Dabo Swinney doesn’t get it. Nor does he want to.
Sadly, he isn’t the only one.
Clemson’s head football coach, the man in charge of the hottest program in the sport, allows his staff to spew racist slurs, doesn’t think players should be paid, and believes football matters above all.
Swinney’s latest misstep is a photo of him on vacation in a t-shirt that reads “football matters.”
“Coach Swinney’s shirt, in any way, is not mocking the Black Lives Matter movement. He has been wearing the shirt for months in meetings,” tweeted Tigers starting quarterback Trevor Lawrence in defense of his coach.
Read the room, Dabo.
Because while that shirt may be one of the coach’s favorites, it’s becoming impossible to give him the benefit of the doubt when it comes to anything that deals with race, especially when you realize that the promotion of other slogans/sayings with “matters” in it came after the formation of Black Lives Matter.
All of this is happening while Swinney’s current, and former players, have told us how assistant coach Danny Pearlman used “the N-word during practice with no repercussion” back in 2017. Pearlman released a statement apologizing, confirming that the incident happened. There’s no point in apologizing if you didn’t do it, right?
Another former player is also claiming that Swinney himself has used the N-word before.
“Dabo walked into the meeting room and said ‘I don’t want to walk in the locker room with guests/future coaches hearing n—a this n—a that in our house.”
When speaking about the state of America back in 2016 when Colin Kaepernick started kneeling, Swinney said, “It’s so easy to say we have a race problem, but we got a sin problem.”
White Evangelical Christians love pointing to their faith as a cure-all, while always failing to mention that their religion is based on the teachings of a man that wasn’t even white.
As I said, Dabo doesn’t get it, nor does he want to. This is the same coach that said, “But as far as paying players, professionalizing college athletics, that’s where you lose me. I’ll go do something else, because there’s enough entitlement in this world as it is.”
Swinney signed a 10-year $93 million extension last year.
He’s also the same coach that rewarded his title-winning team by accepting an invitation to the White House to eat fast food. Imagine having an undefeated (15-0) season that concluded with a 44-16 mauling of Alabama in the College Football Playoff National Championship Game that was celebrated with Chicken McNuggets and Big Macs.
Awesome. (sarcasm font)
Players at Florida State and Iowa have also had it with their coaches.
Seminoles head coach Mike Norvell, who hasn’t even coached a game yet, got exposed by his players after he told The Athletic’s Tashan Reed that he had personal conversations with his players about the death of George Floyd.
“I went back and forth individually with every player this weekend,” said Norvell. “And that was something that was important to me because this is a heartbreaking time in our country…. I told these guys just how grateful I am to be a part of this journey with them because they are the future. We’ve got an incredible group of men that I get a chance to work with as players and coaches. I’m honored to have the opportunity to help make a difference.”
Norvell lied, as it was revealed that he sent out mass texts to players, which angered them as some of them threatened to skip workouts.
And in Iowa, strength coach Chris Doyle has been put on leave after a multitude of former players have voiced the racists and negative experiences they had to endure from him.
“Over the past 24 hours I have seen some difficult and heartbreaking posts on social media,” Iowa head coach Kirk Ferentz said in a video. “I appreciate the former players’ candor and have been reaching out to many of them individually to hear more about their experiences in our program. I am planning on talking to all of them in the coming days. This is a process that will take some time, but change begins by listening first.”
This is part where I tell you that Doyle has been on Ferentz’s staff throughout his entire tenure as head coach. That’s over 20 years, but all of sudden Ferentz is just now learning of this?
Stop it.
It’s reminiscent of UGA head coach Kirby Smart releasing his recent statement about how he “firmly stand(s) against racism of all kinds.” This is after his program lost a 2019 Heisman Trophy finalist in Justin Fields, who transferred to Ohio State, after being called the N-word by a member of UGA’s baseball team during a game.
In a moment in which White America is either doubling down on its hate or attempting to redeem itself for its sins, college football coaches are getting exposed. And the way they view players is revealing to us just how problematic they can be.
So, to all the Black high school recruits that will be recruited by these coaches in the coming months, make sure you take notes and choose wisely.