Clemson Football: Dabo will take his time with staff decisions

The dust is just starting to settle on the Clemson Football loss to South Carolina.

Was it an explosion, or an implosion? That will be determined over the next few weeks and months.

There are outward signs that there are problems. There are reports of fights on the sidelines. Those problems might be indicative of deeper worries, or they honestly might be the result of frustrations from young men who do care and want to be successful.

As fans, we are on the outside looking in and aren’t privy to what the real problems are within the program or the seriousness of those problems.

Fans have every right to complain. Fans have every right to speak their mind about what they perceive are problems.

Sometimes a lack of fan dissatisfaction is what allows a program or franchise to trend in the wrong direction for too long. See what is going on with Stanford right now. A program that once won Rose Bowls just finished a 3-9 season.

Sometimes overreactions from fans can be impediments to program improvement. It’s hard for any program to be successful when the fans, especially boosters, never give the people hired a chance and decide from Day 1 they won’t support them. See Texas or Auburn.

Just because someone has the right to do something doesn’t mean they should.

I think some fans simply think it’s unacceptable to lose to South Carolina, and therefore someone must be blamed, or even better, fired. I think other fans have had their minds made up about certain coordinators and players since the season began.

Someone might be fired. Multiple people might be fired. Some people might be shuffled. Some players might transfer. Some players might lose their jobs.

None of that will happen because of one bad day. I think we all know Coach Swinney doesn’t make decisions based on knee-jerk reactions.

I don’t think Dabo is perfect, and I haven’t hesitated to criticize him. One of the things I’ve criticized about Dabo is stubbornness. In this situation, I’m glad he doesn’t listen to outside noise. I’m glad he will put thought into where he takes the program from here instead of just getting angry and firing people out of embarrassment, which is what is driving a lot of the opinions you have seen on social media over the last 24 hours.

Everything we have observed from Coach Swinney suggests that he will base his decisions on the results of the season, and the season isn’t over.

There are two more games left. Clemson Football plays North Carolina for the ACC Championship next weekend. They will play in a bowl game in the postseason.

The bowl game they play in will be determined following the ACCCG. These last two games can significantly influence the overall success of the season.

A win Saturday means a New Year’s Six bowl bid. A loss means the team is back at 10-3 and the Cheez-It Bowl, with the only chance of tangible improvement over 2021 being an 11-3 record.

If Coach Swinney decides to make changes to the staff, they might not be the changes the fans want or expect.

Changes in college football often precede the bowl games, and you never know when changes elsewhere might mean changes at Clemson, as they did following the 2021 season. Otherwise, Dabo might even wait to see the results of the bowl game before making any decisions.

Or, and I know some will not like this: he might not make any major changes at all.

If Dabo decides to terminate, reassign or demote a coach or staff member, it will be because of performance throughout a season, and not because of what happened Saturday.

He definitely won’t make decisions based on fanbase frustrations, especially after an emotional loss.

When he does decide to proceed, the decisions he makes might be very different from what the fanbase wants or expects.