Clay Swinney, the son of Dabo Swinney, is on scholarship at Clemson. His father’s decision not to pay for his son’s schooling looks extremely selfish when compared to Syracuse head coach Fran Brown.
The optics are even worse with additional context!
A certain subset of college football fans in South Carolina were very upset when I first pointed out this dichotomy. That led me down a rabbit hole, which led me to this latest update.
Clay Swinney is on scholarship, Fran Brown Jr. is not.
The premise of the original article focused on the youngest son of Swinney and the eldest son of Brown. They are both the sons of head coaches on the FBS level.
This has nothing to do with charitable donations. This has nothing to do with the amount of money these two coaches gave back to the school or the community.
It focuses only on the scholarships.
Fran Brown Jr., a longsnapper and fullback on the Syracuse football team, is not on scholarship. His father, the head coach, pays for his schooling.
Clay Swinney, a holder and wide receiver on the Clemson football team, is on scholarship. His father, the head coach, does not pay for his schooling.
From where I am sitting, that makes Dabo Swinney look selfish and nepotistic compared to Fran Brown. Especially because the former makes a lot more money than the latter.
Tigers fans are not happy with my opinion.
I think Swinney is a good coach. You can’t argue with nine conference championships, two national championships or an overall record of 180-48.
I also think it is cool that Swinney gives back to the local community. As someone who makes $10+ million per year should!
With all of that being said, I find it silly for any head coach on the FBS level not to pay for his son’s scholarship like Fran Brown Jr. I am pretty sure Shedeur Sanders received a scholarship at Colorado, etc.
My opinion does not only apply to Dabo Swinney. However, I must address a few different claims that only reinforce my stance on this topic— especially upon further review in response to outrage.
A number of Tigers fans, including one Clemson-based radio host, reached out to express their distaste for my initial thoughts. They did not appreciate how I spoke of their head coach. GASP!
To reiterate, this has nothing to do with greed or charity. It only has to do with the scholarship.
Clemson and Syracuse are different.
The NCAA changed its rules on roster limits and scholarships during the offseason. Teams were only allowed to give 85 scholarships in the past. They can now give up to 105.
Not every player has to receive a scholarship. Not every player has to receive a full scholarship.
Clemson decided to give every single player on the football team a full scholarship. Clay Swinney is on the team. He received a scholarship. I get it!
On the flip side, Syracuse chose not to give exactly 105 scholarships like most schools. Fran Brown Sr. freed up approximately $60,000 in tuition by paying for Fran Brown Jr. That’s cool.
This minor discrepancy does not change my stance.
Dabo Swinney should pay for his son’s school.
Dabo Swinney could still pay for his son’s schooling and the Tigers could instead give out 104 scholarships. That would give approximately $25,000/$30,000 back to the athletic department each year.
Yes, we’re talking about $30k for a multi-multi-million dollar program. Yes, it is still $30k. It’s the optics!
I think it would be pretty cool if Dabo stood at the podium and said, similar to Fran Brown, “my son does not need this scholarship so I am so glad to announce that we are instead giving $5k to each of our managers!” That seems like a great P.R. move if you were to ask me…
To go even one step further, I was specifically asked the following questions:
“Did you stop to wonder why his older two sons were walk ons, and his youngest son was a walk on for the last three seasons? What has changed in college athletics this past year that might impact his son’s scholarship status??”
We just addressed what has changed in college athletics this past year that impacts his son’s scholarship status but we also just addressed that Dabo could still pay for Clay. So let’s move on.
Swinney’s eldest two sons were both on the team as walk-ons during the 85-scholarship limit. That is true!
But Will Swinney actually received a scholarship during his fourth and fifth years on the team— which I did not realize at first. Dabo actively allowed his own child to get a scholarship when more than 20 other players were not.
Not only is Dabo Swinney allowing Clay to receive ~$25,000 per year that could instead go back to the athletic department, he allowed Will to take a scholarship away from another player… while making $10+ million per year. That looks even worse.