Here are some facts about Clemson’s 2011 football season:
- The Tigers won the ACC title for the first time in 20 years, and won 10 games for the first time in 21 seasons.
- They went 7-0 at home for the first time ever, and won seven ACC games for the first time in 28 years.
- They made their BCS-level bowl appearance since winning the national championship in 1981.
- They defeated the highest-ranked opponent in school history, and reached an all-time high of No. 5 in the BCS rankings.
- Led by the only first-team All-America tandem in school history, they rallied from deficits of 14 points or more to win three games.
Here are more facts about Clemson’s 2011 football season:
- After winning their first eight games, the Tigers finished the season by losing four of their final six.
- For the first time in a generation, Clemson lost its third straight game to rival South Carolina, with this year’s 34-13 margin pushing the Tigers’ three-year scoring deficit against the Gamecocks to 97-37.
- The Tigers finished their season by allowing 10 touchdowns and 70 points to West Virginia in the Orange Bowl, a showing that Dabo Swinney described as “probably as bad a defensive performance as I've seen in a long, long time.”
- For the second straight season, Swinney kicked off the New Year by parting ways with one of his coordinators.
Given the clash of “facts” about Clemson’s 2011 season, it’s perhaps not surprising that Swinney’s press conference on Friday – his first since the Orange Bowl – was a wild ride punctuated both by well-made points and contradictions.
Newly crowned as the Bobby Dodd National Coach of the Year, Swinney went on the offensive from the get-go, insisting that any narrative of Clemson’s season accentuate his team’s many positive accomplishments.
He bristled at the notion that the Tigers aren’t a tough football team, a breath after saying that the Tigers need to become a tougher football team.
He sparred verbally with a television reporter who suggested that the Tigers were a team that has repeatedly folded at the first hint of adversity.
He delivered an impassioned defense of strength and conditioning coach Joey Batson’s program, and labeled as “crap” any suggestion to the contrary. He shot down rumors of a rift between offensive coordinator Chad Morris and offensive line coach Robbie Caldwell, and at one point described the internet as “the devil’s playground.”
He said that defensive coordinator Kevin Steele was neither fired nor did he resign. He defined the parting as a mutual decision in the best interest of both parties, and told reporters that they could accept the truth or “write whatever you want.”
He described his differences with Steele as “philosophical,” and then, when pressed to lay out his own defensive philosophy, offered a description that might well have been delivered by Steele, himself.
In making his decision, he said, he went with his gut.
When all was said and done – the session shut down after nearly 50 minutes by a member of Clemson’s sports information staff - Swinney had done what he probably intended to do when he stepped to the podium in the West Zone team room.
He showed himself to be passionate about his program and ready to fight to defend his players and coaches. He left no question of who is in charge. This was a season worth celebrating, he said, and it will be celebrated.
He left plenty of room for anyone who wishes to quibble with his style, and in that way the hour played out a bit like his pre-ACC championship game rant about a derogatory comment attributed (erroneously, it turned out) to Steve Spurrier.
Football is an emotional game, and Swinney is an emotional man.
While in some moments he seems to have stepped right off a middle school playground itching for a scuffle, in the next he reveals himself not only as witty and charming but as the epitome of the organized administrator – powered not only by a day to day plan for success, but by a well-conceived big-picture vision and the audacity to believe in himself and in Clemson.
“It is what it is,” Swinney said after the Orange Bowl about Clemson’s season.
He is who he is, too.
And if he sometimes comes off as a walking, talking contradiction, then so be it.
If we wish, we’re all welcome to come along for the ride.
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Scripps Interactive Newspapers Group
Comments » 4
Wyatt_Earp writes:
No surprise from Dabo...Here is an interesting read that just shows how far he will go for attention...
http://cockabooster.blogspot.com/2012...
Brucepg2000 writes:
Don't think he is an attention freak ... it's even rediculous to think really, He by no means is as polished as the Ole' ball coach in the proper way to "Embarrass the media" which is in itself an artform. Quite frankly they deserve to get it in the pants more. Even when the coaches are in the right they don't ever take the hit (see Mike Gundy). They don't want the truth about the football aspects, they just want a juicy story. The media had the nerve to ask Saban about defense and when he talks strictly defense guess what.. WAAAAY Over their heads. He might want to have a good right hand to help vent. He's a good guy and he's busting his hump..
Freedom1 writes:
"Those are the basis of the “philosophical differences” that Swinney cited when he said Steele didn’t resign, wasn’t fired, but won’t be back and will collect a $1.35 million buyout."?
Evidently Dabo has been studying politics. By all of the employment contracts I have seen, the only way a person collects the severance pay is if they are fired by the institution.
Is Dabo dazed, confused or just giving away the $1.35 million buyout? He can say what he wants; however, Clemson University is owned by the taxpayers of South Carolina. If his statement is true, the State Attorney General Office should investigate. And then if it is not, guess who gets to pay the bill. The football fans will pay for it through ticket sales.
It will take many football seasons to pass before the embarrassment of the loss to West Virginia disappears. Even in the National Championship game this year, a reference was made to Clemson's horrible performance.
Maybe, Terry Don should require Dabo to attend a refresher English class so at least his speech will not sound like he had someone else take English classes for him when he played at Alabama.
For the student athletes at Clemson I wish them the best in 2012.
Chessababy writes:
More power to Dabo and his team...this WAS a good year! Welcome to Clemson, Mr. Venables. I wish all the coaches and players good luck in 2012. Fall can't come soon enough! GO TIGERS!!
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