Clemson Football: National media owe Dabo Swinney a big apology

National media owe Clemson football coach Dabo Swinney a big apology

There’s no doubt that Clemson football coach Dabo Swinney makes mistakes, but when he sticks up for his program and is raked over the coals for it, you better be right if you’re on the side of scrutiny against him.

Dabo Swinney was absolutely furious a couple of weeks ago when we saw a Clemson football game canceled just hours before kickoff by Florida State. Following the cancellation, the Seminoles made it clear that the reason they couldn’t play was because they were concerned about Clemson and the possibility that the Tigers might spread the virus to their players.

Swinney was livid and said in his presser that following Sunday that ‘COVID was used as an excuse to cancel the game.’

Swinney never backed down from those words and he was raked over the coals by basically every single national media personality for whining. FSU Coach Mike Norvell told the media later that week that ‘other programs may allow symptomatic players to practice, but the Seminoles won’t let that happen.’

Of course, that didn’t sit well with Swinney either who was quick to point out that he wasn’t pretending to be a doctor and that he wasn’t concerned about any advice given to him from Tallahassee. He trusted the medical professionals and doctors at Clemson.

Now, Florida State has had three games canceled in a row and the Seminoles’ season might be coming to an end. FSU canceled its second game in a row on Saturday, just hours before kickoff again. UVA Coach Bronco Mendenhall was more diplomatic in his words, but gave much of the same message as Swinney:

"“I have no interest in going back to Florida State,” Mendenhall said. “That opportunity was there, it’s no longer there…”"

Maybe Clemson football wasn’t as ‘reckless & irresponsible’ as everyone wrote

Maybe, there was more going on there than what Florida State put out to the press following the cancellation, basically solely blaming Clemson for why the game couldn’t be played.

FSU touted how it had not had a positive case in over a month since Mike Norvell tested positive, but now they’re experiencing an outbreak. When you combine the contact tracing with the amount of injuries and opt outs that the program has already experienced, you get the reason that the ‘Noles might not be playing another game this season.

I’m not here to tell you what Dabo Swinney said was right or wrong- we’re moving past that. That’s not the point of this article. I’m also not here to trade more blows with a Florida State fan base that has already been beaten enough.

The point of this post is to say that we have media members who have been openly critical of Dabo Swinney well before they had all the facts on this story or what was already developing at Florida State. They chose to side with FSU and make this out to be a story of ‘morality’ when it really had to do with ACC protocols, or lack thereof.

And let’s not even get started on John Swofford, who never stood up to discuss the decisions that he made before the season ever began that put the two teams in that situation to begin with.

But for some reason, the only narrative coming out of the event was how wrong Dabo Swinney was for wanting to play a game (that his team had met all the protocols). There was no backlash or even questions thrown Florida State’s way and the ‘Noles maintained that they were ‘completely ready to play the game.’

Now- after more cancellations (three-in-a-row), opt outs and de-commitments from FSU- maybe what Swinney was saying earlier will resonate a little better:

"“I’m not really worried much about what they say down there in Tallahassee,” Swinney said. “I’ve been in this league 18 years, I’ve been the head coach for 12. They’ve had three head coaches in four years.”"

Maybe next time we’ll see media members give a little more grace and thought to someone who knows what they’re talking about, has been on every single conference call and is a leader in the ACC before lining up to take shots at his character.

Swinney may not say things the way that many want him to, but he’s never given a pass or even any validity by national media members- though he has the reputation and testimony of thousands of people who have been touched by his leadership and kindness.

The more and more that comes out of Tallahassee, the less and less it looks like it was simply Clemson’s positive test that had that game canceled, and that was Swinney’s point at the very beginning. For that, the national media owes him an apology.