TYLER vs. DABO
TIGERILLUSTRATED.com EXCLUSIVE
CLEMSON -- Tyler was in the Marines and going through training in Quantico, Va., on Jan. 9, 2017 when Clemson was down early to Alabama in Tampa.
It was frigid and everyone else in his camp was asleep, but Tyler was wide awake as his childhood team tried to get back in the game against the mighty Crimson Tide.
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When Dabo Swinney was in the Raymond James Stadium locker room at halftime that night telling his players they'd somehow find a way to win but he wasn't sure how, Tyler was in a tent trying to find some way to keep his phone from freezing.
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He'd watch a few plays and the phone would die, then he'd put it into his armpit and warm it up for a few minutes before turning it back on and watching a few more plays.
He was lucky to watch the game-winning touchdown live late that night before rising early for 5 AM training at the Marine Corps base.
He was ... less than lucky to be on the wrong end of an epic Dabo rant Monday night when he called in to voice a series of gripes about Swinney and his program.
The exchange went viral, to the point that in Clemson today on the radio airwaves and in general conversation there was very little talk of Notre Dame.
Very little talk, in fact, of the fourth round of 2023 misery absorbed by Clemson three days ago in Raleigh.
All the talk was of Tyler.
Tyler vs. Dabo.
Which side do you have? It's the natural question and the natural instinct during these divided times when it has to be one thing or the other.
If you think Tyler was out of line and asking for it while also thinking your Hall of Fame coach probably went too far in unloading on this "smart-assed kid," you're probably in the minority.
Tyler is 29 years old and a longtime Clemson fan, having started going to games with his father when he was 5 years old.
They came to every home game and almost never left early. They'd go to one road game every year, and Tyler remembers going to Blacksburg in 2011 when Clemson smashed the Hokies by 20.
He says generations of his family -- parents, uncles, aunts, cousins -- all went to Clemson. So many of them that the tailgates near Shotgun Alley every Saturday felt like family reunions.
Tyler was born in Greenville and lives in Spartanburg. He's interning in the legal field and has plans of resuming law school. He had to take a semester off last spring to recover after his best friend, a fellow Marine, died in November.
The fallout from last night's exchange has bewildered and even shaken him to the point that he asked that his last name not be used for this article.
"Doing that would invite more attention, and I don't want that," he says.
Tyler has a day off today, so he went deer hunting early this morning. When he returned, a text message from his girlfriend made him realize he went too far:
Her message: I hate to sound like a scolding parent, but I hope this is a lesson about thinking things through before doing them.
The fact that the Internet thinks you’re a child is not the best look.
Not meaning to be harsh. You've always been respectful to adults.
Tyler's response: I know. You're right.
"My girlfriend has been all over me for this today," he said in an exclusive interview with Tigerillustrated.com. "But I agree with her. Tact is not one of my strong suits, especially when I'm upset. But as I listened to Dabo last night and sat through his spiel about how we'd be 8-0 without the turnovers and 'if, if, if,' it upset me.
"I want to be clear: I'm not blaming Dabo at all for the way I handled it. I'm just explaining what happened. If I had to do it over again, I'd have been way more respectful."
A longtime Tigerillustrated subscriber, Tyler is conflicted on just how much contrition to express because he says he does have some strong and legitimate criticism of Swinney.
He says he thinks Dabo has changed since Clemson made it two national titles in three years in 2018. He doesn't think Swinney is adapting to the current realities of college athletics including the transfer portal and NIL. He doesn't think the current staff is nearly as strong as the ones that helped usher Clemson to glory that was unimaginable when Tyler was a child and watching the wild swings of the Tommy Bowden years.
Tyler regrets bringing up the Proverbs verse about pride going before the fall. He also regrets calling Swinney arrogant.
But he doesn't take back the substance of his criticisms, nor his belief that a highly-paid coach should have to answer tough questions when his team is 4-4.
"This is not an attack on you in the media, but it doesn't seem like these questions are being asked," he said.
"Honestly there probably shouldn't be a coach's call-in show. But when there is, someone should be asking these questions. Because Clemson has been on a clear decline these past three years. And a lot of that seems to have come from his hires -- "
Here, Tyler stopped himself.
"I'm sorry," he said.
Then he continued.
"I love him and am so thankful for what he’s done. He's a great guy, a great human. I'm so thankful for these things. But I don't like hearing that I'm a part of the 1 percent. And also, I'm not a kid. I was going to every Clemson game before he was here.
"Honestly, maybe we shouldn't expect national championships in the future based on Clemson’s small market, its comparatively small donor base and other factors.
"I hate NIL. I hate the transfer portal. I absolutely hate both of those things. But I’m also not making $11.5 million and I am a fan. So I can hate those things and rail against them. And he can hate those things, too. But he’s paid to use those things to the best of Clemson’s ability."
Tyler admits that, even during the boom times from 2015 to 2020, he was a pessimistic fan. He always thought a spectacular letdown was probably right around the corner, and he attributes that to following the Bowden rollercoaster during his formative fan years.
He joined the Marines in 2012 and spent most of those playoff days overseas, including Geneva and Islamabad, before he was honorably discharged in 2018.
"I never thought we'd win a game during that run, and that probably speaks to my negative thought process," he said. "Even when we were dominating with Trevor and Deshaun, it was always: 'This is the game we're going to trip up on.' Because I was born and raised on mediocrity.
"So for me it's less about Clemson, less about the program, and more: 'You built all this and went from Tommy Bowden and Clemsoning, and now you're stubborn and you won't adapt and you're destroying it all. It's not that Clemson is 4-4. It seems that the unwillingness to adapt is taking down something you created that was so incredible. That's where my frustration comes from."
Tyler says he used to be quite active on social media, particularly Twitter, responding to posts of others involving politics and sports. He said he particularly loved sticking it to Gamecock fans through his comments.
He said he's dialed that back considerably of late, realizing he was part of the problem.
"Honestly it's what's wrong with society today. At one point in time I would spout off about a lot of things on Twitter. I would just literally respond to other accounts, and some of those did involve Clemson.
"I've gone through some of those posts today and, my goodness, I'm not proud of a lot of that."
Tyler also posts on the members-only message board at Tigerillustrated.com, and his initial intent last night was simply to voice some of the criticisms he's seen far and wide from Clemson fans in the midst of the Tigers losing seven of their last 13 games against Power 5 foes.
Swinney wasn't done with Tyler today. He frequently referenced last night's exchange during today's press conference.
"I had some idiot go Old Testament on me and he got an Old Testament response," he said. "Y'all print that one. ...
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"That's why no coaches take calls right there. Because people hijack the phone call. They want to hear themselves talk."
After his phone call with Tigerillustrated.com ended Tuesday afternoon, Tyler began learning about Swinney's latest scathing remarks.
He then texted:
Call me sensitive, but he really got after me today hahaha. Definitely brought it on myself. I should've thought this through more lol.
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How about some talk about Notre Dame?
Tyler is ready for that. More than ready.
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