Clemson football: Coach Swinney’s four least most controversial statements as head coach

Former South Carolina head football coach Steve Spurrier loved to take shots at rivals throughout his college coaching career. Whether it was FSU or Clemson, he had plenty to say about both when he was in the midst of success against them.

Before the 2011 matchup against the Gamecocks, Coach Swinney was asked about an alleged quote from Spurrier that was posted on the official Gamecock twitter site about how “Clemson was not Alabama”.

"“There’s a lot of rivalries out there. This is more of a domination. And that’s a fact. My kids’ grandkids won’t live long enough to ever see this really become a rivalry. We’ve won more bowl games than they’ve ever been to. They ain’t Alabama. They ain’t LSU. And they’re certainly not Clemson. That’s why Carolina’s in Chapel Hill and USC’s in California and the university in this state always has been, always will be Clemson. Bothered “the quote” was getting attention when he believed the focus should be on Saturday’s ACC title game, the Clemson coach concluded, “So, you can print that, tweet that, whatever.”"

Of course, the next day, Gamecock athletics had deleted the tweet and clarified saying that Spurrier was, in fact, talking about his own football program, but it was too late. That four-minute statement from Dabo Swinney was enough to have Gamecocks crying from state line to state line and started lifelong hate for the Clemson head coach.