During his weekly Tuesday press conference, Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney says Clemson’s program is “built right” and “in a really good spot.”

However, Swinney also admitted that the 1-3 start to this season has been a “coaching failure.”

“From a big picture standpoint, this has just been a coaching failure, honestly,” Swinney said. “That’s the best way I can say it. We have just failed as coaches.”

Swinney added that Clemson’s players also have their share of accountability, but “when players don’t play to their potential, to me, that’s on coaches” – and it starts with Swinney himself.

“I’m not taking accountability away from the players,” he said. “They’ve got accountability in this, too. We’ve got some guys that have got to play better. They’re not just on scholarship anymore. These guys are paid a lot of money to perform. Everybody’s got accountability.

“But it’s just an absolute coaching failure. I don’t know another way to say it. And I’m not pointing the finger, I’m pointing the thumb. It starts with me, because I hired everybody and I empower everybody and equip everybody.”

Swinney went on to say “it’s football stuff” the Tigers are failing at.

“It’s blocking. It’s getting off blocks. It’s making the critical play at the critical time. It’s routine plays. It’s routine decision-making,” Swinney said. “It’s that stuff, and all of that stuff we can fix. So, the good news is we can coach and we can play our way out of it, but we’ve gotta be better.

“Again, program wise, I don’t think we could be better. Like, what the function of the program is, driving consistency and fulfilling the purpose, and it’s doing it. But this team, and this moment, we have failed as coaches.”