South Carolina Football: Rival coach takes shot at his own fans, suggests he should lose more games

South Carolina football coach Shane Beamer has made news a few times in recent days. The Gamecock headman took some criticism for his postgame comments after USC’s loss to Florida last Saturday. Then, it came out at Beamer’s Tuesday press conference that he broke his foot after the game by frustratingly “kicking something” that shouldn’t be kicked.

Not to be outdone, Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney is also making news this week for some things that he had to say.

During his weekly call-in show, speaking about the level of fan dissatisfaction with the team’s performance this season (two losses in ACC play at the halfway point of the season), the Tiger head coach made it clear that he is sick of any negative talk about his program.

Swinney, upset with the consternation shown by many Clemson fans this season, lashed out against some of the orange and white faithful during Tiger Calls.

“If you don’t go undefeated, people say you’re losers, that you’re terrible,” said the frustrated Clemson coach. “It’s such a terrible mindset. And honestly, maybe we need to lose a few games and lighten up the bandwagon. Sometimes the bandwagon can get a little too full.”

During his Tuesday press conference, Swinney stood by his comments but backtracked just enough so as to not alienate his entire fanbase.

“I love our fans. Again, 98.5% of them are amazing. But the other 1.5%, they create a lot of the problems. They’re part of the problem, not part of the solution.”

Swinney did not fully elaborate on what exactly this “problem” is, but based on his comments, it seems as if he views any criticism about Clemson football to be a problem.

With frustration and dissatisfaction at critically high levels in the Palmetto State, the rivalry game at the end of the year could have massive stakes for the perceptions of both the South Carolina football program and the Clemson Tigers program.

The Gamecocks will look for their second win in a row in the series when the two face off on November 25th at Williams-Brice Stadium.