It's easy to desire to be a person that's reached the pinnacle in a field. On one hand Swinney has had a blessed path, playing for and coaching Alabama and now Clemson. Swinney played on the 1992 Alabama National Championship team.

But he also had to pay his dues as a coach for the Tide. Swinney was the wide receiver coach on the 1998 Alabama team that was crushed 38-7 by Virginia Tech in the inaugural Music City Bowl. As we know by current standards, Alabama has failed if they aren't playing in an BCS level bowl. So imagine how Bama fans must have responded when the Hokies crushed the Tide in a bowl game the Tide faithful never would have even wanted to be part of.

Swinney worked for Gene Stallings and Mike DuBose at Alabama. Mike DuBose, Swinney along with the rest of the Tide staff were fired by Alabama after a 3-8 season in 2000. After a couple of seasons of not coaching, Swinney was hired as the WR coach at Clemson by Tommy Bowden. But the Bowden years at Clemson were tough, marked by 8-5 season, and overall disappointment.

In 2008, Swinney was hired as Clemson's head coach. But overall, Swinney had been on the sidelines of relatively disappointing Alabama and Clemson teams for 15 years. In 2010, Swinney would hit bottom, when the Tigers finished 6-7. Swinney today says he expected to be fired after the season. But Clemson saw what he was trying to build in their program, and chose to let Swinney see it through (a lot like Tech did with Frank Beamer in 1992)

The point here is you don't start at the top of the mountain. You start at the bottom, and you climb it one step at a time. There are ups and downs. Sometimes the path to the top requires falling off a cliff along the way. Is it the end? No, its part of the path. Swinney has climbed it. He's been fired, he's been embarrassed, he's lost, but he's persevered. Today, Justin Fuente is on the same path. I choose and I hope Virginia Tech will choose to see it through.