CLEMSON, S.C. — Head coach Dabo Swinney arrived at Jervey Meadows on a custom golf cart during fall camp, speaking directly about Clemson’s mentality, roster depth, and external narratives during the ACC Network Road Trip.
The Method to Jervey Meadows
Explaining the long-standing tradition of practicing on the unshaded, imperfect fields, Swinney pointed to both mental conditioning and turf management.
“We’ve been doing this since I became head coach. Long time. Just a couple things. One, changes camp. You know the monotony. That’s number one. Number two, everything is perfect over there. It’s just perfect, every blade of grass. Everything, and um, over here, there’s zero shade, and it’s not perfect. Potholes. I will say, this is the best jury has ever been,” Swinney said.
Swinney praised the facility crew before elaborating on the physical toll.
‘I mean it’s been unbelievably nice. We still have to mark the manholes, or things like that. And find out where to go. But it’s a different mentality. And it’s a little more effort to get to practice and all that type of stuff. And so that’s part of it. And then it takes a lot of strain off of our fields. So then, when we flip camp back on once they start school and we get into game prep, you’re just like, okay, it’s time to play, and everything’s kind of grown back in over there. There’s a lot to it, but kind of a rite of passage around here,” Swinney explained.
Resetting Mindset After Failure
Reflecting on recent struggles, Swinney analyzed what went wrong previously and how the team is shifting its daily focus.
“I just think last year, we were I think we believed all the stuff, how great we were. All that stuff. And we had a lot of good players. And all that. And then all of a sudden, first of all, you got to give the opponents credit. And then I think we believed a lot of the hype. And then all of a sudden, you lose on a field goal on the last play, when you are probably really celebrating in that moment. I was very neutral. I am sure you were. And now you are one and two, and all of a sudden your ego is. So that was we didn’t handle the failure well. So I just think the biggest thing is, man, we just need to do the work. And that’s kind of what we’ve been trying to do with these guys,” Swinney stated.
“Trying to stay, we know we’ve got good players. We’ve got a bunch of good players, but our mission is greater than any individual player or whatever we’re trying to do. We’re just focused on doing the work and trying to have a great season,” Swinney added.
He emphasized that on-field performance will dictate results rather than preseason noise.
“Guys will emerge as we play. Cause right now, it ain’t about what we say or what we talk about or what y’all talk about. It’s ultimately gonna be about what we do. So we’re just trying to do it,” Swinney said.
Defending Program Standards
When asked about critics who suggest he focuses on past successes, Swinney defended the program’s track record while accepting accountability for recent losses.
“It’s, and I know people get mad. They say Swinney likes to talk about the past. It’s unbelievable to me, but people ask me questions, and our program is always under attack. I defend our program, and I defend our players because it’s not a decade ago. You know we’ve won this league three times in the past six years. Nobody else has won more than once, and so it’s not like it’s something we hadn’t done ten years ago. We were just in the just won this league two years ago, and two years before that, and two years before that. And six and eight years in a row before that. We’ve been consistent, but we’re seventh in wins this decade. The arrow’s going the wrong way. These last couple of years, we’ve lost games that I feel like we shouldn’t have lost. I don’t think I’ve done a great job in getting it out of them because that’s my job. We’ve lost some close games,” Swinney said.
“And so, it’s kind of like let’s reset. Let’s rally the troops and see if we can get that thing pointed back in the right direction. That’s been our focus. You obviously know there have been a few changes. The guys have bought into what we’re trying to do. We’re just trying to see if we can have a great year this year. That’s all we’re focused on, but everybody wants to talk about last year. That’s fine, but we’re not defined by one year. That was a bad year for us, but to your point, I hadn’t coached a team like that in a long time, 2010. So learning how to navigate that was new for me last year because it had been a long time since we had that type of adversity. So it was a great growing year for me too. And a great reminder that it’s just a great journey,” Swinney continued.
“And it’s all part of your journey. But it’s mostly been good, but last year was disappointing. But man, we’re focused on turning the page and trying to write a great, great chapter this year,” Swinney added.
\
