Would Saban Agree with Dabo Swinney’s Clapback at Fan?

After a Clemson fan insulted head coach Dabo Swinney on Monday, he responded by saying the fan was "part of the the problem."

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Swinney went on to express the problem with fans: "The expectation is greater than the appreciation."

Sports writer Kevin Scarbinsky spoke on the incident Tuesday morning with Wimp and Barry Sanderson on Inside the Locker Room. "Is Dabo too sensitive?" asked Barry. "I think he let the guy get too much under his skin."

Scarbinsky pushed back on that thought. "It was massively disrespectful to Dabo, no doubt," he said. "Asking him whether he knew a particular Bible verse, I mean come on..."

But Scarbinsky thought Dabo's response was rather calm. "Clearly he was not happy," he said, "but he didn't scream or shout or really cuss at the guy in the same way we've seen Nick Saban do."

Granted, Saban doesn't necessarily yell at callers on his radio show. "But the way we've heard Nick Saban go off on a rant, I don't think this fell into that category," said Scarbinsky. "To be honest, I thought Dabo had every right to say what he said."

"I would never suggest you can't question a coach, no matter what they've accomplished in the past," said Scarbinsky. "But if you have a question to ask, ask a question. Don't make a statement and then answer your own question while you're asking it."

For Scarbinsky, Dabo's most insightful comment was that the expectation for coaches is now greater than the appreciation for them. Scarbinsky said this reminded him of a conversation he had with Terry Saban over a decade ago. "She said something very, very similar...that national championships had become the expectation."

"She was saying the same thing in different words," said Scarbinsky. "And there was a least a moment when [Saban] had to wonder, 'should I go somewhere else?' Cuz he couldn't satisfy the people after he set the bar with three national championships in four years."

Listen to the full interview with Kevin Scarbinsky: