DMN: Former Texas Longhorns coach Mack Brown helped Dabo Swinney in early days at Clemson

It has been exactly two years since Mack Brown coached his last game for the Texas Longhorns, but his influence is still being felt across the college football world.

According to a story from the Dallas Morning News, a cold call from Clemson Tigers head coach Dabo Swinney back in 2009 led to a friendship that lasts to this day.

Entering his first full season as head coach in 2009, Swinney reached out to several top programs and was rejected by many. But Brown allowed the entire staff to visit Austin, and gave Swinney more than a little of his time.

From the story:

"I was hoping to get 30 minutes, 45 minutes with Mack, and I had kind of a list of things that I wanted to talk to him about. We spent about four hours, and I still have my Mack Brown file in my office."

Swinney took much of what Brown said to heart on issues like recruiting, staff scheduling and his personal time.

"It was almost like he was reading my mind," Swinney said. "I couldn't even hardly get the question out of my mouth, and he had answers for me been there, done that. He gave me the Cliff's notes a little bit on some issues."

The two remain close today, and Brown even says the current Clemson squad reminds him of the 2005 Longhorns. We'll see if Swinney learned enough to take his team all the way.