Swinney responds to John Oliver's jab of Soybean Wind

by Tony Crumpton - Assoc. Editor - Mon Mar 30 15:45:38 GMT-04:00 2015

Clemson coach Dabo Swinney Dabo Swinney
Head Coach
View Full Profile and the NCAA were criticized by HBO funnyman John Oliver two weeks ago on his show "Last Week Tonight" about their stance on amateurism. Oliver said "a man (Swinney) who makes over $3 million dollars a year, insists that his players not get paid."

Oliver showed a short clip where Swinney said he was not for players to get paid while in college.

"As far as paying players and professionalizing college athletics, that’s where you lose me, Swinney told Al Jazeera America in 2014. "I’ll go do something else. There’s enough entitlement in this world as it is."

Swinney was asked if he had saw the short video clip where Oliver used an anagram to describe Swinney - SoybeanWind and told his 887K twitter followers to retweet using the hashtag #SoybeanWind.

He said that he has not seen the video clip that has made the rounds on the Internet.

“Well, I don’t have HBO,” Swinney told the Sporting News. "I never saw the segment. I have no idea who John Oliver is, and a lot of that stuff goes in one ear and out the other. I was made aware of it, but that comes with the territory when you aren’t afraid to speak out and other people disagree with you."

Swinney went on to say that a free college education is a great opportunity for student-athletes to take part in.

"I’m a big believer in the student-athlete part," Swinney said. "I value the education and what it provides for you. Football is a vocation. Only 1.67 percent of these athletes go on to the NFL. An education provides you an opportunity for a career. A lot of people just don’t get that. To say they aren’t getting anything is misinformed."

Swinney might have a multi-million dollar income in 2015 but it was not always that way.

"I didn’t get into coaching to make money,” Swinney said. “I got into this for the coaching and teaching part. I got into coaching and teaching full time for $38,000 a year, and I was OK with that. That’s one of the things with young coaches; you have to ask, 'Are you getting into coaching for the right reasons?'"

Criticism comes with the territory as Dabo Swinney transitions his team into one of football's elite programs.