Rooting for Dabo

18IsTheMan

Heisman
Oct 1, 2014
18,312
15,289
113
Some Clemson folks are expecting Dabo to go public and bring receipts regarding Ole Miss' tampering with the player who had signed an NIL, transferred in, enrolled, attended class and worked out with the team before quitting school and heading to Ole Miss. Everything Dabo said about concerns with using the portal came 100% true. with this situation. Now it's going rampant with the Washington QB, Mensah at Duke, Smith who left us for Syracuse only to go to Ole Miss, LSU poaching Ole Miss players on and on and on.

Other coaches have weakly called out tampering but declined to give specifics...because they are all engaged in it or know they will have to be at some point in the future. Except Dabo. Of all P4 coaches, he's uniquely positioned to be able to name names. He's the only one with clean hands in all this portal/tampering business.

I'm hoping he does. It's the one last shot anyone has to do anything. Expose it. Name coaches. Name players. Give dollar figures.

Swinney is the one last best hope for college football. Like it or lump it.
 
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Forkcock

All-Conference
Feb 11, 2006
1,470
1,531
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Some Clemson folks are expecting Dabo to go public and bring receipts regarding Ole Miss' tampering with the player who had signed an NIL, transferred in, enrolled, attended class and worked out with the team before quitting school and heading to Ole Miss. Everything Dabo said about concerns with using the portal came 100% true. with this situation. Now it's going rampant with the Washington QB, Mensah at Duke, Smith who left us for Syracuse only to go to Ole Miss, LSU poaching Ole Miss players on and on and on.

Other coaches have weakly called out tampering but declined to give specifics...because they are all engaged in it or know they will have to be at some point in the future. Except Dabo. Of all P4 coaches, he's uniquely positioned to be able to name names. He's the only one with clean hands in all this portal/tampering business.

I'm hoping he does. It's the one last shot anyone has to do anything. Expose it. Name coaches. Name players. Give dollar figures.

Swinney is the one last best hope for college football. Like it or lump it.

You think Dabo's hands are clean and he's the best hope for college football?
 
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Swifty

Sophomore
Jan 21, 2022
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While I agree with hoping he does this, it will also be dismissed as sour grapes by many.
It is funny to see climpson fans posting on social media about the SEC (constantly) and how NIL has neutralized how the SEC was paying players. As if the B1G schools weren't already paying players and as if climpson wasn't doing the same thing. Watson grew up in poverty in a house that was donated to his mother from Warrick Dunn's foundation and then he's tripping around cowtown wearing Gucci shoes, etc. Give me a break.

The truth of the matter is that NIL was never supposed to be what it has turned into and the ridiculousness of the transfer portal has poured jet fuel on the dumpster fire. I believe it will settle down eventually, but we all have to watch this $h!tshow unravel for probably another 5 years or so before it levels out to something reasonable and manageable.
 
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18IsTheMan

Heisman
Oct 1, 2014
18,312
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You think Dabo's hands are clean and he's the best hope for college football?

He's the lone P4 coach who has had disdain for the portal. Clemson hasn't tampered with anyone b/c they have barely even tried to get anyone from the portal. Dabo only finally did to a very limited extent to satisfy critics. So, yes, he is the single best hope for college football in being the only coach who has the capacity to call out the portal and tampering for what it is. He can name names because nobody can throw mud back on him for tampering.

I don't care what school he's the coach of. We all hate what CFB has become what CFB has become with the portal, NIL and tampering. I'm for any coach who can and will call it out. The enemy of my enemy is my friend.
 

18IsTheMan

Heisman
Oct 1, 2014
18,312
15,289
113
While I agree with hoping he does this, it will also be dismissed as sour grapes by many.
It is funny to see climpson fans posting on social media about the SEC (constantly) and how NIL has neutralized how the SEC was paying players. As if the B1G schools weren't already paying players and as if climpson wasn't doing the same thing. Watson grew up in poverty in a house that was donated to his mother from Warrick Dunn's foundation and then he's tripping around cowtown wearing Gucci shoes, etc. Give me a break.

The truth of the matter is that NIL was never supposed to be what it has turned into and the ridiculousness of the transfer portal has poured jet fuel on the dumpster fire. I believe it will settle down eventually, but we all have to watch this $h!tshow unravel for probably another 5 years or so before it levels out to something reasonable and manageable.

It could come across looking like sour grapes, except that the issue he's upset about is the same issue so many fans and coaches are upset about: players signing NIL deals and then going somewhere else anyway with no enforcement from the top. This guy for Clemson had a signed deal, had enrolled, had attended classes, had attended team workouts. Then just turned in his laptop, left campus and went to Ole Miss, leaving behind a signed NIL deal.

