Clemson coach reacts to postgame tweet
Clemson coach Dabo Swinney went all in on South Carolina coach Steve Spurrier and the Gamecock football program Thursday.
Responding to a quote attributed to Spurrier on USC’s official football program Twitter account after the Gamecocks’ 34-13 win over the Tigers on Saturday, Swinney called the comments “kind of childish,” said it might take USC “another 50 years” to defeat the Tigers in three consecutive meetings and called the storied rivalry “more of a domination.”
“My kids’ grandkids won’t live long enough to ever see this really become a rivalry,” Swinney told reporters after practice in Clemson.
After USC’s win, the @GamecockFB account stated that Spurrier said, “We aren’t LSU, and we aren’t Alabama. But we sure ain’t Clemson.”
Swinney took objection with the comments.
“He’s exactly right. They ain’t Alabama, they ain’t LSU and they’re certainly not Clemson,” Swinney said. “And that’s why Carolina is in Chapel Hill and USC’s in California and the university in this state always has been, always will be Clemson.
“You can print that. Tweet that. Whatever.”
Swinney also took shots at USC’s longtime history of mediocrity in football.
“Coach Spurrier’s been there seven years. After five years, I think he had 35 wins and a new contract and all that kind of stuff,” Swinney said. “After five years at Clemson, if I’ve only got 35 wins, there’s going to be a new coach here. And there should be, because there’s a different standard.”
Added Swinney, “You’re looking at the best era in the history of South Carolina football right now. They just had their second 10-win season. They won a championship in 1969 and a 2010 SEC East.
“This (Clemson) is a place that’s won a national title, 17 conference championships, two division titles. Heck, we’ve won more bowl games than they’ve ever been to.”
Making the issue even odder is the fact Spurrier didn’t say what was attributed to him. An audio clip from the USC radio broadcast at the end of the game posted by a local radio reporter revealed that, while Spurrier was referenced, the statement was actually made by play-by-play man Todd Ellis, a former Gamecock quarterback.
In fact, Spurrier told USC fans after the Clemson game he was hopeful they had realized hatred of Clemson was not productive.
“Hating them and trying to kick their tails and all that is not the answer,” he said.
Swinney told reporters Thursday before making his comments, “I don’t know if he really said that or not, but I guess he did. There’s been no rebuttal.”
A USC spokesperson told The Daily Gamecock that the athletics media relations department does not handle the official football Twitter account. The account is apparently run by employees of the football office.
Twitter has been a prevalent topic between the two teams in recent days. The USC defensive line took umbrage to a tweet supposedly issued by Clemson quarterback Tajh Boyd calling the unit “average.” Boyd denied earlier this week he ever said that on his account, which he has since deactivated. Boyd took heat during the summer for a tweet about former USC quarterback Stephen Garcia and current quarterbacks coach G.A. Mangus after Mangus was arrested for public urination in Greenville.
Also on Thursday, USC quarterback Connor Shaw, who recently opened a Twitter account, said his profile was “hacked” after a tweet about driving through the upstate on his way home to Flowery Branch, Ga., called the area “Property of the University of South Carolina” and that he did not tweet the message.