Dabo Swinney Once Again Made a Complete Ass of Himself Talking About Collegiate Players Making Money
ESPN's Chris Low sat down with Dabo Swinney to pick his brain on all the hottest issues in college football right now, most notably the transfer portal and NIL. Swinney's history speaking on the latter is well-documented, once saying he'd quit coaching if collegiate athletes were ever able to make money, before obviously flaking on that promise once he remembered he has $93 million dependent upon not doing that.
In a sport filled with a disproportionate number of frauds and grifters, Swinney has long stood above them all. He markets himself as a preacher in a coach's polo, yet suddenly changes his tune when it's time for the kids doing the work that has made him generationally wealthy — I believe Jesus once said it was easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the Kingdom of God — to start cashing in on the fruits of their own labor.
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Many of Swinney's quotes in this interview are incredible, but here are the highlights:
ESPN — How much has NIL changed college football, and did you ever think it would not be used as a recruiting tool, especially now that we're seeing high school players reportedly signing contracts with collectives that could potentially pay them as much as $8 million?
There's no rules, no guidance, no nothing. It's out of control. It's not sustainable. It's an absolute mess and a train wreck, and the kids are going to be the ones who suffer in the end. There are going to be a lot of kids that end up with no degrees and make decisions based on the wrong things. There are going to be a lot of decisions based on short-term stuff, and they're going to sacrifice the long-term value of education, relationships and connectivity. It will settle out eventually. But, no, it's not what it was supposed to be. The intention is very good. I love the fact that these guys can go make some money on their name, image and likeness if that's what they want to do. But the way it's set up right now is definitely not how it was intended. Just like most things, there are always unintended consequences, and unfortunately, the kids will be the ones to pay the price because you've got a lot of really young people that are having to grow up really, really fast.
You know what, maybe Dabo is actually right. These kids getting $8 million to play college football are certainly going to be the ones suffering. He's just trying to protect them from themselves.
Let's even say Swinney is right about de-valuing education and everything else he says there. A player making $8 million in four years will leave college having made more money than the vast majority of Americans will ever have pass through their hands in a lifetime. With or without a degree — you have to remain eligible to even be able to play, so it seems far more likely to me this hypothetical player would leave school with one — that sounds like a pretty good deal to me. But Dabo wants the value that comes with a Parks, Recreation and Leisure Facilities Management degree that you just can't quantify and is definitely worth more than a measly few million dollars.
My favorite quotes from the interview, however, came later. They're incredible:
Do you understand when people say, 'Well, coaches like Dabo Swinney and Nick Saban are making in the $10 million range, why shouldn't the athletes be able to profit even before they get on campus?'
Well, Nick Saban is 70 years old. I'm 52 years old. None of us set markets on what we do. We live in a capitalist society. The head of Delta probably makes a lot more than the people who are checking your baggage in, but those people are as vital as anybody. None of us set markets on what we do. It's a free market we live in, in anything. It's just that our jobs are so visible and so public. I can tell you this: None of us got into coaching to make money, but I don't apologize for being successful.
Do college football coaches make too much money?
That's always going to be a question that's out there because we have such a visible job, but I'd say Nick Saban has had a pretty big impact on the University of Alabama, not just the football program. I'd say he's had a pretty big impact on Tuscaloosa. He's probably underpaid, to be honest with you. There will always be that conversation 50 years from now. I don't care what you do or how you structure it. But that's fair. Everybody can have their opinion. I respect their opinion, just like the people who disagree with me on professionalizing college athletics.
If you're a Clemson fan, I'm genuinely sorry that you have to defend this guy and pretend to like him. I really don't understand how you do it. The fact he's still allowed to talk to anyone in the media beyond what is required of him throughout the season is equally astonishing.
The courage and cognitive dissonance it takes to get done railing against people under your guidance profiting off their own labor and then talk about markets and say, "I don't apologize for being successful," are truly incredible. The definition of almost having to respect it, honestly.
If you enjoy reading the ramblings of a grifter, there are plenty more Dabo Swinney quotes in the rest of that interview. What a guy.