Dabo was selling real estate in Alabama before he became a position coach at Clemson. He somehow became HC without being a coordinator.
When Spurrier was at South Carolina, they beat Clemson 5 years in a row--Dabo's first 5 years. Somewhere in that 5 years Dabo recognized that he could either cheat or get fired. Suddenly, 4 stars from all over the country decided to attend a college in upstate SC that is rural and generally white. Not hard to figure out why.
The secret but not a secret is that Clemson boosters were funneling money to players through a church in the Clemson area. Illegal, but ingenious. The NCAA is not messing with a church, even if they had supoena power to do so. Dabo kept up with his holy holy stuff--I mean, he had a church on his side.
We will see, but I believe Dabo's refusal to use the portal plus NIL allowing everyone to pay players has reduced Clemson's talent base. Decent team playing a weak schedule, but the idea that they are a top 5 team as some of the media say shows how little the media know.