CLEMSON — Dabo Swinney clarified two things regarding Clemson fans during his weekly press conference on Tuesday.

The first is he appreciates the majority of the fan base and he brags about them all the time.

“I have great appreciation for our fans. They are amazing,” Swinney said.

Secondly, fans like Tyler from Spartanburg, are the problem because they cause recruits to wonder if Clemson is the right place for them.

“A lot of the people who do all of the complaining. They are part of the problem. They really are,” the Clemson head coach said. “If you are a recruit sitting out there and you see people ripping your coaches, everybody is terrible. That is not helpful.

“It does not matter what you have done. Everybody can have a bad moment.”

There is no doubt Swinney is having one of those bad moments at Clemson. The Tigers’ 4-4 start is their worst since 2010 and it could get worse before getting better with No. 12 Notre Dame coming to town on Saturday.

Swinney said, like 2010, this season can be good for Clemson because it gives them and the fans a better appreciation for winning games, for winning ACC Championships and National Championships.

He feels all the winning over the last 12 years has caused the loud majority of fans to expect to win instead of appreciating the wins.

“I am talking about the loud majority,” Swinney said. “Most of our fans are amazing. They really are. It is the loud majority that really have no clue how hard it is to win.

“Again, we have won so much, and listen that (negativity) can creep into your players, too. It is that rat poison of how good you are and what you are supposed to do, this and that and then all of sudden it does not go the way you want it to, so it can creep in both ways.”

Swinney said not to let the expectation become greater than the purpose of what you can do because when that happens you lose your joy.

“It should not be a relief to win. It should be fun to win,” he said.

“I have never flinched,” Swinney continued. “I am sitting here, not because I listened to all the people, all the criticism, all the people that want me to do this or hire this guy or that guy. If it does not work then I have nobody to blame but myself.

“I am always going to do what I am convicted in. People say I am stubborn, but I say I am convicted in my beliefs. There are not enough people that are not convicted in their beliefs in my opinion, but that is another topic for another day.”