Dabo Swinney: 'We’re going to be awesome here at Clemson' despite ACC TV deal

There are plenty of people who believe that Clemson is in trouble long term if it can’t get out of the ACC as the Tigers will fall further and further behind SEC and Big Ten teams financially.

However, Dabo Swinney feels strongly that Clemson will be just fine, even if it is well behind its Big Ten and SEC competitors from a financial standpoint.

Swinney spoke for several minutes Friday afternoon ahead of the start of fall camp about how Clemson is “going to be awesome” whether it’s in the ACC or elsewhere.

“At the end of the day, we spend a lot of time focusing on what we don’t have. But I focus on what we do have,” Swinney said. “I think we get 85 scholarships. And as long as we get those 85 scholarships, we’re going to be awesome here at Clemson.”

As Swinney pointed out, Clemson has been behind SEC and Big Ten schools as far as TV revenue for years. The Tigers have also been behind a large portion of SEC and Big Ten schools in terms of overall athletic budget.

Still, Clemson has comped at the highest level. Since 2015 the Tigers have made six College Football Playoff appearances and won a pair of national titles.

“From my perspective, my job is to take what we got and go beat what they’ve got. And honestly, in my 15 years, there’s always been a gap,” Swinney said. “We’ve never had the top TV contract. Ever. I think from an athletic budget standpoint, I think in my time here at Clemson, I think we were 17 this year. We’ve been somewhere from 17 to 40, depending on the year. I think that’s where we’ve been.”

With a passionate fan base, a strong athletic fundraising organization in IPTAY, a proven plan of success and a strong culture, Swinney believes Clemson will continue to recruit at a high level and win at a high level, no matter the conference it is in.

“We may not have the big market. But just check the TV ratings when the Tigers play over the last decade. You’re going to see four or five of the most viewed games in college football are going to be Clemson. But all these years, when we played LSU in 2012, guess what? We didn’t have the same TV contract. We definitely didn’t have the same athletic budget. We didn’t have the same amount of five-stars or four-stars. But you’ve still gotta play the game, right?” Swinney said.

“If it was just those things then it would be easy to declare a winner every single year. You still have to play the game. It’s still people. It’s still culture. It’s still getting a group of people with the singleness of purpose, one heartbeat, that love each other, love where they are and love what they do. It still comes down to those things. None of that stuff changes.”

Swinney does acknowledge that you have to consider finances, but he is leaving that to Clemson AD Graham Neff and school president Jim Clements.

“We just need to have a good practice today. That’s the best way I can answer your question. So just focus on what we can control,” Swinney said. “And these guys, man, gotta go play the game. We’ve got 85 scholarships. And as long as we’ve got that, there’s going to be a bunch of great football players that come play for the Tigers. And we’ll see what happens.”