Dabo Swinney's frustration just cost his program. The Atlantic Coast Conference announced on Sunday it has issued a public reprimand to Clemson football coach Dabo Swinney and an institutional fine of $10,000 to the university for violating the ACC Sportsmanship Policy.
The disciplinary action stems from Swinney's post-game comments about the officiating in Saturday's stunning 46-45 loss to Duke. The fine stems directly from Swinney's blunt assessment of the controversial 4th-and-10 pass interference penalty called on cornerback Avieon Terrell, which negated a fourth-down stop and set Duke up for the game-winning touchdown.
"That's one of the worst calls ever in my entire coaching career," Swinney said in the post-game press conference. "effort in a situation like that, uh… I don't really know what else to say."
In its official statement, the ACC confirmed Swinney's remarks were in direct violation of league policy.
"Swinney’s postgame comments regarding the officiating were in direct violation of the ACC Sportsmanship Policy that states: 'Public criticism of officials or public comments evaluating the officiating of particular contests is not in the best interest of intercollegiate athletics. Individuals associated with the athletics program are prohibited, therefore, from commenting while acting in an official capacity on officiating other than directly to the Conference office.'"
The funds from the imposed institutional fine will be placed into the Weaver-James-Corrigan-Swofford Postgraduate Scholarship account.
The ACC added, "The ACC considers this matter closed and will have no further comment."
Ironically, Swinney appeared to try and walk back his comments in the same press conference, attempting to shift the blame from the officials to his own team's performance, which allowed 46 points.
"I don't even… I don't want to make that a deal, because they won the game," Swinney said, moments after blasting the call. He then turned the criticism inward, saying, "At the end of the day, it was just… Horrible, horrible pass defense. Um, and… you know, just… it's not acceptable."
But that attempt to soften the criticism was not enough to avoid the reprimand and the five-figure fine.