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A radio caller who sent Clemson coach Dabo Swinney into meltdown mode on Monday night is already regretting his decision less than 24 hours later.
The incident occurred as Swinney was fielding questions as part of a weekly local radio segment.
Tyler, a 29-year-old Clemson fan from Spartanburg, South Carolina, told Swinney the team’s 4-4 record in 2023 wasn’t good enough to justify Swinney’s $11.5 million salary.
It was a fair point.
But it sent Swinney into a nearly five-minute long tirade.
Clemson’s Dabo Swinney went on an epic 5-minute rant tonight after ‘Tyler, from Spartanburg’ asked him about his $11.5 million salary and 4-4 season.
“I’m not gonna sit here and let you, I don’t care how much money I make. You’re not gonna talk to me like I’m 12-years old..” pic.twitter.com/XvjhZDUd2m
— Trey Wallace (@TreyWallace_) October 31, 2023
“You’re part of the problem,” the Clemson coach replied. “If you want to apply for the job, go for it. And good luck to you…To answer your question, I started as the lowest-paid coach in this business…I worked my a– off. I’m not going to let this smart a– kid get on the phone and tell me how to do my job.
“If you got a problem with that, that’s fine. But I’m not going to sit here and let you call. I don’t give a crap how much money I make. You ain’t gonna talk to me like I’m 12 years old. Gotta be freaking kidding me.”
Now, you’d understand if this led Tyler to double down. But it turns out he’s done the opposite, backing away from his criticism of Swinney.
And it’s all down to a text he received from his girlfriend shortly after the incident.
“Tyler has a day off today, so he went deer hunting early this morning. When he returned, a text message from his girlfriend made him realize he went too far,” Larry Williams of Tiger Illustrated reports.
“Her message: ‘I hate to sound like a scolding parent, but I hope this is a lesson about thinking things through before doing them.
The fact that the Internet thinks you’re a child is not the best look.
Not meaning to be harsh. You’ve always been respectful to adults.’“
Tyler is apparently a smart man.
“My girlfriend has been all over me for this today,” he told Williams “But I agree with her. Tact is not one of my strong suits, especially when I’m upset. But as I listened to Dabo last night and sat through his spiel about how we’d be 8-0 without the turnovers and ‘if, if, if,’ it upset me.
“My girlfriend has been all over me for this today,” he said in an exclusive interview with Tigerillustrated.com. “But I agree with her. Tact is not one of my strong suits, especially when I’m upset. But as I listened to Dabo last night and sat through his spiel about how we’d be 8-0 without the turnovers and ‘if, if, if,’ it upset me.”
Sounds like this is the end of Tyler’s radio call in days.