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Dabo Swinney has to be careful with his words moving forward

By Jeff Benedict

CLEMSON, SOUTH CAROLINA - JUNE 13: Clemson football head coach Dabo Swinney addresses the crowd during the "March for Change" protest at Bowman Field on June 13, 2020 in Clemson, South Carolina. The protests were in response to the death of George Floyd, an African American, while in the custody of the Minneapolis police. Protests calling for an end to police brutality have spread across cities in the U.S., and in other parts of the world. (Photo by Maddie Meyer/Getty Images)
CLEMSON, SOUTH CAROLINA - JUNE 13: Clemson football head coach Dabo Swinney addresses the crowd during the "March for Change" protest at Bowman Field on June 13, 2020 in Clemson, South Carolina. The protests were in response to the death of George Floyd, an African American, while in the custody of the Minneapolis police. Protests calling for an end to police brutality have spread across cities in the U.S., and in other parts of the world. (Photo by Maddie Meyer/Getty Images) /
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Dabo Swinney is trending for all the wrong reasons, again.

Once again, Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney has been trending for nearly a week on twitter and it hasn’t been good news. It all started a week ago when former UGA and NFL player George Foster posted a 22-second clip of Swinney from 2016.

What Foster did not tweet was that Swinney apologized to his team for those comments and realized how his statement had been received.

In 2016, this is what former Tiger Dorian O’Daniel had to say –

"“A lot of guys appreciated the apology, even though we weren’t looking for it. We know Coach Swinney not only as a coach, but a man. I think people took what he said out of context. People who had something to say about it don’t know him like we know him.”"

Cancel culture is coming for Dabo Swinney like they have many others and we are about to find out if the foundation that he has built as Clemson is strong enough to sustain the pressure that comes with it.

While we all know who Dabo Swinney is and nearly every single player that has spent their careers with him have professed their love and admiration for what a great man he is, his words taken out of context are coming back to bite him in the butt.

While it is easy for the anti-PC crowd to tell others to get over it and they need to move on, Swinney is not in a position to agree.

Anyone that has ever spent time with Coach Swinney knows what a great man he is and the love that he has for everyone, regardless of color, gender, race or economic status.

Public opinion is important to head coaches like Dabo Swinney

Public sentiment matters in regards to his career choice. The moment people start to believe the blatant nonsense going around social media about him is the moment his job becomes nearly impossible. It is easy to dismiss social media as biased but remembers, social media is predominantly enjoyed by the age group that Swinney and Clemson football is trying to attract.

Teenagers don’t have the vantage point of hindsight, they believe everything that goes around social media as fact. Right now where athletes are unable to take visits and see things for themselves, social media becomes that much more important.

If there is anything that Dabo has had to learn from this it’s that you don’t have to answer every question and that it is okay to say “I have no opinion, next question”.

Next. 4-star DB Jordan Hancock decommits. dark

When you are at the top, everyone is coming for your spot and most will do whatever it takes to know you down. Swinney and Clemson are finding that out now. Moving forward Swinney has to be less social and more like Nick Saban when it comes to giving his opinion on issues outside of football.

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