Clemson won’t be following Michigan’s footsteps to Italy

Dabo Swinney is a champion of thinking outside the box, building his Clemson program in a rare vision that has produced championship results without sacrificing fun and excitement.

But Swinney won’t be following in Jim Harbaugh’s footsteps when the Michigan coach takes the Wolverines to Rome next spring.

“Taking my kids’ spring break? Heck no,” Swinney said during Senior Bowl practices in Mobile, Ala., according to the Detroit Free Press. “My guys deserve their time off. They work hard enough for me to take their spring break from them.”

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Technically, Michigan’s trip to Italy will not be during spring break, as the NCAA passed a measure last week eliminating trips during break periods. And as we all know, Harbaugh is a stickler for rules.

So Michigan’s journey across the pond will instead be “after finals toward the end of winter semester in April,” meaning no break time will be stolen from the players. The Wolverines will practice three times at the stadium of AS Roma, the city’s professional (well, soccer) football club. And, as the program’s release stated, the players will visit landmarks, spend time at youth orphanages and visit deployed U.S. military. There will also be a youth clinic, an open scrimmage and a chance to explore international internships, study abroad or service opportunities.

So yeah, Harbaugh is kind of a genius when it comes to creatively playing by the rules, which has rubbed plenty of his peers in the coaching industry the wrong way.

Swinney, whose Tigers are not even three weeks removed from winning the national title, is not among those who are perturbed. He just won’t be doing it, even though it does sound enticing to him.

“I may go with them,” Swinney said. “I may go with them. Wow, never been to Italy.”