The way Dabo Swinney views his career at Clemson and his place in the world have long been defined by the traumatic upbringing he overcame. In Dabo’s version of his own life story, it was very much the difficulty of it all — sleeping in his family’s car, coming to terms with an alcoholic father, walking on at Alabama — that forged a national championship coach who now makes $11 million a year.
There have been times over the last five years or so where that defining ethos has worked against him. He’s been too loyal to underperformers in his organization, too stubborn to adapt to changing times. After guiding Clemson to four national championship games over a five-year span, it now looks like a run-of-the-mill ACC program on a downward trajectory. After going 7-6 last season, there’s even speculation about how long of a leash Swinney has before the school is forced to make a drastic decision about the best coach in school history.
But on Friday, it drove Swinney to arguably the most interesting place of his career. He became a whistleblower.
In a profession where coaches have forever operated by the code of Omerta, Swinney going public with accusations of tampering by Ole Miss is potentially one of the defining moments of college football’s offseason.
Was this simply one lone voice railing against a system that no longer works for his program, or is it the beginning of a quiet revolt against absurdities that nearly all coaches feel but are reluctant to push back against...
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