During his postgame press conference following Clemson’s 36-24 win at Florida State on Saturday night, Tigers head coach Dabo Swinney passionately came to the defense of Seminoles head coach Mike Norvell.

Swinney went on an unprompted postgame rant, ripping the people who flew a “Fire Mike Novell” sign over FSU’s Doak Campbell Stadium before the game.  

Swinney called the plane banner “embarrassing,” “disrespectful” and “shameful.”

The banner — which read “FSU: Fire Novell + Peter Collins” — had circled Doak Campbell Stadium prior to kickoff and drew a lot of attention online, especially because of the typo leaving out the “r” in Norvell’s name.

“That was embarrassing, what I saw above the stadium,” Swinney said. “It was an embarrassment. Florida State’s better than that. That’s not good for these kids. It’s not good for them.

“Listen, hey, I get it, man. Everybody’s got contracts and all this type of stuff. But man, that bothered me. They didn’t even spell his name right. They didn’t even have the freaking ‘r’ in the name. I mean, it’s just disrespectful.”

Swinney staunchly defended the character of Norvell, who is in his seventh season as FSU’s head coach.

“Mike Morrell’s a good man,” Swinney said. “You ain’t got to like him as a football coach. You ain’t got to like me as a football coach. That’s a good man right there. It’s a good man, and he’s a hell of a football coach. … He ain’t going to say it, but I’ll say it. I was freaking disappointed to see that. Hell, they may be flying one around Clemson next time I’m home, but I doubt it.

“But whoever did that, man, you ought to be ashamed of yourself. That’s what I would say. All right. Ain’t nobody trying to lose. This job is hard. This job is hard. That’s not what’s best for those kids out there that are fighting. They fought every second of that game.”

Of course, Norvell sits on one of the hottest seats in college football. That seat is only hotter now following the home loss to Clemson that dropped the Seminoles to 3-5 overall and 1-4 in ACC play. FSU has lost three straight games and is 1-5 against Power 4 opponents this season.

As calls to fire Norvell have intensified, Swinney strongly criticized the toxic nature of some fans.

“Mike Norvell is a good man,” Swinney reiterated. “He’s a husband. He’s a father. I don’t know why we think, because people make money and this and that, that you just have the right to just destroy people as humans.

“I don’t know where we became this as a society, where it’s just OK to just tear people down. It’s like a blood sport now. You lose a game, fire everybody. Everybody stinks. How about we just support the kids, we just support the team? We count them all up at the end of the year, and we go from there.”

Swinney wrapped up his tirade by adding, “Again, my heart goes out to Coach Norvell and his family and that team that just fought their butts off every single play.”

“I’m sure somebody had a lot of fun and felt really good about themselves to fly a freaking plane and a banner around this amazing stadium, Doak Campbell,” Swinney said. “It’s amazing stadium, Bobby Bowden Field. It’s shameful to me.”

Clemson improved to 5-3, including 3-2 in ACC play, with the victory over the Seminoles.