Dabo Swinney has enough excuses to write a book. His latest somehow involves the Notre Dame football team.
The Clemson coach claims that the lack of a "money machine" is part of the reason why the Tigers haven't been at the top of the college football totem pole over the past few years and mentioned the perceived advantages Notre Dame has with its alumni base and available resources.
Dabo Swinney says Clemson is used to punching above its weight class and wins despite a lack of resources.
— Brad Crawford (@BCrawford247) May 5, 2026
'Notre Dame makes its own rules, prints its own money.' pic.twitter.com/UKRjuCllX3
"We've always got to have a chip on our shoulder, because...I mean it just is what it is. We don't have the alumni base that some places have. We don't have some of the things that some of the schools that we've played and had to compete with over the years had," Swinney told Greg McElroy on the 'Always College Football' webcast.
"But we're 3-1 against Ohio State. We're 4-2 against Notre Dame. I mean Notre Dame has their own TV station, they make their own rules, they print their own money. They've got like a money machine in the backyard or something."
Dabo Swinney cries about Notre Dame's 'money machine'
It's funny coming from Swinney, who had all these bells and whistles when Clemson built its football facility. The Tigers' facility has a mini-golf course, a big arcade and a bowling alley, among other things. That doesn't sound like Clemson athletics are lacking in resources and when they were beating up on the Irish in the playoffs there were no issues.
But right now, Clemson lacks results and Swinney is feeling it. While the rest of the college football world adjusted to the new way of doing business, Swinney was stuck in his own feelings and didn't want to use the transfer portal to fix the areas of his roster that needed tweaking.Â
When Swinney and Clemson were on top of the world with Deshaun Watson and Trevor Lawrence, no one complained about what the Tigers were doing and Swinney was more than happy to take credit for it all and preach about the "Clemson culture" or "bring your own guts" or whatever other slogan of the day he created.
Things at Clemson have flattened out, and it doesn't have anything to do with an alumni base or a money machine. It's a coach that just can't keep up with the game anymore.Â
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