Swinney says FSU call a shot at Clemson medical staff, credibility of program |
Clemson coach
Dabo Swinney again addressed Florida State's call to not play over the weekend due to a Friday positive test for a Clemson reserve. He believes it was a shot at Clemson's medical staff and he's not going to stand for it.
"It was pretty disappointing. I know what the facts are and I laid them out pretty clear. I don't make the rules," Swinney said on his call-in show Monday. "Our medical people run all of that -- and to me, not only is it -- we way met the standard to play, it's a shot at our medical people. Point blank. And I also know for a fact that Pitt traveled (to FSU) and Pitt had a kid test positive there and they still played the game. That's kinda interesting too. "Bottom line is, certainly it was frustrating and there's so much that goes into it. People have no idea the protocols we have in place here and our kids have bought in...The last thing we would ever do is put someone in harm's way. It's an insult to the credibility of our program and the credibility of our medical people and we all agreed to the same rules and magically all those rules changed on Saturday morning. "I don't give a crap what they say. I know what the facts are. I know what the standard of play is and why the rosters were expanded to 80. Because we anticipated positives on Friday so we had to take more players...There's trust that both teams are following all the protocols and all those things. So all I can tell you is that what we were following all year and there's been positives all year in every program. We haven't had many. But we've had positives. Obviously Trevor (Lawrence). It's just unfortunate that it wasn't resolved because it could've been and should've been resolved." Swinney said they had no positives in testing on Sunday and just the one Friday. "We didn't travel anybody with (symptoms). Are you kidding me?" Swinney said. "This was a backup offensive lineman who probably wasn't going to play. You think we would (travel him symptomatic)? That's just crazy. It's a frustrating deal and it is what it is. They made the decision and nobody over here agreed with it from our president to our medical advisor group to our AD -- all of my bosses. I don't make the decisions. I coach my team. I just know what the rules are and know what they've been all year and they just magically changed. And again, I know Pitt went down there and played and they had a positive kid but they played the game. The rules were never set up that if you had a positive on Friday that you cancel the game. Never set up that way. I'm not trying to be a doctor. I'm just listening to my doctors. "And one thousand percent -- and that's why it was stated, they wanted to be clear that there was a disagreement. It's frustrating. We move on. I know what the facts are and they can say what they want to say. Their coach can say whatever he wants to say. I know this -- our kids have been all in, all year. And have done everything asked of them. So when somebody wants to make it like we've not done something -- I'm going to fight for that and stand up for what's right. If that bothers people, then too bad. If telling the truth is wrong, then guess what? Too bad. I'm going to tell the truth and that's exactly what happened." Swinney said players practicing around players who test positive during a week is part of preparing in a pandemic. "The reason we test on Friday was because guys could be negative Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday -- because we wanted to catch them and pull them out and quarantine them and then everybody through the week -- you control the direct contact by mitigating everything," Swinney said. "That's what we've done and what everybody has tried to do. Any time there's a positive test...guess what? Prior to that player testing positive, he was practicing football and playing football. It's just a bunch of hogwash."
Unlock premium boards and exclusive features (e.g. ad-free) by upgrading your account today.
Upgrade Now