Dabo Swinney's mother, Carol McIntosh, shares the story of how she overcame a tragic childhood and how her son's fighting spirit is similar to hers. Also, former Clemson president Jim Barker offers some rich and fascinating anecdotes from his relationship with Dabo.

On Dabo Swinney's 50th birthday, we interview four figures who have witnessed his leadership up close: Current university president Jim Clements, Board of Trustees member David Wilkins, deputy athletics director Graham Neff, and former Clemson player and coach Thomas Austin.

Ron Morris, former longtime sports columnist at The State newspaper, joins The Dubcast to reflect on his recovery from a 13-month opioid addiction. He also gives his take on the craziness this week in Columbia with South Carolina administrators openly discussing Will Muschamp's buyout. And he gives his opinion on whether Clemson will win its third national title in four years this season.

Former Tiger great Nelson Welch joins The Dubcast to update on his progress since his heart attack in the summer of 2018. Welch also reminisces about the wild, strange era of Clemson football from 1990 to 1994 when the Tigers transitioned from Danny Ford to Ken Hatfield to Tommy West.

Upstate radio celebrity Mickey Plyler makes his third appearance on The Dubcast and we cover a wide array of topics surrounding college football: Is Clemson's defense better than last year's? Is it better than Ohio State's? Are Jalen Hurts and Justin Fields basically the same player? Are national pundits crazy for dinging Clemson? Are South Carolina fans crazy for wanting to run Will Muschamp out of town? And much more.

In 1972, after serving in Vietnam, Dr. Byron Harder took a job at Clemson and he and his wife figured they'd move on somewhere else after a year or so. They're still here. "Doc" Harder, now retired, reflects on his career as the Tigers' team physician and all the behind-the-scenes memories while also reflecting on the state of football and how much the concussion issue might change the game in the future.

Mark Ennis, publisher of the Louisville Rivals.com site and a prominent radio personality in Louisville, joins the podcast to talk the dramatic culture change with the Cardinals under first-year coach Scott Satterfield. Ennis also looks back on the wreck under Bobby Petrino, who wouldn't even give some of his own assistant coaches his cell number. And SI national college football writer Ross Dellenger tells us how he uncovered a really cool story on Trevor Lawrence earlier this season, plus his thoughts on college football's best teams six weeks in.

Riley Morningstar, a former Clemson student and intern at Tigerillustrated.com, was bitten hard by the newspaper bug. Now a news reporter at the Seneca Journal, Morningstar explains how a person so young can be so enthralled with an industry many see as antiquated. Morningstar also talks what it was like learning how the media thing worked while at TI, and also how he handled Dabo Swinney taking angry exception to one of his questions back in 2016 after a loss to Pitt.

In October of 2008, a few former Clemson players recorded individual videos that the Tigers would watch in the locker room before they took on Georgia Tech in Dabo Swinney's first game as coach. Charlie Whitehurst was one of the voices that day. "Fight for Dabo," he told them. "I don't know what kind of football coach he's going to be, but I know he's a leader. And I know I would fight for him." Eleven years and two national championships later, Whitehurst joins The Dubcast to talk Dabo, Trevor Lawrence and a bunch of other stuff.

Chris Hairston arrived at Clemson in 2006 in a class that included C.J. Spiller, Jacoby Ford, Ricky Sapp and Byron Maxwell. He left Clemson in December of 2010 after an awful loss to South Florida cemented a disappointing 6-7 season. Hairston joins The Dubcast to talk Dabo Swinney, playing in the NFL, life after the NFL, and a bunch of other stuff.