Swinney's salary more than doubles

COLUMBIA – Clemson needs to win an Atlantic Coast Conference championship this season to earn football coach Dabo Swinney another big contract bonus.

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Swinney's salary more than doubled from last season, growing to $1.75 million after the Tigers won the ACC Atlantic Division. This time, though, it will take a league title to automatically boost Swinney's compensation – and even that potential increase won't be as big a raise as the 40-year-old coach got from the team's 2009 success.

The Clemson athletic department released Swinney's new contract Wednesday. The coach is guaranteed to make $1.75 million a year through 2014. However, that total can rise to about $2 million should the Tigers capture their first ACC championship since 1991.

Swinney's contract calls for an increase "to an amount not less than the average total compensation for the seven most highly" paid ACC football coaches for the league title. There's no increase in line for Swinney in the latest deal should Clemson defend its division title.

The Tigers were 9-5 last season, reaching the ACC title game for the first time. Clemson fell to Georgia Tech 39-34, then rebounded to end a three-game bowl losing streak with a 21-13 victory over Kentucky in the Music City Bowl.

Swinney can earn some individual bonuses, too, although those have also been tailored to reflect last year's success.

The coach would get $20,000 for 10 wins in the regular season, $30,000 for 11 and $40,000 for 12 in his new deal, which does not have incentives for eight or nine wins that last year's contract included.

Swinney would earn $37,500 for reaching the ACC title game, half the $75,000 bonus he collected in his old contract.

Clemson University trustees approved new agreements for Swinney and his assistant coaches. In March, the school said the Tigers' assistants received raises totaling $495,000 that brought their aggregate pay to more than $2.3 million.

Swinney was an energetic receivers coach making about $200,000 at the start of the 2008 season. However, he was made the team's interim coach midseason when longtime leader Tommy Bowden announced he was leaving. Swinney did enough during his six-game tryout to earn the job full time at the end of that season.

Swinney starts his second full season with Clemson against North Texas at Death Valley on Sept. 4. The Tigers start fall practice on Tuesday.