Finebaum: Swinney is player’s coach who has ‘transformed’ with where college football is now.
ESPN’s Paul Finebaum has taken plenty of shots at Dabo Swinney through the years, but the veteran college football commentator continued with his apparent about-face on the Clemson coach Friday on “Get Up.”
Finebaum joined host Mike Greenberg and studio panelists Harry Douglass, Mike Tannenbaum and Damien Woody to discuss some of the top storylines entering the 2025 college football season.
In one segment, Greenberg replayed Clemson quarterback Cade Klubnik’s comments from ACC Kickoff in which the former 5-star recruit from Austin, Texas, recalled how Swinney had stuck with him after a shaky 2023 season that included four losses.
“After my sophomore year, when everybody kind of told me I sucked and wasn’t very good, a lot of people wanted me out of Clemson,” Klubnik said Thursday. “Coach Swinney pulled me into his office and told me, ‘Cade, I believe in you and let’s go to work.’ … When he could have gone and done what a lot of other coaches would do, but didn’t and pulled me in tight and said I believe in you. I’ll never forget that moment.”
Finebaum praised Swinney for sticking with Klubnik and said that the Clemson coach had gradually “transformed” with where the game is now — and that it might be enough fuel to help a Tigers return to the national championship game this season.
“Greeny, I don’t think I need to remind you how many times I’ve been here talking about how Dabo’s dynasty is done — oh, maybe five or six. But what Dabo Swinney has done, he has transformed with where we are in college football. And at the core, he is a player’s coach. His players love him, and that moment that we heard yesterday in Charlotte was significant, and it may be the fuel that helps Clemson come back from where they have been to…
Source link : https://clemsonwire.usatoday.com/story/sports/college/clemson/football/2025/07/25/clemson-football-dabo-swinney-cade-klubnik-paul-finebaum-lsu-garrett-nussmeier/85377940007/
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Publish date : 2025-07-25 20:02:00
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