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Dabo Swinney got quite animated defending his program during his Tuesday news conference as Clemson fell out of the AP Top 25 after losing to Georgia Tech in Week 3.
Swinney was asked about criticism of his program midway through his press conference as the Tigers are 1-2. Clemson lost to LSU in Week 1 and didn’t score a TD in the first half of its 27-16 win over Troy in Week 2. The longtime Clemson coach said that criticism about his program didn’t affect him and that he was told by longtime college football coach Eddie Robinson when Swinney was a low-level assistant at Alabama to not read criticism when things weren’t going well.
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“No, it doesn’t. I really don’t feel it. First of all I don’t let any of that in,” Swinney said when asked if criticism affected him. “I think that’s a gift that I have, alright? Because I don’t let it in. I know it’s bad because I’m getting all the text messages ‘I’m praying for you,’ everybody’s sending me devotions and ‘you’re going to get through this’ and that’s when I know it’s bad, that’s how I feel it. Because I don’t read it. I don’t. I know people say that, I promise you I don’t. When it’s bad, I don’t read nothing.”
What followed was a nearly eight-minute soliloquy where Swinney defended Clemson’s record since he’s become the head coach and reiterated how criticism doesn’t affect him.
“If they want me gone, they’re tired of winning, they can send me on their way because that’s all we’ve done is win,” Swinney said. “So if they’re tired of winning — we’ve won this league eight out of the last 10 years is that not good? I’m just asking. Is that good? I don’t know if that’s good or not, to win your league eight out of 10 years. To go to the playoffs seven out of 10 years. To go to four national championships. Win it twice. Yeah we’re a little down right now, take your shots but I’ve got a long memory, in case y’all don’t know. We’ll be alright. We’ll bounce back.”
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Clemson opened the season in the top 10 of the AP poll but is now out of the rankings entirely. The Tigers made were the only three-loss team in the College Football Playoff in 2024 thanks to their last-second win over SMU in the ACC title game and spent much of the 2023 season unranked after losing to Duke in Week 1 and losing to Florida State in Week 4 to drop to 2-2.
And while it’s true that Clemson has won the ACC in eight of the last 10 seasons, the Tigers had won seven consecutive ACC titles before Pitt won the league title in 2021 and Florida State did in 2023. Even if Clemson is still one of the top programs in the country, it’s hard to argue — even so early in the season — that it’s slipped from the heights it was at in the late 2010s and 2020 when it made six straight playoff appearances.
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“Hey listen, if Clemson’s tired of winning they can go send me on their way but I’m gonna go somewhere else and coach, I ain’t going to the beach,” Swinney said. “Hell I’m 55. I got a long way to go. Y’all are going to have to deal with me for a while.”
He then noted that both Gene Stallings and Nick Saban were in their 50s when they were hired at Alabama.
“I got a long way to go boys, long way to go,” Swinney said. “Hate to disappoint all the haters out there but ain’t nothing going to steal my joy. Ain’t nothing going to steal my joy. I ain’t happy — happiness is based on results you get, right? But joy is something that’s deeper within. And that’s what I build my life on. So I’m way too blessed to let it steal my joy.”
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