Clemson Football Coach Dabo Swinney Cites Scripture After Loss: ‘I Don’t Grow Weary, I Grow Stronger’
By Movieguide® Contributor
College football coach Dabo Swinney relied on his faith as he moves on from Clemson’s loss to Notre Dame, which bumped the team from #4 to #12 in the college football rankings.
Clemson’s loss to Notre Dame, 35-14, is the worst loss since Swinney took over the team in 2009.
“We missed an opportunity, but we have another opportunity this week,” Swinney said. “And that’s the good news for us. Also, we’re a better team certainly than what we played the other night. We’re 8 and 1, not 5 and 3. And every goal we have is intact.”
“I don’t grow weary, you know, I grow stronger,” he continued. “The Bible says that. Galatians 6:9 says, ‘Do not grow weary from doing what is right and good for, at the appropriate time, you will reap a harvest of blessing if you don’t give up.”
Swinney went on, “That’s the big thing. And I’ve lived that my whole life – I don’t grow weary, I grow stronger. I’m excited about having a good Tuesday practice today and ain’t nothing gonna steal my joy. And I’m going to do everything I can to not let the joy be taken out of it for this football team.”
“If people can’t get on board with that, then they’re missing a lot of opportunity,” the coach concluded. “If you’re only going to be happy if we win the national championship, then you’re gonna spend a lot of years down in the dumps in the gutter. They went 35 years without winning one here. You’re missing out on a lot of fun, that’s all I can tell you.”
Swinney also talked about how his “joy’s not defined” by losses.
“I love what I do,” he explained. “I love these guys. I love this team. You know my joy is just in doing what I do. I hurt and they hurt, but you can’t let the hurt be greater than the hope, right? It’s a new day. You wake up. We all have challenges. We all have setbacks. We all have disappointment. And you go back to work.”
Swinney has always been very open about his Christian faith. Movieguide® previously reported:
Outspoken Christian and head coach for Clemson’s football team, Dabo Swinney, encouraged a 15-year-old fan to center his life on Christ during a radio show.
“The most important thing is you were created on purpose,” Swinney told a young man named Jordan. “You have a thumb print. There are billions of people in this world, and you are the only one with your thumb print. And God intended it to be that way, so you are the only one that can leave the imprint that He has given you.
“If you will build your life on a foundation of faith, then you will know true peace and happiness. If you build it on anything else, or seek happiness in anything else, then you are going to always be let down,” Swinney added.
Swinney also emphasized his reliance on God’s word and talked to the teen about God’s peace, even during times of hopelessness.
“One of my favorite verses in the Bible is Jeremiah 29:11,” Swinney said. “When I was 15 I had a lot of, man there was a lot of anxiety and like, ‘What is my future and how am I going to do this and that?’ But Jeremiah 29:11 says, ‘For I know the plans I have for you.’ Not that I think I know. God says, ‘For I know the plans I have for – not everyone – for you.’ Those are plans for good, not disaster. Plans to give you a future and a hope.”
Swinney continued: “I love that Bible verse because if you really grab on to that, you are going to have some challenges, you are going to have some disappointments, you are going to have some setbacks, you are going to have some failures and you are going to have some successes, but if you can hang on to that, God never says, ‘Oops!’ God never says, ‘My bad!’ Then again, if there is hope in the future, then there is power in the present to deal with whatever comes your way. There is nothing that is going to happen to you that you and God can’t handle together.”
