Clemson’s Dabo Swinney doubles down on criticism of ‘idiot’ fan on radio show

Clemson football coach Dabo Swinney doubled down Tuesday on his viral comments from the previous night’s radio show, calling the fan who criticized him and his Tigers program an “idiot” at his weekly news conference.

And Don Munson, the Clemson director of broadcasting who serves as host of Swinney’s weekly “Tiger Calls,” provided further details on the show’s screening process and Monday night’s exchange.

“I had some idiot go Old Testament on me and he got an Old Testament response,” Swinney said Tuesday, later imploring reporters in the room: “Y’all print that one.”

Munson, who helps screen calls for the show, told The State on Tuesday that he was about five seconds away from interrupting the caller, identified as Tyler from Spartanburg, who criticized Swinney and the Clemson football program at length.

But sitting across from Clemson’s longtime coach in their broadcast from the football facilities as the question dragged on, Munson said it was easy to realize Swinney wanted to respond. He had a look in his eyes Munson has only seen a few times.

“The fuse was lit,” Munson told The State. And contrary to conspiracy theories running rampant on social media, Munson said the call had not been planted or planned by Clemson or Swinney himself and was organic and unexpected.

Swinney, in doubling down Tuesday on his viral rant, said he’s always going to fight for his program and finds its “sad” that people attack other people, including quarterback Cade Klubnik and other players on his team, as well as the Clemson football program at large.

“That’s why most coaches don’t take calls (live),” Swinney said.

The caller, Tyler, specifically questioned whether Swinney’s $10.75 million salary was warranted given the program’s struggles in 2023 and also criticized Swinney’s coaching staff, which features a number of internal hires.

As part of a roughly six-minute answer, Swinney told the caller he should apply for Clemson’s job, said fans like him are “the problem” and “love to destroy people with your comments” and insisted “there ain’t one thing in my life that I’ve ever failed at, Tyler. Never. Ever.” Swinney’s response went nationally viral within minutes.

“To answer your question, I started as the lowest-paid coach in this frickin’ business,” Swinney said Monday night. “And I’m where I am because I’ve worked my ass off every single day. And I ain’t gonna let some smart-ass kid get on this phone and create this stuff. So if you’ve got a problem with it, I don’t care, all right?”

Clemson is 4-4 and 2-4 in the ACC this season entering Saturday’s game against No. 12 Notre Dame. The reigning ACC champion Tigers were the preseason No. 9 team but have lost four games for the first time since the 2011 season and four ACC teams for the first time since 2010 — a far cry from their success of recent seasons.

“What’s happened around here is even when we’ve won, everybody is miserable,” Swinney said Tuesday. “And that’s sad. It’s really sad.”

How does Clemson screen radio calls?

Swinney also indicated Clemson might change up how it does his weekly radio show with Munson from its current set-up that includes taking live calls from fans who phone in, though he didn’t offer specific suggestions.

For broadcasts of “Tiger Calls,” Munson told The State that a screener at WCCP-FM The Roar, the school’s flagship radio station, will sometimes but not always provide a name and brief note attached to a caller. As a hypothetical example, one of those notes might say “John from Clemson, he wants to talk about the running backs.”

That often depends on the caller and how much information they give or don’t give the WCCP screener while calling into “Tigers Calls,” which Munson said has six lines to take calls on. In the case of Tyler from Spartanburg, Monday’s viral caller, Munson said he wasn’t aware of what the caller wanted to discuss.

But once the caller starting criticizing Clemson football, Swinney seemed ready to respond, so Munson said the show kept things rolling as opposed to cutting him off.

Munson didn’t address any possible changes to the show’s format, as floated by Swinney. One unique feature of “Tiger Calls:” The show is live and does not operate on a delay like other radio programs, which often use a five- or seven-second delay for live calls so they can drop a call if needed.

Swinney, who went viral earlier this month for critiquing the Clemson fanbase and intimating losing a few games could help “lighten the bandwagon,” said Tuesday he embraces the high expectations at the schools and loves the majority of the Clemson fanbase. The “loud minority,” he said, causes issues.

“Fair criticism is fair criticism,” Swinney said. “I’ve got no problem with that. ... But if it’s hateful and demeaning, especially to the kids, I’ve got no answer for you. ... There’s no line anymore (in our society). It’s sad.”

Swinney, late in Tuesday’s news conference, did lay off on the caller a bit, joking that “I’m sure Tyler is a great guy and he just had a bad day. We all have bad days.”

But he said his overall point stood.

“As I said last night to my new friend, I’ve been a part of failure many times but I’ve never failed at anything I’ve set out to do in my life,” Swinney said Tuesday. “Ever. We’re in the midst of an amazing journey in college football history. I won’t let one season when I know what the issues are dampen that. I will fight for this program.”