Dabo Swinney Clarifies Paying Players Comments Saying ‘People Hear What They Want to Hear’

As soon as the new NIL rules took effect on July 1, Dabo Swinney was almost instantly trending on Twitter.

Over the last month Clemson’s head coach has been criticized everywhere from social media to talk shows about comments he made back in 2014 regarding players being paid.

“As far as paying players, professionalizing college athletics, that’s where you lose me, Swinney said back then. “I’ll go do something else, because there’s enough entitlement in this world as it is.”

Today while Swinney was meeting with the media he was asked about those comments and he quickly set the record straight.

‘We live in a world now where not everybody does much research,” Swinney said. “You go in the bathroom and hear somebody in the third stall, and that’s your source. People hear what they want to to hear and unfortunately write what they want to to write…. that will fit the story that they need.”

“I’ve never had a problem with name, image, and likeness, I think it should have been been more. If I’d have been the Czar I would have done it differently. Because I don’t think everybody’s gonna have the opportunities.”

He made it clear that he’s always valued education and wished it would have been tied more to that part of it. He didn’t back down on his previous comment though and made it known how he still feels about paying college players.

“What I said, whenever that was, and I still say, I’m against professionalizing college athletics, where we get away from the collegiate model and the value of a degree,” Swinney said. “I never said I was against name, image, likeness but people hear what they want to hear.”

Swinney ended it by saying he just laughs it off before joking he should join Twitter so that he can spend his days clarifying everything he says.

“So, I just laugh about it. I guess I should just sign up for Twitter. That way I can go back at everybody.”