Although Dabo Swinney has previously taken a lot of heat at Clemson, his current response appears different.

It had been a few years since Bob Stoops and Dabo Swinney, the coach at Clemson, had a conversation. Although they hadn’t seen each other much since Stoops left Oklahoma as coach, they had always been friendly.

Then, on Halloween, while looking through his phone, Stoops came across a few of Swinney’s quotes.

A listener to Swinney’s radio program, “Tyler from Spartanburg,” had provided a rambling assessment of the coach’s work in 2023, speculating that the Clemson head coach hadn’t lived up to his almost $11 million salary following the team’s 4–4 start to the campaign, among other things.

In response, Swinney gave what he would later refer to as “an Old Testament answer.”

Among Swinney’s biting criticisms were:

“It’s people like you, where the expectation is greater than the appreciation — you’re part of the problem.”

“You know, those people who just love to use their comments to make people miserable? You have undoubtedly never made a poor choice. You have undoubtedly had the ideal life.”

“All of this narrative you read, all of this bullshit you’re thinking. You can apply for the job and voice your opinions all you want, man. Listen. And I wish you luck.”