly honored to receive the Stallings Award,\u201d said Swinney.\u00a0 \u201cCoach Stallings was my mentor for seven great years. \u00a0The lessons I learned from him and the example he was to me as a father, husband and as a giver to the community definitely shaped me as a young man.<\/p>\n
\u201cEvery day I think about Coach Stallings or apply one of the lessons of life that he taught me. \u00a0There are a lot of awards out there, but this is one that I will cherish forever because of the man it is named for. \u00a0I just want to say thank you for this great honor and for the opportunity to have my name associated with The Stallings Award. \u201c<\/p>\n
Swinney\u2019s \u201cAll-In Foundation\u201d has made a significant impact on the local community and beyond.\u00a0 The mission of the foundation is to raise awareness of \u00a0critical education and health issues in order to change lives across the state of South Carolina.<\/p>\n
By the end of 2015 the foundation will have distributed over $1.7 million to its focus areas and grant programs.\u00a0 The focus areas are breast cancer prevention and research, family effect, the Call Me Mister Program and Life Programs.<\/p>\n
Gene Stallings had a special impact on the foundation\u2019s interest in the Life Programs.\u00a0 The manner in which Coach Stallings handled the life experiences of raising a special needs child is well documented. In addition to being touched by Coach Stallings, Coach Swinney and his wife Kathleen were also touched by John Mark Stallings. In honor of John Mark the Foundation supports the ClemsonLIFE Program and the RISE Program. By the end of next month they will have donated $220,000 to the Life programs.<\/p>\n
Swinney has been the head coach at Clemson for six full seasons and five of them have ended with a top 25 national ranking, including a top 15 ranking each of the last three years.\u00a0 The Tigers were 10-3 last year and ranked No. 15 in the final polls.\u00a0 Clemson just completed a four-year period with a 42-11 record, the most wins in a four-year period in Clemson history.\u00a0 Clemson has closed the last three seasons with bowl wins over LSU, Ohio State and Oklahoma.<\/p>\n
The program has also been outstanding academically and has finished in the top 10 percent nationally in terms of APR scores.\u00a0 Clemson is the only school in the nation to rank in the top 25 of the final polls and the top 10 percent of APR scores each of the last four years.
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