Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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BLUEGOLDONLINE.COM JUNE/JULY 2022 27 "I told him he'd be blown away, but I didn't know he'd be as blown away as he was," McKissic said. "From the moment we got there and met with the team, Chansi was different. He was like, 'Man, I could be around that every day.' He was wowed more and more as time progressed." Stuckey gravitated to the Clemson coaches and players so dedicated to achieving a desired outcome that there was no way they could fail. And they didn't. They beat Alabama 44-16, a score line less consequential to Stuckey than the process of getting to such domination. "The ultimate goal is not to win championships," Stuckey said. "Those are great, but it's to affect these men so 30 years from now they can come back and tell me I helped them be a better husband and father. A better person." Spoken like a pastor? That's because Stuckey was aspiring to be one at the time. He was working in the ministry with one intention: to make others' lives better. Being around Clemson made him realize he didn't need a church for that. He needed a football field. Swinney, on the phone outside the White House after Clemson's tradi- tional celebratory dinner with the U.S. President, offered 35-year-old Stuckey a video graduate assistant position. He didn't think he'd take it given his age and the minimal pay, but Stuckey didn't think twice. The next time he spoke to McKissic after returning from the game, it was to tell his friend he was on his way to South Carolina. "And I couldn't have been more ec- static," McKissic said. "He really would be doing himself and the world an in- justice if he didn't tap into this coaching thing." 'ONE OF THE GREATEST EXPERIENCES OF MY LIFE' Clemson has been home to Swinney for nearly two decades. He hasn't left since he arrived in 2003. He was the architect of the program's rise to promi- nence. It was an ascension McKissic had grown accustomed to but was still so foreign to Stuckey. After a five-year NFL career, Stuckey moved to California. He started acting. He started a new life, one that contained principles of the Clemson environment