Dabo Swinney rips into Clemson fan in fiery radio show exchange: 'You’re part of the problem'

The Dabo Swinney call-in show got heated Monday night when a fan asked Swinney, among other things, why his $11.5 million per year salary has led to Clemson being 4-4.

Needless to say Dabo Swinney, who has won a pair of national titles at Clemson, didn’t appreciate the question.

Here is the full exchange between Swinney and the fan, starting with the caller’s question:

Tyler from Spartanburg: “I appreciate everything you said, coach Swinney. It sounds a whole lot like Tommy Bowden. And I’ll tell you one thing, Tommy Bowden didn’t make the same amount of money as you do. You make $11.5 million a year. That’s second in college football, if I’m not mistaken. I’m curious why that salary has led to a 4-4 [record]?

“And I know we’re going to talk about just being a couple of plays away from undefeated and all that. And I know you’re a man of religion. I’m a big fan. Coach, before you categorize me as being in the 1.5 percent, I was going to Clemson games, and my entire family, going back generations, has been going to Clemson games, when you were in commercial real estate. So I’m not going to accept being in that 1.5 percent.

“And I respect the fact that you’re a man of faith. I’m curious if you’ve ever read Proverbs 16:18, which talks about pride coming before the fall. I was in the military and I was overseas for the big run, and so I couldn’t watch all the games. I tried my best. But I always watched your press conferences, just for life advice. And I appreciated all of that. Something changed after 2018. You were humble, you were hungry and everything. And I always told people, ‘Man, Dabo, just listen to his press conferences.’

“But after that 2018 national title, something changed. And there seems to be a lot of arrogance that came in. There’s a lot of friends and family. I mean three of the 10 on-field football coaches are external, experienced hires. Everyone else is an internal hire that had no experience before or was a former player or friend. So I’m curious, why are we paying you $11.5 million to go 4-4? And it’s not just this year. It’s been just the refusal to accept…”

Clemson coach Dabo Swinney: “Alright, what’s this guy’s name? … Tyler. I’ve listened to enough of you, Tyler. You can have all your opinions all you want. I don’t know how old you are, don’t really care. But let me tell you something, we won 11 games last year. And you’re part of the problem, to be honest with you. Because that is part of the problem. It’s people like you, that all you do… the expectation is greater than the appreciation. And that’s the problem.

“We’ve had 12 10-plus seasons in a row. That’s happened three times in 150 years. So if you wanna know why, Clemson ain’t sniffed a national championship for 35 years. We’ve won two in seven years. And there’s only two other teams that can say that – Georgia and Alabama, OK?

“Is this a bad year? Yea. And it’s my responsibility. I take 100 percent responsibility for it. But all this bull crap you’re thinking and all these narratives you read, listen man, you can have your opinion all you want. And you can apply for the job. And good luck to you, alright? But to answer your question, we’re second in draft picks. We’ve graduated 98 percent of our guys. We’re second in wins, alright? If you wanna know why. Again, I’m telling you. We’re not perfect.

“Frank Howard never had a bad year? Coach Ford never had a bad year? Coach K never had a bad year in basketball? People have a bad year. But part of the problem is the appreciation.

“I used to tell people all the time, they’d say, ‘What’s the difference in Clemson?’ ‘Let me tell you, at some places there’s an expectation, but at Clemson there’s an appreciation.’ And what’s happened at Clemson is we’ve won so much that it used to be the fun’s in the winning. Now, even when you win, people like you complain. And criticize the coaches and question everything. People like you.

“When I hired Tony Elliott to be the offensive coordinator, who had never called a play in his life, I’m sure you were critical then. And he took us to two national championships. People like you who just love to destroy people with your comments. I’m sure you’ve never made any bad decisions. I’m sure you’ve lived a perfect life. I’m sure you’ve led a bunch of people.

“To answer your question, I started as the lowest paid coach in this freakin’ business, and I’m where I am because I’ve worked my ass off – every single day. And I ain’t gonna let some smartass kid get on this phone and create this stuff. So if you’ve got a problem with that, I don’t care. I work for the Board of Trustees, the President and the AD, and if they’re tired of me leading this program, all they’ve gotta do is let me know. I’ll go somewhere else, where there is an appreciation.

“It’s not just winning, it’s how you win. And this is a tough year, but we’ve had 12 10-plus win seasons in a row – 12. We lost to Tennessee last year, they won 11 games for the first time in like 20 years. We’ve had eight 11-win seasons in 11 years. We’ve won two national championships – Clemson went  35 years… probably since before you were born, your whole freakin’ life. And we’ve won two in seven years. And we earned it. And we beat the best of the best to do it. The best of the best. Twelve 12-plus win seasons.

“So if you wanna know why, that’s why. Am I perfect? No. I’m far from it. And I am a man of faith. Absolutely. I’m 53-years-old… and there ain’t one thing in my life. I have been a part of failure many times. But there ain’t one thing in my life that I’ve ever failed out, Tyler. Never. Ever. I wanted to get an education – I’ve got two degrees. I wanted to be the first college graduate in my family, I did it. I wanted to play college football at Alabama – I earned a scholarship, lettered three years, worked my ass of, won a national championship. I wanted to get into coaching. I worked my way into being a head coach.

“And when I got  this job, and I’m sure you didn’t want me to get this job – 15 years later I’m still here, and I’d say the results are what they are, and I stand on them. So you don’t ever have to call back. I wanted to get married. I’ve been married for going on 30 years. I wanted to be a father. I’ve raised three great sons. If you don’t like how I run the program, don’t be a fan. I don’t care. But I’m the head coach, and I’m gonna do what I believe is right for the long-term of this program, what’s best for the players, and what I think’s best for the moment. If you’ve got a problem with that, that’s fine. But I’m not going to sit here and let you call… I don’t care how much money I make, you ain’t going to talk to me like I’m 12 years old. You’ve gotta be freakin’ kidding me.”

There’s clearly some frustration at Clemson with the way the season is going, both from the fanbase and from Dabo Swinney. It’s understandable to be frustrated that the Tigers are 4-4 after there was talk of winning a national championship in the preseason, but as Swinney said, he’s produced by far the most successful run in school history.

We will see if Swinney’s comments fire up the team and lead to an inspired effort on Saturday against Notre Dame, or if the Tigers have another poor performance and fall to 4-5 on the year.