Under head coach Dabo Swinney, the Clemson Tigers emerged as one of the more dominant programs in college football, playing for four national titles and winning two of them between 2015 and 2019. But Swinney now seems to think that level of success led to some unrealistic expectations from fans.
Clemson currently has just a 4-2 record and is effectively eliminated from College Football Playoff contention, marking the third consecutive season the Tigers will not be in the postseason field. This naturally has some Clemson fans a little frustrated, but Dabo Swinney doesn’t seem to think that frustration is justified.
“We’re at a point in our time, and I hate that, where, you know, people, if you don’t go undefeated, you’re losers. You’re terrible,” Swinney said according to On3. “And it’s just such a terrible mindset, you know. And honestly, maybe we need to lose a few games and lighten up the bandwagon. Sometimes the bandwagon can get a little too full.”
Swinney thinks that the great success the team enjoyed previously may have made some people numb to winning.
“It’s not easy to win. It’s really, really hard to win. And sometimes you can win so much you lose appreciation for it,” Swinney said. “And so, you know, I appreciate some of the longtime Clemson people that have good perspective. Because these kids, they’re in a situation where there’s a lot of noise all the time. And I hate that, but that’s the world we live in. And it comes with the territory. But I really like our team and we’re gonna battle our butts off.”
Swinney’s comments naturally led to a lot of reactions on social media.
Take the banner down if it’s not true Dabo. https://t.co/3oALv5EpSf pic.twitter.com/EzxuXxGHBC
— Will (@WillTalksBall) October 17, 2023
Dabo has the best job in College Football. Gets paid more than 99% of the sport and gets to do whatever he wants.
Great football coach, but he has no fire in him to go and win another title. https://t.co/IPrQEbGf3N
— Dustin Black (@dustinb429) October 17, 2023
There’s perspective and then there’s loser speech. This is loser speech https://t.co/qAq4bs1lBQ
— I’m the new Chris Paul (@D_Rose76) October 17, 2023
“15 for 15. Let’s go”
“Every class since 14 has won a championship. Yall on the clock”
– Dabo Swinney https://t.co/E1WuwuFIoJ— Cleve (@CleveIsDaReaz_N) October 17, 2023
My brother in Christ you literally were recorded telling your team that they were on the clock to win a national championship https://t.co/lmI5WJQ70L
— carson (@ballknowerfr) October 17, 2023
Getting real sick of this. This ain’t the Dabo we knew…bro literally has “Best is the standard” tattooed on the program https://t.co/3msUKOFxxF pic.twitter.com/1sM7ukflSC
— Rivdog (@eazyriv_zee) October 17, 2023
Understand the point he is trying to make. But he literally said this during the off-season. You can’t backtrack like that https://t.co/lvZh2wKRMC pic.twitter.com/RrM9pZuQ4x
— Barstool Clemson (@BarstoolClemson) October 17, 2023
Whether Swinney likes it or not, it’s pretty clear the expectations are high for him at Clemson.
[On3]
