Clemson’s Dabo Swinney rips fan on call-in show who questioned salary vs. results

Clemson football coach Dabo Swinney laid into a caller Monday night on his weekly radio show, getting as fiery as he has all season in defending his struggling program and himself on a memorable episode of “Tiger Calls.”

Swinney, in response to a caller identified as Tyler in Spartanburg who, as the gist of a lengthy question, asked why Clemson was paying him millions of dollars to have a 4-4 record, said fans such as Tyler are “part of the problem” and encouraged the fan to apply for Clemson’s head coaching job: “And good luck to you.”

Swinney went on a long rant defending Clemson, which won the 2016 and 2018 College Football Playoff national championships and just recently snapped a streak of 12 straight 10-plus win seasons

In the history of FBS college football, only the current Alabama dynasty and former Florida State dynasty have pulled that off.

“To answer your question, I started as the lowest-paid coach in this frickin’ business,” Swinney said. “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?”

Swinney is in the second season of a 10-year, $115 million contract he signed in September 2022. His total salary for 2023 is $10.75 million.

Clemson is 4-4 and 2-4 in the ACC this season, marking the first time since 2011 they’ve lost four games and the first time since 2010 they’ve lost four ACC games in a season. The reigning ACC champions are unranked for an eighth straight week in the AP Top 25 and currently sit at No. 10 in the ACC standings among 14 teams.

The Tigers are a 3-point home underdog against No. 12 Notre Dame on Saturday and need to go 2-2 over their last four games to become bowl eligible.

Swinney’s fiery answer came after the caller, Tyler, said Swinney had sounded “a whole lot” like former coach Tommy Bowden in recent weeks and “something changed” after Clemson’s second national championship.

“There seems to be a lot of arrogance that came in,” the caller said, also critiquing the number of internal hires on Swinney’s coaching staff.

“So I’m curious, why are we paying $11.5 million to go 4-4”” the caller said, overshooting Swinney’s salary by a bit. “And it’s not just this year. It’s been just the refusal to accept ...”

At that point, Swinney cut him off. Here is his full response to the question, which ran about 900 words and lasted nearly six minutes.

Dabo rips fan on call-in show

“Hey, Tyler. I’ve listened to enough of you, Tyler. Listen. You can have all your opinions that you want. 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 ...”

“The appreciation, the expectation is greater than the appreciation. And that’s the problem. And so we’ve won 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. Is this a bad year? Yeah, and it’s my responsibility. Take 100% responsibility for it. But all this bull crap you’re thinking, all these narratives you read. Listen, man, you can have your opinion all you want, and you can apply for the job. And good luck to you. All right?”

“But to answer your question, we’re second in (NFL) draft picks. We’ve graduated 98% of our guys. We’re second in wins all right? if you wanna know why, again, I’m telling you, we’re not perfect. ... Did Frank Howard never have a bad year? Coach Ford never had a bad year? Coach K never had a bad year in basketball? People have a bad year. But the part of the problem is the appreciation. 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 ... it used to be the fun’s 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, all right? And he took us to two national championships. People like you who just love to destroy people with your comments.”

“I’m sure you’ve never made any bad decisions. I’m sure you’ve lived a perfect life. I’m sure you 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, all right? 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? I work for the board of trustees, the president and the AD. And if they’re tired of me leading this program, all they gotta do is let me know. I’ll go somewhere else where there is an appreciation.”

“It’s not just winning, it’s how you win. ... This is a tough year. But we’ve had 12 10-plus win seasons in a row — 12. We lost to Tennessee last year, they won 11 games for the first time in like 20 years. We’ve had eight 11-win seasons in 11 years or whatever. We’ve won two national championships. Clemson went 35 years (without a championship), all right, probably since before you were born — your whole freakin’ life. And we’ve won two in seven years. And we earned it. And we beat the best of the best to do it. The best of the best. Twelve 10-plus wins seasons, so if you wanna know why, that’s why.”

“Am I perfect? No. I’m far from it. And I am a man of faith. Absolutely. All right. I’m 53 years old. And there ain’t one thing in my life ... I have been a part of failure many times. But there ain’t one thing in my life that I’ve ever failed at, Tyler. Never. Ever. I wanted to get an education. I got two degrees. I wanted to be the first college graduate in my family, I did it. I wanted to go play football at Alabama. I earned a scholarship letter three years, worked my ass off, won a national championship. I wanted to get into coaching. I worked my way to being a head coach. And when I got this job, I’m sure you didn’t want me to get this job, all right? And 15 years later, I’m still here. And I’d say the results are what they are and I stand on them.”

“So you don’t ever have to call back. I wanted to get married. I’ve been married for going on 30 years. I wanted to be a father, I’ve raised three great sons. If you don’t like how I run the program, don’t be a fan. I don’t care. But I’m the head coach and I’m gonna do what I believe is right for the long term of this program, what’s best for the players and what I think is best for the moment. If you got a problem with that, that’s fine. But I’m not gonna sit here and let you call. I don’t give a crap how much money I make. You ain’t gonna talk to me like I’m 12 years old. Gotta be freaking kidding me.”

After a brief pause, Clemson radio man Don Munson replied: “Amen.”

Then, after one more call, the show went to commercial.