Dabo Swinney Made Himself Look Absolutely Ridiculous While Talking About Name, Image, Likeness

• In the age of NIL and the transfer portal, college football is inherently different than it was five years ago.
• The changes to the sport have created quite a few polarizing opinions and Dabo Swinney, unsurprisingly, has one of them.
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Dabo Swinney never fails to put his own foot in his mouth. Although he might have a track record of success on the gridiron, he does not do himself any favors off of the field.

Take his most recent comments about NIL for example.

On July 1, 2021, the NCAA implemented new rules that allows players to profit from their own Names, Images and Likenesses. While there are undeniably a few kinks to workout, it is a good thing for college sports.

College athletes were previously creating millions of dollars in revenue for their respective universities and not seeing a cut. Now they are able to see some of the money come back their way, though not directly.

Through deals for their NIL, athletes can make money for endorsements, appearances, social media promotion, and from selling their own merchandise. Again, it is a good thing for college sports.

Swinney does not agree. He spoke with The Players Club Podcast on Friday and said that he is not against NIL.

However, he said that he is against anything that devalues education. That indirectly implies that he believes NIL devalues education, which means that he would be against NIL.

Take a listen:

There is a lot to breakdown here.

For starters, Swinney is forgetting the fact that he is set to make $8.5 million in 2022. He is against the professionalization of college athletics, but is making almost $10 million to be a professional head coach in college athletics for one season.

Is he not devaluing education by making $8.5 million? Could that money not be spent elsewhere, like, maybe, on education?

He also says that if college sports were to be professionalized, the athletes would have to pay taxes and he does not think that is good. Is it not a great educational experience for young people to learn first-hand about finances, taxes and the like?

Later in his comments, Swinney says that with NIL and the transfer portal “there are some things going on that he doesn’t think is sustainable and the he doesn’t think is good for a lot of young people.” Hm.

First of all, who is he to say what is or is not good for someone else. If transferring to a new program is what an athlete believes is best for him/her, he/she should be able to do that.

Second of all, Swinney acts as if these things were not going on before. Everywhere in the country, especially Clemson, was (allegedly) spending money under the table to land recruits. Bagmen were running wild, dropping off stacks of cash to prospects in turn for their commitment.

Now it can all be done legally, above ground. That is a good thing.

To close things out, Swinney says “98% are not going to play in the NFL, so let’s help them maximize this, for sure.” Wouldn’t maximizing “this” be allowing players to capitalize on NIL to the fullest extent, making as much money as they can, and learning how to handle their finances responsibly?

Swinney never fails to say ridiculous things and this is just the latest. Anytime that someone says one thing and follows it up with a “but,” that person does not truly believe the first part of what he or she said. That certainly seems to be the case with the head football coach at Clemson.