In the fall of 2018, Dabo Swinney allowed Tigerillustrated.com to be a fly on the McFadden Building walls as he returned to Clemson's old football offices to reminisce.

This was part of a series on the 10th anniversary of the tumultuous day in October of 2008 when Tommy Bowden was out and Swinney was in on an interim basis.

Not many people thought Swinney was head-coaching material, but Terry Don Phillips gambled and hit the most important jackpot in Clemson sports history.

Swinney won the job that fall, and years later orchestrated one of the most remarkable stories in college football history by elevating the Tigers to a six-year stay on college football's mountaintop.

This is the raw audio from our recording that day following Swinney around the old football offices. At the time, Swinney was trying to hold it all together after Kelly Bryant left the team and Trevor Lawrence suffered a shoulder injury in his first start against Syracuse.

The 2018 Tigers ended up finding their groove with Lawrence and rampaging to their second national title in three years.