Terry Don Phillips, the former Clemson athletic director whose hiring of Dabo Swinney helped set the foundation for Clemson football’s rise into a national powerhouse, died Tuesday. He was 78.
Phillips is best known in Clemson athletics history for appointing Swinney as the Tigers’ head football coach, a move that became a defining moment for the program. Under Swinney, Clemson grew into one of the most prominent programs in college football.
Phillips’ impact on Clemson athletics remains closely tied to that decision, which reshaped the direction of the football program and became a central part of his legacy as athletic director.