It’s been a rough 60 hours for Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney who has dealt with the backlash to his team’s horrible performance against LSU on Saturday. But he may have taken some of that frustration out on a reporter asking a legitimate question, which is only making things worse.
During Dabo’s Tuesday press conference, Chapel Fowler of The State Newspaper asked him if he had any regrets about his approach to roster construction following the 51-10 loss to Clemson. Dabo laughed and called Fowler “the gotcha guy” and asked him to wait until the end of the season to ask again.
But then his demeanor changed. He asserted that he wouldn’t be answering questions like that and started to admonish Fowler for trying to create controversy, even calling him out for not playing football.
Big Mistake from Dabo
Fans praised Fowler for asking a legitimate question and have since started criticizing Dabo for being unable to handle any tough questions.
“I think it’s pretty damn fair to question why the team looked like a jv squad against a bigger, faster, and stronger team that made you look like an FCS warmup game. Dabo is losing a lot of good will with otherwise diehard fans who have had enough of this schtick,” one user replied to Fowler on X.
“Chapel, I think you touched a nerve on that question. Was it fair overall probably not but considering how things went last year and how it started this year I totally support you in asking Dabo. You could tell from his tone he wasnt happy with it,” wrote another.
“Good distillation here of how shocking and affronting it is for Dabo to be asked a direct question about his job performance. He doesn’t think he should have to hear it,” a third remarked.
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Swinney has been under fire since well before his team lost to LSU though. Last year the Tigers went 7-6 and ended the season unranked – their worst results since 2010.
Many people have blamed the state of Clemson football on Swinney’s rigidity towards roster construction and diminishing results on his recruitment messaging.
Swinney had a golden opportunity to address those criticisms and instead deflected in one of the worst ways possible.
