Dabo Swinney rant: Why Clemson football coach lashed out during call-in radio show

In the face of an underwhelming 4-4 start to the season, Clemson coach Dabo Swinney vented his frustrations towards an angry caller during his weekly "Tiger Calls" radio show on Monday.

The Tigers coach went on a five-minute rant after a caller, identified as "Tyler from Spartanburg," questioned whether Swinney's 4-4 start was worth the $11.5 million average annual value of his contract. Tyler also said arrogance has infiltrated the Tigers' program following their most recent national championship in 2018.

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Swinney went on to call Tyler out on his lack of appreciation for Clemson's twelve seasons of double digit wins, an attitude that has infuriated the Tigers coach in the past.

"I love our fans. Again, 98.5% of them are amazing. But the other 1.5%, they create a lot of the problems," Swinney said ahead of Clemson's Week 7 matchup against Miami. "They're part of the problem, not part of the solution."

In an interview with the Clemson Rivals site, the caller said he believes Swinney's failure to adapt is destroying the Clemson program, but admitted he should have thought his call through more.

"Tact is not one of my strong suits, especially when I'm upset," the caller said. "If I had to do it over again, I'd have been way more respectful."

Swinney's gripes with what he seemingly perceived as unappreciative fans led the coach to lash out on Monday.

What did Dabo Swinney say?

After the caller disparaged Swinney for Clemson's 4-4 record (following a 24-17 loss to NC State in Week 9), Swinney unleashed a five-minute rant on the "Tiger Calls" radio show:

"You can have all your opinions that you want," Swinney said. "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 is ... the expectation is greater than the appreciation. And that's the problem.

"And so we've had 12 10-plus win seasons in a row. That's happened three times in 150 years. So if you want to know why? Clemson ain't sniff 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?"

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"Is this a bad year? Yeah, and it's my responsibility. I take 100% responsibility for it. But all this bullcrap you're thinking and all these narratives you read, listen man, you can have your opinion all you want. You can apply for the job, and good luck to you. But to answer your question, we're second in draft picks. We've graduated 98% of our guys. We're second in wins. If you want to know why, I'm telling you, we're not perfect. There's a lot of teams that — (former Clemson coach) Frank Howard never had a bad year? Coach (Danny) Ford never had a bad year? Coach (Mike Krzyzewski) never had a bad year in basketball? People have a bad year."

Swinney went on to admonish the caller for a lack of belief and appreciation for Clemson's accomplishments in previous seasons. He pointed to the hiring of Tony Elliot, co-offensive coordinator of Clemson's 2016 and 2018 national championship teams and now-coach of the Virginia Cavaliers, as a reason that he has earned the benefit of the doubt.

The coach ended his lengthy rant asserting that, while he has seen failure before, he has never failed at anything in his life, citing his education and national championship at Alabama, his head coaching career, his marriage and his fatherhood.

"But I'm the head coach and I'm going to 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," Swinney said. "If you got a problem with that, that's fine, but I'm not gonna see you sit here and let you call in. I don't give a crap how much money I make. You ain't gonna talk to me like I'm 12 years old. You've got to be freakin' kidding me."

Listen to the full response below:

Dabo Swinney coaching record

Swinney boasts a 165-43 record as the coach of Clemson since joining the Tigers program in the 2008 season, leading Clemson to a bowl game in each of his 15 full seasons at the helm. The Tigers also have 12 straight seasons of 10 or more wins and made the College Football Playoff for six consecutive years from 2015-20.

However, Clemson's 4-4 start to the 2023 season, with losses to Duke, Florida State, Miami and NC State, is shaping up to be Swinney's worst season since 2010. The Tigers finished with a 6-7 record and took a 31-26 loss to South Florida in the Meineke Car Care Bowl.

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Swinney has led the Tigers to 10 or more wins in every season since, reaching the national championship game in 2015, 2016, 2018 and 2019. Clemson came away with the silverware in 2016 and during an undefeated 2018 season.

This year's Tigers were ranked No. 9 in the 2023 preseason US LBM Coaches Poll, but have fallen out of the top 25 rankings after massively underperforming. Clemson has four games remaining in the regular season and, with games remaining against No. 12 Notre Dame, Georgia Tech, No. 25 North Carolina and South Carolina, must win at least two of its remaining games to achieve bowl eligibility.

At 2-4 in conference play, the Tigers rank 10th in the 2023 ACC football standings.

This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Why Clemson football's Dabo Swinney ranted during call-in radio show