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Dabo Swinney kicks off Year 17 with the Clemson Tigers on Saturday with a major matchup against the top-ranked Georgia Bulldogs. He started this season off a bit different than years past.
The head coach took part in his weekly call-in show on Monday as he previewed the season to come. The Tigers made a significant change to the setup of that broadcast in 2024.
Previously, Dabo Swinney would field questions about his team directly from callers. This year, that won’t be the case.
Clemson decided to eliminate the call-in portion of the show, instead offering listeners a chance to text or email the coach with hopes of their questions being answered.
The change came following a 2023 campaign in which the Tigers got off to a rocky start. After eight games, Clemson sat at 4-4, leading to criticisms of the head coach.
During one particular call-in show following a loss to NC State, a caller named Tyler buzzed in to give Swinney a piece of his mind.
Swinney responded with a lashing in which he called Tyler a “smarta– kid” throughout what would be a five-minute-long berating.
Whether or not that is the reason for the change is unknown, but the school announced this offseason that it would no longer take live calls on the air.
That shift certainly limits access to the head coach, but it hasn’t completely shielded him from criticism.
Dabo Swinney was torched via text on his first call-in show.
Tyler from Spartanburg wasn’t the culprit this time. Instead, it was Becky from Gaffney.
Big news: Becky from Gaffney checks into Dabo Swinney’s new Clemson radio show via TEXT and says she misses calling in and her “15 minutes of fame,” but she still doesn’t want them to throw bubble screens
-Chapel Fowler / X: @chapelfowler
Offense has been an issue for the Tigers over the last handful of seasons.
First under DJ Uiagalelei, and now Cade Klubnik, Clemson has struggled to consistently put points on the board. That led to a change at offensive coordinator ahead of last season, though Dabo Swinney infuriated fans by continuing to tamper with Garrett Riley’s gameplan.
“We’ll, it’s the Clemson offense… We’ve always collaborated as a staff… We hired Garrett to come in here and coordinate the Clemson offense.”
-Dabo Swinney before a season-opening loss to Duke.
Becky from Gaffney is hoping he’ll be hands off this season!
Swinney feels confident in his unit, predicting a great year for the offensive group in 2024. We’ll see if it comes to fruition in Week 1 vs. Georgia.