Dabo Swinney asked about possible staff changes on call-in show

Clemson coach Dabo Swinney held his call-in show Monday night, two days after the Tigers suffered a stunning 31-30 loss to rival South Carolina on Saturday.

Swinney received plenty of support from callers throughout the show as there were some who said they are thankful that the Tigers are 10-2 and headed to the ACC championship this weekend.

However, there were also some frustrated callers after DJ Uiagalelei completed 8 of 29 passes in Saturday’s loss.

Swinney was asked during the show if it is time for some staff changes “because two years without a passing game just don’t seem right.”

The caller added that everyone is looking to Dabo Swinney because it’s “decision time.”

Here is the full exchange:

Caller: “Well, coach, I was just going to tell you that I’ll be up there in Charlotte with you on Saturday night.”

Dabo Swinney: “I appreciate it.”

Caller: “I was raking my leaves out there this afternoon and I was thinking about a cold day in Charlotte so many years ago, I was watching a Belk Bowl and we were losing to South Florida.

Dabo Swinney: “I remember that, too.”

Caller: “It was decision time for Dabo Swinney back then.”

Dabo Swinney: “Yea, man. Oh boy.”

Caller: “Since that time, you’ve certainly dug out of that hole, and then you put your climbing shoes on and climbed to the top of the mountain.”

Dabo Swinney: “And we’ll climb back. You don’t get to stay there.”

Caller: “Well, when you get to the top of the mountain, there ain’t but one way to go from there. It’s a tough ole haul from that place.”

Dabo Swinney: “We start over every year, but we keep climbing.”

Caller: “It was decision time back in those days, and there’s a feeling within the fan base that I’m sure you’re aware of, that everybody’s looking to you and saying, ‘Well, it’s decision time again.’ Because two years without a passing game just don’t seem right.”

Dabo Swinney: “Well, that’s what I get paid to do. All I can tell you is I’m gonna do my job. And if it comes a time where people don’t like how I do my job, then they can hire somebody else. But until then I ain’t ever gonna make decisions based on what other people want me to do. I can tell you that.

If I did that, I wouldn’t be sitting here talking to you tonight. And the reality is, we’re a 10-2 football team playing for our league title and one of the most consistent teams in the country.

Every year is different. Nobody’s got their head in the sand. We’ve gotta get better in a lot of areas. But we know that. But if we wanna fire the head coach and fire the staff every year if we don’t make the playoff, then you’re going to have a new head coach here very often. And you’re gonna have a new staff here every year. Because that ain’t gonna happen a lot. There’s only four teams,” Dabo Swinney said.

“If that’s the mindset of Clemson, there will be a new head coach here, and there will be a new staff every year. And we’ll be a very mediocre, inconsistent program. That’s how I look at it.

I get it. I know what my job is, and I’m going to do it. There’s nobody that works harder to represent Clemson and cares more about Clemson and the brand of Clemson than me. I promise you that. Because I know where we’ve come from. And I know when we won that championship in 2011 it hadn’t happened in 20 years. We hadn’t won 10 games in 20 years.

Now we win 10 games and it’s like nobody cares. You go to the ACC championship, nobody cares. That’s not true. A lot of vocal minority people don’t care. But I ain’t ever listened to them people. And I ain’t ever gonna listen to those people. So I hear ya, but I’m gonna keep doing my job. And again, I’ve got bosses. And if they don’t like how I do my job then they can send me out to pasture. But I’m gonna show up every day and keep giving it everything I’ve got, every single day, as long as I’ve got breath in my body, and I’m going to surround myself with people that I believe in, because that’s what we’ve got here.

We’ve got a bunch of great people and great kids that work their butt off to create the consistency that is so rare.”