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Social media reacts: Swinney blasts disgruntled fan who questions his salary

Justin Robertson
·6 min read
81

Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney gave a fiery response on Monday night to a fan who criticized Clemson’s performance this season and questioned why Swinney makes his multimillion-dollar salary.

Appearing on his weekly radio show where fans can call in, Swinney took a call from Tyler, a fan from Spartanburg, who asked why Swinney makes his $11.5 million salary given that the Tigers are 4-4 (2-4 ACC) this season.

“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,” Tyler said. “…You’re humble, you’re hungry and everything, and I always told people, ‘Man, Dabo, just listen to his press conferences.’ But after that 2018 national title, something changed. There seems to be a lot of arrogance that came in. There’s a lot of friends and family. Three of the 10 on-the-field football coaches are external, experienced hires. Everyone else was 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 just been the refusal to accept.”

After roughly two minutes of Tyler speaking, Swinney cut him off and gave a passionate, five-minute response.

“But the part of the problem is the appreciation,” Swinney said. “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 even when we used to be ‘the fun 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 never called a play in his life. I’m sure you were critical then. Alright, and he took us to two national championships. People like you, who just love to destroy people with your comments. Alright. 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. I’m sure you do your job.

“So to answer your question, I started as the lowest-paid coach in this frickin’ business. Alright, and I’m where I am because I’ve worked my ass off every single day. And I ain’t gotta let some smart-ass kid get on this phone and create this stuff. 

Here is how people on X, formerly Twitter, reacted to Swinney’s comments, as well as the question.

Story originally appeared on Clemson Wire