Dabo Swinney sends warning to reporter after refusing to answer basic question originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
The Clemson Tigers are in the midst of a transition period. And the last person to know seems to be Dabo Swinney. After watching Lane Kiffin and LSU put up 51 points on his team, the longtime coach seemed agitated when asked if he had any regrets about roster construction this offseason at Tuesday’s press conference.
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Swinney was called he was asked such a question and went on the defensive while trying to spin up the narrative about this only being one game.
“No, I don’t, man,” Swinney said. “I regret being 0-1 right now. I regret that. Can you ask me at the end of the season? The season ain’t over. We’ve got one game. We’ve got 11 more. What if we go 11-1? Promise me you’ll ask me that. I’m not answering questions like that, Chapel. I know that’s your role in this environment, to be the guy who wants to create all the controversy and ask the controversial questions. That’s who you are. It’s fine.
Swinney could’ve stopped there and ended his presser because that was the final question. But he kept going, which wasn’t a good look for him or the program.
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“We’ve played one game,” Swinney added. “Did you play football? Okay, well, they give you 12 games, and at the end of the year, you count them up. That’s when those types of questions are fair to me, not after one game to maybe the best team in the country. Other people have good teams and coaches and things like that, too. So I give them credit. We’ve got 11 more games to go battle. We’ll count them up. Then you can ask me whatever question you want.”
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Swinney might be dodging soft questions right now, but it’s not going to stop if Clemson keeps dropping games throughout the season. The numbers don’t lie either. Clemson only had 145 total yards and converted 1-of-13 third-down opportunities in the game. The first-ever start for Christopher Vizzina was a dud. He threw a pick-six in the game that started an avalanche of points for LSU.
At the end of the day, the question for Swinney is valid. This isn’t college football circa 2010 anymore. The refusal to adapt seems to be the hill Swinney’s career is going to die on. It was the same one his mentor, Nick Saban, thing as well. The old-school days of recruiting a player out of high school and keeping them for three or four years are done.
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The sooner Swinney or Clemson realize it’s time for a reboot, the better the program can be moving forward. Like it or not, Swinney’s decision-making is haunting the Tigers this season. No reason to play the blame game. Just evolve and do better.
