If you read David Hale’s article on ESPN, and you really read it, you can tell Dabo Swinney was exaggerating his comment “professionalize college athletics.”
He was answering a question about his new contract, which was approved by the Clemson Board of Trustees last month, making him the highest paid college football coach in the history of college football. It’s obvious in the context of the story Swinney was not trying to be critical of college athletes or the notion of those that might think student-athletes should receive compensation for their contributions to the sports.
Swinney was answering a question about the dynamics of his contract, related to the Alabama clause, and saying you never know what can change down the road. He was not making a stance or anything like that against college athletes getting paid or anything, he was just exaggerating his point.
However, everyone wants to blow things out of proportion because that is what we do in our society now. So, subsequently, Swinney got ripped by other national media members, piggybacking off Hale’s story.
I guess, you can say I am too, but I am doing it for a different reason. Below is Swinney’s comments from earlier this week when I interviewed him from Amelia Island, Florida as the ACC Spring Meetings were going on. Swinney, as busy as he was, was gracious enough to take 10 minutes out of his schedule to talk to The Clemson Insider.
I asked him about what a lot in the national media had said about his 2015 comments on players being paid when his contract was announced last month. At first he really did not comment because he said he had not heard the comments, but when I explained my question a little better and explained what he said in 2015 was taken out of context and how the rest of what he said at that press conference was not used, Swinney gave me an answer that shows he is not against student athletes being compensated or is this greedy coach that some in the national media are making him to be.
I guess they forgot about Dabo Swinney’s story and where he came from? Or maybe they did not do their research and for some reason and don’t know his story from his playing days as a college athlete?
I mean, really? Dabo Swinney does not care about the wellbeing of his players, really? People actually think those things, really?
Keep in mind, this is the guy who built a slide in Clemson’s luxurious football complex that also has a golf simulator, a basketball court, a volleyball sand court, a wiffle ball field, two bowling lanes, a BBQ pit and a movie theater.
Here are Swinney’s comments to me this past Tuesday as he answered my question. You tell me if you still think he does not care for his student athletes.
“I think there has been great changes in college athletics. My thing is sometimes people don’t want to value the education,” he said. “Education, that is the main thing. That is the culture that we have here. That is why we have had out of 212 seniors, 208 graduates. We have been top ten in the country in eight of the last nine years. Top three this year. That is because of the culture that we have here and the type of young men that are recruited.
“The type of young men that come here, they value education. Even when we have a guy leave from time-to-time, he is usually a graduate. They finish. That is a mentality that is kind of woven into the DNA of our program and I think our players understand the significance of that for their future.
“This is not a game of longevity. The student-athlete, the student part is the financial agreement for the rest of your life. The athlete part is great, but very few are going to make it to the next level.
“But there have been so many great changes in college athletics, whether it be the money for the parents to come. My senior parents this past year, they got $17,500 in cash for postseason travel and things. Those are great changes. The stipend, the meals, doing away with all that stuff where you could not feed them and things like that.
“The game is better than it has ever been. There are always things we can do better. One of the things I have always wanted is to tie things to education, tie things to graduation, to me that is what it should be about. As the game has grown and revenue has increased, I would love to see some type of stipend each year and upon graduation players would get that to encourage graduation.
“Also, I don’t have anything against guys that want to go to work. I am glad there are other opportunities for people to go. If they want to play (semi-professional) football and not go and do the college thing, I think that is fine. Whatever they want to do.
“Those who come to college, there is a lot that comes with that. There are a ton of resources that are poured into these athletes. I think those who really take full advantage of it, it is an incredible benefit for the rest of their life. There is no doubt about it as a football player and as a man.”