Desmond Howard: Dabo Swinney pays too much attention to media

It was the media that crowned Clemson as a National Championship contender this offseason.

For all of Dabo Swinney’s resistance to the modern age of college football, the Tigers brought in three transfers — including former Purdue defensive end Will Heldt — and embraced Name, Image, and Likeness to retain one of the more talented rosters in college football. That’s why, for everything said about the Clemson program post-pandemic and yes, we’re talking about Tyler from Spartanburg, the Tigers seemed in pole position to secure a playoff spot.

But in the words of the great Lee Corso, not so fast, my friend.

Clemson has lost two of its first three games to open the 2025 campaign, losing a season-opener to LSU that led to a war of words between Swinney and Brian Kelly, trailing at halftime at home to Troy, and losing on the road to Georgia Tech on a walk-off field goal.

And a question about Clemson’s offensive struggles earlier this week saw Swinney go on a full-fledged rant about the ungratefulness of the fanbase, a rant that convinced Desmond Howard that the coach is doing exactly what he tells his players not to do.

“The most disappointing thing is that most coaches always tell their players, ‘Don’t pay attention to the media. Don’t pay attention to social media,” said the 1991 Heisman Trophy winner. “When he answered that question, he answered to get something off his chest. The question was, ‘What’s the one offensive play you would like to have back in the Georgia Tech game?’ And then he gave that 13-minute rant… so, he obviously has something he wanted to get off his chest because he’s paying too much attention to the media.”

Here’s what Swinney actually said. The question was about one offensive play he’d like back from the Georgia Tech loss. Swinney’s response lasted 13 minutes and covered the program’s success over the past decade, fan expectations, and his job security.

“What’s so bad about our program? What’s so bad about it?” Swinney asked earlier this week. “Like, what’s so bad about the worst season — 14 years, how many programs in college football would sign up for, and only once in 14 years, nine wins. Why are we held to a different standard to all these other teams out there who ain’t ever won nothing? We’re not perfect. And we may suck this year. We may lay a freaking egg and go 6-6, but I don’t think so.”

“If they want me gone, if they’re tired of winning, they can send me on their way,” Clemson’s head coach continued. “Because that’s all we’ve done is winning. If they’re tired of winning, we’ve won this league eight out of the last 10 years. Is that not good? If Clemson’s tired of winning, they can send me on my way. But I can go somewhere else and coach. I ain’t going to the beach. Hell, I’m 55. I’ve got a long way to go.”

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Howard thinks the criticism comes from Swinney’s unwillingness to adapt to how college football has changed. The success Swinney built at Clemson over the past decade is now working against him because fans expect that level every year.

“Dabo seems resistant to that change, and that’s why people are starting to come at him,” Howard said. “Because he wants to do things his way. I have a lot of confidence, respect for Dabo and the way he goes about his business. But, obviously, he set a particular standard there in Clemson. That’s what his fans are used to. And they haven’t reached that point so far this season.”

Rece Davis tried to give Swinney the benefit of the doubt, suggesting maybe the coach was using the media to send a message to his players, but Howard wasn’t buying it.

“I mean, that’s a good spin,” he said.

Kirk Herbstreit pushed back on the narrative that Clemson has fallen behind in modern college football. He pointed out that people always say the Tigers need to embrace NIL and the transfer portal more when they’re not winning. But Herbstreit reminded everyone that this same roster had people picking Clemson to win a national championship just a few weeks ago. The talent is clearly there.

That might be the most damning part of Clemson’s struggles. If its roster was good enough for championship expectations in August, then the problems aren’t about NIL money or transfer portal strategy. They’re about coaching and execution. Swinney can blame ungrateful fans and unfair criticism all he wants, but when you have the talent and still can’t beat Georgia Tech, that’s on the guy calling the shots. Howard’s point about paying too much attention to outside noise rings even truer when you consider that maybe Swinney should be focused on fixing what’s happening on the field instead of defending what happened in the past.