Josh Pate, a prominent On3 reporter, sided with Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney in the recent tampering situation with Luke Ferrelli in a commentary released Tuesday.
In the video, Pate responded to an individual who posted: “why are you defending the moaning and whining of Dabo Swinney? Maybe don’t be ignorant about the way the transfer portal works when you are making millions of dollars? I would trade my job with him in a heartbeat!”
In response, Pate explained that Ferrelli was already enrolled and taking classes at Clemson when he decided to transfer. Pate added that tampering is a widespread issue in college football and is also happening at other football powerhouses, including LSU. He went on to say that the transfer portal is a “mockery.”
All that to say, college football today seems to be broken. Stronger enforcement, or just simply an addition of rules regarding the transfer portal, could quickly curb the wild west state of affairs that college football has become accustomed to.
But Pate dove further. He said that Swinney built a dynasty at Clemson from the ground up.
“So put in 15 years for me … Resurrect Clemson. Build Clemson into something it has never been before in the era of Nick Saban. Go head-to-head with him and beat him twice … do all that and trade jobs with Dabo Swinney,” he said.
Plain and simple, that is the story of Clemson. Swinney built the shameful Bowden-era program into a dynasty. So, for someone with no college football coaching experience to say they would switch jobs with Dabo seems ridiculous.
Swinney has taken Clemson football to unimaginable heights. Even amid the latest struggles, Swinney knows how to win. Clemson’s record of 57 wins since 2020 ties the Tigers at No. 7 for most wins in the nation in that time range. He has also shown that a coach can build a program that stands out on its own with discipline, integrity and passion.
This brings up a question of where the rants that Clemson haters continue to spew across social media originate from — just a resentment of what Swinney has actually created at Clemson?
The bottom line is this: Is tampering right or wrong? It does not matter whether you call it whining or not; Swinney is standing up for what he feels is right for the future of all college football.
