Bowden: Clemson Fans ‘Need to Be Careful’ About Criticizing Swinney

Clemson has missed the playoff in three straight seasons, and head coach Dabo Swinney has drawn a lot of criticism from fans and others for things like his transfer portal philosophy and perceived unwillingness to adapt to the current landscape of college football. But this former Clemson head coach says Tiger fans should beware of being too critical of Swinney.

Tommy Bowden, who coached at Clemson from 1999-2008, believes Swinney wouldn’t be afraid to leave Clemson if he takes too much heat from Tiger fans – especially considering the recent trend of college football head coaches taking lesser college jobs or going to the NFL to get away from the current problems with NIL and the portal, etc.

“Well, that’s kind of the way, unfortunately, the way this profession is,” Bowden said in an appearance on OutKick Hot Mic , when asked if Clemson fans should be wary of criticizing Swinney. “And I thought you saw a little bit of frustration with Dabo. He set the standard really, really high, and he was just I think in making some criticism.

“But with what they get paid nowadays, I think you’re going to see a lot of what’s just happening with five coaches from college football either taking coordinator roles – Chip Kelly at Ohio State, and then the guy at Buffalo and the guy at South Alabama going to Alabama – the guy at BC going to be the defensive coordinator in the NFL. So, they need to be careful if they get on him too much, because he’ll take off. He’s got plenty of money.”

Bowden posted a 72-45 record in his 10 seasons at Clemson, including a 9-3 regular season record in 2007 before he was relieved of his duties midway through the 2008 season following a 3-3 start, despite receiving a contract extension in December of 2007.

Bowden pointed out Swinney wasn’t even in the coaching business but was working in real estate when he hired Swinney to be the Tigers’ receivers coach in 2003.

Of course, Swinney was named the interim coach after Bowden and Clemson parted ways, and the interim tag was removed in December of 2008. Since then, Swinney has gone on to lead the Tigers to eight ACC titles, six playoff berths and a pair of national titles.

When Bowden was relieved of his head coaching duties following a loss to Wake Forest midway through the 2008 season, Phillips tabbed Swinney to be the interim coach.

“When I hired him, Dabo wasn’t in coaching. He got out of coaching,” Bowden said. “He was out of coaching two years when I hired him, and I caught a little bit of criticism because (they said), ‘Hey, you can hire anybody you want to at Clemson, why are you hiring a guy that’s out of coaching?’

“So, he’s had a taste of civilian life, per say, and with this transfer portal, it wouldn’t surprise me if he says, ‘Hey, I can do other things, I’ve done other things.’ And he’s going to have a statue and be in everything you can do at Clemson to be in – Ring of Honor, statue and all that stuff, he’ll have. But they have a short fuse there. I went 9-3 and signed a seven-year contract. Six months later, I was gone. So, they have a short leash.”

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