Dabo Swinney delivers passionate rant on outside noise: ‘I’m not trying to prove anything to anybody’

Dabo Swinney is consistently asked about outside noise but the Clemson coach never lets it bother him, so he says.

Clemson hasn’t won a national title since 2018 and hasn’t made the playoff since 2019. With a 32-11 record since then, including this year, many question what’s wrong with the program or if Swinney’s lost his touch.

Say whatever you want because he doesn’t care.

“No, I could care less about that stuff,” Swinney began. “People say what they want to say. I don’t care. It doesn’t matter. I don’t read any of it. I don’t listen to it. I don’t let any of that in my mind. I just focus on doing my job every day. I’m not trying to prove anything to anybody, man, I’m just trying to love these guys here, man, I’m just trying to do my job and do what’s best for Clemson day in and day out, put these guys in the best position to go win and worry about none of that stuff. People say whatever they want. 

“I don’t need validation from anybody. I know who I am. I know where I’ve been, where I’ve come from, where I’m going. So none of that stuff affects me or bothers me at all. People say whatever. That’s the world we have right now.” 

Swinney could’ve stopped there, but went into a passionate rant regarding media noise, fan complaints, etc. And of course, the dangers of said opinions.

“We’ve created a society where it’s just normal to attack people, destroy people, make stuff up, create narratives,” Swinney said. “That’s just the society we live in. So you have to choose, as a person, whether or not you’re gonna let that type of stuff affect you, or you just rise above it and focus on what matters. But I don’t participate in that stuff, so that doesn’t matter to me. I can care less, you know? 

“I mean, you can go back and look at our national championship game in 2016. I guarantee you, the first half of that game there was probably a ton of negativity, a ton of awful things being said on social media, you know, because we’re down 14-0 and all this stuff. And so it’s like, I tell my guys, it ain’t about what people say. It’s about what we do. And what we do is a reflection of what we believe. That’s all that matters.” 

Dabo Swinney doesn’t care for outside noise

Actions speak louder than words, per Swinney. As cliche as it sounds, the Clemson coach hung onto that during his rant.

“That’s really what should matter for everybody,” Swinney said. “It’s not about what you say. It’s about what you do. And again, what you do is a reflection of what you believe. Because what you believe, your growth follows belief. You know your belief is going to drive your habits and and you know how you think half full, half empty, you know? You got to create a belief that’s greater than your fear that you can’t do something. Your belief that you can has to be greater than your fear that you can’t. 

“And if you participate in all that stuff, and you let all that stuff, and you live your life from the outside in, you ain’t doing nothing great in life because you ain’t gonna take any risks, because you’re afraid of criticism, you’re afraid of this, and that you’re not gonna have any convictions on anything. You gotta please everybody.”

Swinney dove into everyone’s fear of criticism and living that way, rather than just focusing on the task at hand.

“Oh gosh, don’t say something bad about me. I better do this, and that ain’t no way to live life,” Swinney said. “But again … Our society is sad … We’ve just made it normal. It’s okay to just attack people, destroy people, or try to make stuff up, no accountability …  When I was a young coach, I mean, sometimes a reporter, you know beat writers, something maybe coming out. And, you know, back in those days, guys would call you, or they’d come up to you and say, ‘hey, look, I’m fixing to run this story. I just want to make sure I got it right.’ And you had, like, a little bit of, like, some respect in that. Now people just write stuff that they heard from their aunt Jean at the grocery store.” 

Swinney simply just wants accountability these days. That’s at least how he put it.

“My coach … He told me something when I was in high school,” Swinney said. “He said ‘I heard’ and ‘they said,’ are the two biggest liars in America. He taught me that early on, this is before social media … It’s sad, especially when you’re dealing with young people. And just, you know, the way we have made it almost celebrated to attack people … I mean, it really is, and especially for the young people, because that’s their world. That ain’t my world, that’s their world …

“So, but the good news is, everybody has a decision. Everybody has a choice on what you let into your world. You don’t have to participate in that stuff. So that’s why you got to build your life on a strong foundation and know what’s real and what’s not … I’m not trying to read anybody, I’m trying to beat Stanford this week. That’s all I care about. Trying to continue to have a great program and fulfill the purpose, you know, that we have as a program and what I have as a man.”