Terry Don Phillips built his Clemson legacy in everyday moments and at key turning points
Terry Don Phillips HA ’19, who passed away in May at age 78 from complications of dementia, helped shape a defining era of Clemson Athletics. During his tenure as athletic director from 2002 to 2012, he made pivotal coaching decisions that positioned the Tigers for long-term success, including promoting Dabo Swinney to head football coach.
Those who knew him best measure his impact beyond the winning seasons and championships. They point to the respect he earned throughout more than four decades in college athletics. They remember him for his empathetic leadership, strong principles and unwavering belief in people.
“He was concerned about everybody in the department and all the coaches, not just football and basketball,” said longtime sports information director Tim Bourret, who retired in 2018. “He had an all-encompassing attitude toward his job.”
“Integrity was everything, and he always wanted to do things the right way,” said his wife, Tricia Brown Phillips. “He was constantly learning, pursuing excellence to be the best he could be and leave a place better than he found it.”
That ambition led him to earn a law degree in 1996 to support his work as an athletic director. He even taught a sports law class at Clemson.
“He enjoyed teaching, and that was his outlet,” Tricia said. “It gave him a break from the constant stress and the demands of the job.”
Kyle Young ’01, M ’03, Ph.D. ’10, a former Clemson Football offensive lineman and executive senior associate athletic director, met Terry Don while working as a football graduate assistant. He began his administrative work at Clemson in 2005 and quickly noticed the care Terry Don showed to coaches. Young still remembers Terry Don telling him about being fired from Virginia Tech in the late 1970s amid a football coaching staff turnover.
“I think that experience really shaped him into the leader that he became,” Young said. “The decisions you make will impact people forever, and so do that with class and dignity, and don’t ever take those decisions lightly. That has stuck with me.”
Young credited Terry Don with motivating him to finish his doctorate in educational leadership, even serving on his dissertation committee.
“That personal growth and development would have never happened had it not been for his encouragement and his direction in my life,” he said. “And I know I’m not the only one who has felt that.”
One of Terry Don’s most significant moments of encouragement came at an inflection point for Clemson Football. In 2010, the Tigers won only six games and lost at home to rival South Carolina. Swinney thought he was getting fired. But despite growing pressure to make a change, Terry Don reaffirmed his trust.
“He goes, ‘I believe in you now more than even before I hired you, and I know you’ll do what you need to do to make us better,’” Swinney recalled at a recent press conference. “That type of conviction is rare. And Terry Don Phillips was rare. He was one of one.”
Swinney and Brad Brownell, whom Terry Don hired to lead Clemson Men’s Basketball in spring 2010, have gone on to become the University’s winningest coaches in their respective programs.
“Dabo was the most visible, and perhaps one of the most successful, but he is indicative of so many of those stories throughout Terry Don’s career,” Tricia said.
Retirement gave Terry Don and Tricia opportunities for new experiences that a career in athletics administration had put on hold. They purchased an RV and traveled the country on adventures that ultimately took them to 40 states, often hitting the road at the start of football season.
“He didn’t want to be anywhere around football because he didn’t know what to do with himself,” Tricia said. “It was just so foreign to him if he wasn’t part of what was happening on the field.”
When Terry Don left Clemson, both he and Tricia were aware of a change in his health. An official diagnosis arrived in 2015, and the couple made a care plan to ensure they could keep enjoying life together to the fullest. They continued to travel. They worked in their yard. They spent time with their grandchildren.
And after enough time had passed, the couple, who remained in the Clemson area and followed the Tigers from afar, attended a few football games each season.
“We were very blessed that, through all those years, we were able to live with joy until the end,” Tricia said.
