Clemson coach Dabo Swinney draws criticism for suicide-related comment after Miami loss
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Clemson football coach Dabo Swinney is drawing online pushback after making a suicide-related remark following his team’s loss to Miami.
The Tigers lost 28-20 in double overtime Saturday to the Hurricanes, with key first-half fumbles by running back Will Shipley and quarterback Cade Klubnik playing a big role in the Tigers ultimately blowing a 10-point fourth quarter lead.
Clemson is now leading the country in fumbles lost with 10, the most of any of the 133 FBS teams. After the game, Swinney said he didn’t have an answer for the team’s repeated mistakes on basic aspects of the game.
“I know some coaches have employed sports psychiatrists,” a reporter said. “Have you ever done that?
“We got ‘em,” Swinney said. “We got ‘em. He’s probably on suicide watch right now. Yeah, we got ‘em. Again, sometimes things don’t go — I mean, I’m sure things have not gone the way y’all always want in your professional career from time to time. You’ve had a plan, you’ve worked hard, you did everything and it didn’t go the way you want. Well, you know what? You just gotta keep moving, you gotta keep going.”
Clemson dropped to 4-3 and 2-3 in the ACC with the loss.
“We’ve got a really talented team,” Swinney said. “And we’ve got a lot of guys that have a lot of great days ahead. … I love these guys. And I’m in the pit with them. I’m right there them.”
Swinney’s apparent attempt at a joke related to someone being on suicide watch due to the football team’s poor performance drew immediate criticism from users on the platform X (formerly Twitter):
“This is so unacceptable in so many ways I don’t even know where to begin”
“This definitely ain’t it.”
“hey dabo, maybe don’t say this!”
“How is this a real quote? Good lord, Dabo …”
More from Dabo Swinney
A quick summary of Swinney’s other postgame remarks:
“Congrats to Miami … They found a way to win. We found a way not to win. Just an unbelievably disappointing game. What we want, we have to deserve. We didn’t deserve what we wanted We want to win and we didn’t deserve it. We deserve exactly what we got.“
“To turn the ball over the way we turned the ball over, it’s hard to win. … The turnovers, it’s like a broken record. The best players have to play well. We’re not doing the simple things and it’s frustrating.”
“The score that we fumbled in the end zone could’ve been the difference in the game in the end. Another turnover down there could’ve been the difference in the game. .. At the end of the day, you overcome all of that crap, you’ve got a 10 point lead in the fourth quarter and you can’t finish.
“We could not stop them down there in the fourth quarter. They earned it. We got exactly what we deserved.”
“You just have to give Miami a ton of credit. Down 10, fourth quarter, they fought back and we didn’t finish.”
“We’re 4-3 and that’s exactly what we deserve. I feel like I’m living 2010 all over again. It’s crazy.” (The 2010 team went 6-7 and lost four games by 6 or fewer points.)
“This team has been in position to win every single game we’ve played. I don’t have an answer. … We’ve got to figure out a way to win. It starts with taking care of the ball.”
“Better days are ahead. It’s just disappointing as crap because we’ve got a really good football team. I’ve got to find a way to help these guys to stop making mistakes.”
“I’m sorry to our fans. They deserve better. … We didn’t deserve to win the game. Until we get some of those things fixed, we’re going to be in a battle every week.”
“My heart hurts for everyone, but I’m responsible. I’ve got to help them. They worked their butts off. Nobody wants to win more than them. It’s just one of those years where we can’t seem to get out of our own way.”