If Dabo Swinney took issue with a reporter's question following Clemson's 51-10 loss to LSU, the head coach especially won't like an ESPN pundit's reaction to the press conference. Following the season-opening blowout, The State's Chapel Fowler asked Swinney if he regrets any of his offseason roster construction decisions. Swinney called Fowler a "gotcha guy" who wants to "create all the controversy" and asked the journalist if he ever played football before noting that Clemson has 11 more games on the schedule.
Paul Finebaum didn't appreciate how Swinney handled himself on Tuesday. The analyst, who advised Clemson to fire the head coach earlier this week, defended Fowler and criticized Swinney on Wednesday's "First Take." "When a situation is critical, you ask real questions. That was not a gotcha question," Finebaum said.
"We all know what those are. We hear them all the time. That was a legitimate, fair, 'Coach, do you now regret going with this quarterback who was a bust and is no longer in your lineup and led you to the worst defeat of your career?' It wasn't even hard, and Dabo goes into defense mechanism, avoidance." Finebaum suggested that Swinney's response showed a lack of awareness about the program's problems.
The Tigers had won at least nine games in 14 straight seasons under Swinney before going 7-6 last year. "It was really troubling that he doesn't get how bad this problem is and how it's being perceived," Finebaum continued. "That's high school chicanery you do there.
That is not a coach who has won two national championships, heading for the Hall of Fame, and until recently was in charge of one of the most distinguished and respected programs in the country. It's getting sad now to watch Dabo Swinney slink and slouch into oblivion."
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