Dabo Swinney makes ill-advised joke when asked about Clemson sports psychologist
With an overtime loss to Miami, Clemson fell to just 4-3 on the season. It’s been a surprise for head coach Dabo Swinney and now there are a lot of questions surrounding the team’s ability to focus and its mindset moving forward this season.
Following the game, Swinney was asked if Clemson employed a sports psychologist. He then took it as an opportunity to tell a joke about how the team has been playing lately.
“We’ve got one. He’s probably on suicide watch right now,” Dabo Swinney joked. “We got him.”
Dabo Swinney was clearly trying to make a joke with his comments. However, almost immediately after hitting social media, Swinney was already drawing criticism for it. With changing attitudes toward improved mental health awareness and the importance of having a sports psychologist available, it could come across as quite dismissive from Swinney.
Still, this joke clearly came from a place of frustration for Swinney as he’s still trying to figure things out amid a challenging 2023 season.
“So, again, just sometimes things don’t go. I mean, I’m sure things have not gone the way y’all always want maybe in your professional career from time to time. You have a plan, worked hard, and you did everything. Then it doesn’t go the way you want. You just got to keep moving. You’ve got to keep going and in a team environment, you have a decision to make. You stay together or you divide.”
With the loss to Miami, Clemson lost its third game of the season. It’s the third season in a row where Clemson has lost three games under Swinney, after winning a pair of national championships.
The Tigers will look to bounce back next week against NC State.
Dabo Swinney bemoans ‘bandwagon’ Clemson fans for ‘terrible mindset’
Recently, Dabo Swinney was criticized for comments he made about potential bandwagon fans at Clemson, going so far as to say that the program may need to lose some games.
“We’re at a point in our time, and I hate that, where, you know, people, if you don’t go undefeated, you’re losers. You’re terrible. And it’s just such a terrible mindset, you know. And honestly, maybe we need to lose a few games and lighten up the bandwagon. Sometimes the bandwagon can get a little too full,” Swinney said.
“You know, that’s the one good thing about going through a little bit of so called adversity is you really find out, you know, who’s with you and who’s not. But as far as our program, hey, we may win every one of these games out. We could lose every one of them. We’re a really good team that can beat anybody, and we’re a team that could lose to anybody. But our program is built to last. I mean we’re going to be around for a long time. We’ve got the makings, I really believe the foundational pieces to the next championship at Clemson is on this team. I don’t have any doubt about that.”