After a 1-3 start to the Clemson football season, head coach Dabo Swinney faces calls for his job, but I believe that to be blasphemy.
Clemson entered the season ranked No. 4 with national championship expectations. After four underwhelming performances, many are calling for Swinney to be fired. While I also am unhappy with the Clemson football team’s performances and mindset, this take is an irrational response to the issue.
During his weekly press conference prior to the Syracuse matchup, Swinney addressed the excessive criticism he received, stating, “If Clemson’s tired of winning, they can send me on my way.”
Swinney had many other statements that resonated with me, and I will address those, but the quote above, specifically, feels like a dagger to the stomach. Swinney built the Clemson football program. Clemson football has always been a great program that has experienced the heights of football, but Swinney took Clemson to an upper echelon.
“We won this league eight out of the last 10 years … to go to the playoffs seven out of 10 years, to be in four national championships, and to win it twice,” emphasized Swinney.
Only a handful of college football programs have experienced the level of dominance that Clemson had throughout the 2010s — USC, Miami, Florida State, Nebraska and most recently Alabama, to name a few. Besides those teams, there haven’t been nearly as many impressive runs. Clemson is among those dominant schools.
Clemson’s run, just like all runs, came to an end. Clemson has not been the same since its loss to Ohio State in the 2021 Sugar Bowl. Since that defeat, Clemson has underperformed and has been unable to reach the expectations set. However, the team still had high levels of success. The Tigers have still been able to win and contend in the ACC, and had a playoff appearance in just its past season. Clemson’s resume from the past five seasons is far more impressive than that of the majority of the country.
That said, I am not ecstatic about what Swinney is doing with the football program. However, I do trust him. Clemson trusted him to take their program to glory, and should continue to trust him to take it back to glory.
Fans also need to factor in that the landscape of college football has changed drastically in just the past two years. People say Swinney needs to adjust, an effort that still a work in progress.
Fans wanted him to get involved with the transfer portal. After a couple of years of refusing to do so, Swinney finally acquired multiple players from the portal. The acquisition wasn’t an elite portal class, but it gives Clemson a foundation to build off.
“I ain’t going to the beach.” said Swinney. “Hell, I’m 55. I’ve got a long way to go. Y’all are gonna have to deal with me for a while. I’m just getting going.”
Swinney is right. He’s got a long way to go, which is exactly why the Clemson fanbase needs to maintain their faith in the two-time national champion, Dabo Swinney.
Jose Zarraluqui is a senior marketing major from Coral Gables, Florida. Jose can be reached at [email protected].
