CLEMSON — To say Dabo Swinney was not happy with a caller on his weekly call-in show Monday is an understatement.

The Clemson head coach was downright mad, and he let the caller hear it.

A caller named Tyler from Spartanburg came on the show and proceeded to rip Swinney’s previous statements about “being just a couple of plays away” and “we’re close.” The fan even referred to Swinney as being “a whole like Tommy Bowden,” but “Tommy Bowden did make the same amount of money as you do.”

The Spartanburg fan also called out Swinney’s coaching hires calling them “friends and family.”

Tyler, who said he was not a part of the 1.5 percent of bandwagon fans Swinney called out a few weeks back, made it clear he was not happy with the Tigers’ 4-4 start to the season. However, Swinney made it clear he was not happy with Tyler’s comments.

“I have listened to enough of you, Tyler,” Swinney said. “You can have all your opinions that you want. I don’t know how old you are, and I don’t really care, but let me tell you something. We won eleven games last year and you are part of the problem, to be honest with you. That is part of the problem.”

The problem, according to Swinney, is that fans like Tyler expect to win all the time, instead of appreciating the wins.

“The expectation is greater than the appreciation. That is the problem,” Swinney said.

In his 15-plus years as Clemson’s head coach, Swinney has posted a 165-43 (.793) record. The Tigers have won two national championships, played for it four times, won eight ACC Championships and have been to the College Football Playoff six times.

Last week, Clemson saw its streak of 12 consecutive 10-win seasons come to a close, the third longest streak in the history of college football.

“Is this a bad year? Yeah! And it is my responsibility. I take one-hundred percent responsibility for it,” Swinney said. “But all this bull crap you are thinking and all these narratives that you read, listen man you can have all the opinions that you want, and you can apply for the job and good luck to you.”

Swinney continued to rattle off the program’s accomplishments under his watch to prove his point, but he also pointed out, as coaches, they are not perfect.

“Frank Howard never had a bad year? Coach [Danny] Ford never had a bad year? Coach K never had a bad year in basketball. People have bad years,” Swinney said.

Swinney continued by saying he used to tell people when they asked what was different about coaching at Clemson compared to other places, “At some places there are expectations, but at Clemson there is an appreciation.

“What’s happened at Clemson is that we have won so much, and it used to be the fun is in the winning, now even when you win people, like you, complain and criticize the coaches and question everything. People like you.”

Swinney closed by addressing his salary. He mentioned when he started as Clemson’s head coach in 2008, he was the lowest paid major college head coach in the business.

“I am where I am because I have worked my ass off every single day,” he said. “I am not going to let some smart-ass kid get on this phone and create this stuff. So, if you have a problem with that, I don’t care.”

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