Opinion: Dabo Swinney should’t be criticized for motivational tactics
By Kelvin Hunt
Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney has been criticized for things he’s said in the media. I think it’s a joke folk are mad at what he says.
Dabo Swinney has turned Clemson into one of the premier college football programs in the nation and should send Jimbo Fisher a care basket every month for allowing it to happen.
Nevertheless, one can’t deny what Dabo Swinney has done over the last five seasons or so. The Tigers have gone (69-4) with one of those losses being in the national title game in 2015.
They’ve won two national titles in that time frame and will be playing for their third Monday night as they take on LSU.
Swinney has taken some heat for some of the things he’s said in the media this year. He’s been shaping a narrative that it’s Clemson against the world or little old Clemson isn’t getting any respect, etc.
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He’s right, nobody was respecting them as a national title contender after they almost and should have lost against North Carolina earlier in the season.
However, in typical Clemson fashion Swinney and company came back from a 16-0 deficit to defeat Ohio State a couple of weeks ago for a shot at their third national title in five years.
Ohio State is a team many considered the best team in the country for most of the year and now that team seems to be LSU.
After all, they opened as five point betting favorites against Clemson but it should be noted it’s basically a home game since they’ll be playing less than 100 miles away from the LSU campus.
I know a lot of people dislike Dabo Swinney with how he brings religion up all the time, and how he likes to pit Clemson as some poor little old school that no one respects despite their recent success.
However, a coaches’ job is to shape the mentality of his team. If it’s making the team believe it’s them against the world to motivate them and it works? That’s smart on the coach’s behalf. It’s tough to get to the top of the mountain and even tougher to stay there so that message can’t stay the same all the time.
That’s why Swinney does what he does. He may get made fun of and criticized but winning at the rate he’s been winning makes it worth it.
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Then he gets to throw it right back in your face if it works. If it doesn’t, they were supposed to lose to LSU anyways right? Here’s to hoping FSU’s Mike Norvell can shape narratives to get his players to play at the level that gets FSU football back to where it belongs.