CLEMSON — Dabo Swinney feels if Clemson fans do not trust him after what he has done the last 15 years as the head coach, then there is nothing else he can do.

“This is my twenty-first year here. I spent thirteen years at Alabama. I have heard criticism,” he said. “As long as I am doing this, I will continue to get criticism.

“I have been married going on 30 years and I have heard plenty of criticism along the way. It is just kind of part of it. I know what is real and not real.”

Since Swinney took over as the Tigers’ head coach in 2008, Clemson has posted a 165-41 record. He has led the program to two national championships, four national championship games, six College Football Playoff appearances and eight ACC Championships.

Clemson’s current run of 12 consecutive 10-plus win seasons is the third best in the history of college football.

“Sometimes, you can win too much that you lose the appreciation for the blessing,” Swinney said during his weekly press conference on Tuesday. “It is just reality. It is hard to win. It is freaking hard to win and to be a consistent winner is almost impossible.

“So, if there are people who do not understand that, then I cannot help them.”

Swinney’s response comes from a question based on his comments to a Clemson fan during his weekly call-in show on Monday night.

“Nobody has a sense of humor anymore, but that is just kind of the world we live in,” Swinney said.

Clemson’s head coach said he was trying to make the caller feel better because he was getting grief from another fan at work because of the Tigers’ 4-2 start to the 2023 season.

“I was trying to pep them up a little bit,” Swinney said. “A little adversity sometimes, in this world, is sometimes good. With a little adversity along the way, and I hate it, but the one positive is that it makes you grow. You also learn, who is with you. That is a good thing.”

Swinney feels 98.5 percent of the fan base is behind him and his players, but there is a 1.5 percent group that is with them “win or win.”

“I love our fans. Again, 98.5 percent are amazing,” he said. “But the other 1.5 percent, they create a lot of problems. They are part of the problem, not part of the solution.

“That is everywhere. You always have them. That is what social media does, it gives them a loud voice. There are always people that want to complain about something.”

The Tigers will try to stop the complaining on Saturday when they visit Miami for an 8 p.m. kickoff at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami-Gardens, Fla.

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