‘Maybe we need to lose a few games and lighten up the bandwagon’: Clemson coach Dabo Swinney believes fan expectations have outstripped reality
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Clemson football is 4-2 this season with wins over Wake Forest, Syracuse, Florida Atlantic and Charleston Southern and hard-fought losses to Duke and Florida State.
In each of the 12 previous seasons, the Tigers have won at least 10 games, have played in four national championship games and won two of them.
When they haven’t been in the title game, the Tigers have played in six New Years Six bowls, including the Orange Bowl last season.
To say Clemson has had one of the best football programs in the country over the last decade-plus isn’t exaggeration.
But all that success has come at a cost, according to Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney. That cost being realistic fan expectations.
Swinney believes that fan expectations regarding the Tigers’ football program have become anything but realistic at present.
“We are at a point now where if you don’t go undefeated — you are losers and you’re terrible,” Swinney said Monday night during a weekly radio show appearance, per Clemson 247.
“And that is just such a terrible mindset,” he continued. “And honestly, maybe we need to lose a few games and lighten up the bandwagon, sometimes the bandwagon can get a little too full. ... That is the good thing about going through a little so-called adversity, you really find out who is with you and who’s not. We are a really good team that can beat anybody and we are a team that could lose to anybody.”
Swinney added further context to those comments, praising the majority of Clemson’s fanbase and expressing a lack of satisfaction himself with what the Tigers’ record currently is, but his thoughts about fan expectations resonated, for better or for worse, with many.
Wrote The Athletic’s Chris Vanini: “A lot of fanbases whose expectations are to go undefeated will have to adjust in the superconference era. It’s going to be a big challenge to the brand/image.”
Wrote New York Times bestselling author Nathan Whitaker: “Reminds me of Coach (Steve) Spurrier’s UF resignation presser where he noted that they’d never won 10 games before he arrived, and now that they were ‘only’ winning 10, fans were upset.”
Clemson fans weighed in as well.
We don't expect to go undefeated. We don't expected to lose to Duke and barely beat Wake Forest like it's basketball season.
— Anthony Bradley (@drantbradley) October 17, 2023
Can’t tell your team they’re on the clock to win a national championship and then complain about fans holding you to the standard you’ve set.
I’d also suggest you can’t command a top 5 salary if your expectations don’t align with that as the program goal.— Captain Crash (@MrCaptainCrash) October 17, 2023
Sorry Dabo, you don’t get to collect $11.5m a year and talk about ‘best is the standard’ as if it is only applicable sometimes. You must be held accountable for the decisions you have made on coaching hires and your stance with the portal. Look at Saban, he evolves.
— College Dean PROFessOR /FoRMER COP (@mccombsjw) October 17, 2023
Is best the standard or is getting eliminated from ACC title contention by week 4 the standard? Pick one
— Collin (@CollinBCook) October 17, 2023
We’re 5-4 in our last nine games. I think that counts as a few. So yeah, expectations are that we win the rest. I’m not confident we can do that though.
— john linn (@jlinn2) October 17, 2023
Take down all those Best Is The Standard posters and replace them with “We’re Doing As Good As We Can!”
— Cade’s First Read (@DavisNSpiller) October 17, 2023
Others still came to Swinney’s defense.
Clemson fans are spoiled
— Antione Jackson (@JacksonAntione) October 17, 2023
Some fans are spoiled. The loudest ones normally have season tickets and feel they deserve a natty every year.
But most fans who really pay attention like this team, believe in the future of this team, and know what Dabo is saying.— Teach (@BarstoolTeacher) October 17, 2023
They’ve been undefeated like three times in program history soooooo if fans expect that, that’s on them.
— 𝗝𝗨𝗟𝗞 (@Ro11Ju1k) October 17, 2023
For those that feel they can rightfully throw "Best is the standard" back at our coach, you have not actually listened to the message when this was first introduced. It is about everyone giving their best every day. That is the expectation/standard. Not the best on the planet.
— randypate@wcps.org (@rpate1024) October 17, 2023
He's right on this one.
— Michael Abrams (@havik912) October 17, 2023
Fan expectations being outsized/unrealistic isn’t a new thing in college football. It exists in every fanbase at every level.
A sitting head coach of a major program bemoaning those unrealistic viewpoints is pretty remarkable, though.