Everyone is screaming "why won't anyone do anything about this?!?"

As Gamecock fans, we can like it or lump it, but Dabo's extreme reluctance to the use the portal has him uniquely positioned to be the one coach who can call people out for tampering.

Would it ultimately accomplish anything? Probably not. But I'd at least love to see one coach with the stones to go out there and say "This coach at this program tampered with this player. Here's the signed NIL deal we had with this player." Every other coach is afraid to address tampering in any way other than vague implication.
 
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Piscis

All-Conference
Nov 30, 2001
24,511
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I'm not a Clemson fan at all and I think Dabo is a clown, but I have agreed with him all along about NIL and the portal. I wish he would follow up on his threat from a few years ago when he said he would quit if players started getting paid. He has to have enough money for several lifetimes and it would send a strong message to the college football world if a coach with two recent national championships walked away from the game because of NIL and the portal. Saban leaving wasn't quite as strong a message because he was close to retirement anyway. Dabo is in his prime as a coach.
 

18IsTheMan

Heisman
Oct 1, 2014
18,312
15,289
113
I'm not a Clemson fan at all and I think Dabo is a clown, but I have agreed with him all along about NIL and the portal. I wish he would follow up on his threat from a few years ago when he said he would quit if players started getting paid. He has to have enough money for several lifetimes and it would send a strong message to the college football world if a coach with two recent national championships walked away from the game because of NIL and the portal. Saban leaving wasn't quite as strong a message because he was close to retirement anyway. Dabo is in his prime as a coach.

Personally, I think Dabo is the only one fit to be the Commissioner of college football. He seems to be the only one who remembers what it's supposed to be about. At least the only one who has been bold enough to say it. Even more bold in his stance than Saban.

I think the only reason he doesn't quit is the same reason many of us fans still stay engaged even though we're disgusted with the state of things: we cling to what the sport used to be.
 
Nov 10, 2024
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Some Clemson folks are expecting Dabo to go public and bring receipts regarding Ole Miss' tampering with the player who had signed an NIL, transferred in, enrolled, attended class and worked out with the team before quitting school and heading to Ole Miss. Everything Dabo said about concerns with using the portal came 100% true. with this situation. Now it's going rampant with the Washington QB, Mensah at Duke, Smith who left us for Syracuse only to go to Ole Miss, LSU poaching Ole Miss players on and on and on.

Other coaches have weakly called out tampering but declined to give specifics...because they are all engaged in it or know they will have to be at some point in the future. Except Dabo. Of all P4 coaches, he's uniquely positioned to be able to name names. He's the only one with clean hands in all this portal/tampering business.

I'm hoping he does. It's the one last shot anyone has to do anything. Expose it. Name coaches. Name players. Give dollar figures.

Swinney is the one last best hope for college football. Like it or lump it.
 
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Piscis

All-Conference
Nov 30, 2001
24,511
2,022
113
Personally, I think Dabo is the only one fit to be the Commissioner of college football. He seems to be the only one who remembers what it's supposed to be about. At least the only one who has been bold enough to say it. Even more bold in his stance than Saban.

I think the only reason he doesn't quit is the same reason many of us fans still stay engaged even though we're disgusted with the state of things: we cling to what the sport used to be.
I think Saban has to really temper his comments because of his ESPN job. He can't be on Gameday lambasting the current state of college football.

I do think Saban is too old to be the commissioner. He is 74 and, even though he appears to be in great health, his tenure as commissioner would necessarily be pretty brief. Dabo has the right idea about what college football is supposed to be, but I'm not sure Dabo's ego wouldn't make him want to be in front of the cameras and in everyone's face all the time if he was commissioner.

I don't think there is going to be a commissioner. The B1G and the SEC aren't going to agree to let anyone tell them what to do.
 
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18IsTheMan

Heisman
Oct 1, 2014
18,312
15,289
113
I think Saban has to really temper his comments because of his ESPN job. He can't be on Gameday lambasting the current state of college football.

I do think Saban is too old to be the commissioner. He is 74 and, even though he appears to be in great health, his tenure as commissioner would necessarily be pretty brief. Dabo has the right idea about what college football is supposed to be, but I'm not sure Dabo's ego wouldn't make him want to be in front of the cameras and in everyone's face all the time if he was commissioner.

I don't think there is going to be a commissioner. The B1G and the SEC aren't going to agree to let anyone tell them what to do.
Maybe it should be Charles Barkley, lol: