Dabo Swinney didn’t just leave Doak Campbell Stadium with a win on Saturday night. He left with a message for Florida State fans, too.
After Clemson’s 36-24 victory over the Seminoles on Oct. 31, Swinney unloaded on the pregame banner that flew over the stadium reading “Fire Novell,” a misspelled jab at Mike Norvell. Swinney called it an “embarrassment” and spent more than two minutes ripping the stunt.
"That was embarrassing what I saw above the stadium. It was an embarrassment.
Florida State is better than that. It's not good for these kids," Swinney said.
He didn’t stop there. Swinney said the banner crossed a line, even in a season where frustration around the Florida State program has been building and university president Richard McCullough has already addressed the situation publicly, both on social media and in an Oct. 30 Board of Trustees meeting.
"I get it, everybody's got contracts and all this type of stuff, but man, that bothered me. And they didn't even spell his name right; they didn't have the freaking R in the name.
It's just disrespectful. Mike Norvell is a good man.
You ain't got to like him as a football [coach]; you don't have to like me as a football coach. But that's a good man right there, and he's a hell of a football coach."
Florida State’s record helps explain the temperature around the program. The Seminoles are 10-22, including 1-5 against Power 4 opponents this season. Still, Swinney said that doesn’t justify turning the criticism personal.
"I know Florida State is better than that. There are so many good people at this place and at this program.
I always had a lot of respect for Florida State; Bobby Bowden is one of my heroes in life. He [Norvell] ain't going to say it, but I will; I was freaking disappointed to see that.
And hell, they might be flying one around Clemson the next time that I'm home. But I doubt it.
Whoever did that, you oughta be ashamed of yourself; that's what I would say."
Swinney also made clear he was thinking about Norvell and the players, not just the optics of the banner. He said losing games should not lead to attacking people as human beings.
"Ain't nobody trying to lose. This job is hard.
And that's not what's best for those kids out there that are fighting. They fought every second of the game.
Every second of that game, their kids fought. I walked out there pregame, and that really bothered me.
I know it's a tough situation, and it went our way tonight. But Mike Norvell is a good man.
He's a husband; he's a father," Swinney said. "I don't know why we think that because people make money and this and that, that you just have the right to just destroy people as humans.
I don't know where we became this as a society, that it's just okay to tear people down. It's like a blood sport now.
Lose a game, and it's 'fire everybody, everybody stinks.' How about we just support the kids, support the team, we count them all up at the end of the year, and we go from there."
"My heart goes out to Coach Norvell and his family. And that team, that fought their butts off every single play," Swinney added.
"I'm sure somebody had a lot of fun and felt really good about themselves to fly a freaking plane and a banner around this amazing stadium, Doak Campbell, Bobby Bowden Field. It's shameful to me."
Florida State’s schedule shows the stretch that has fueled the frustration, with results already in against New Mexico State, SMU, Alabama, Central Arkansas, Virginia, Louisville, Miami and Clemson, and upcoming games at Boston College on Nov. 7, at Pittsburgh on Nov. 13, against NC State on Nov. 21 and against Florida on Nov. 27.
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