Dabo Swinney: Video of players sparring in locker room was 'stupid'

Swinney said his program doesn’t tolerate that type of behavior and doesn’t “think you’ll have any more problem with that.” (AP Photo/Adrian Kraus)
Swinney said his program doesn’t tolerate that type of behavior and doesn’t “think you’ll have any more problem with that.” (AP Photo/Adrian Kraus)

Clemson coach Dabo Swinney called a video that surfaced last week of two Clemson players fighting with boxing gloves in the locker room ‘stupid’ and said the video wasn’t recent.

The Tigers’ coach’s comments were the first time he’s talked about the video, which shows two unidentified players sparring before they fell to the ground.

“It’s stupid,” Swinney said. “First of all, it’s an old video. I don’t even know when it was shot. It was an old video. Got a couple walk-ons in there with a little too much time on their hands. And, you know, we all have raised kids. So you know, sometimes young people have a little too much time on their hands and they do stupid stuff. And you’ve got a pair of boxing gloves laying around next thing you know you’ve got a boxing match going on. You’ve got a mat on the ground sometimes, boys especially, will start wrestling and goofing off.”

He then said the program doesn’t tolerate that kind of behavior and drew an analogy between being a responsible adult and how to act after buying a house.

“It’s not a frat house, it’s not a romper room,” Swinney said. “That’s kind of how I told them. This is a new house and it’s really nice. That locker room’s not a romper room. This ain’t kindergarten. So I don’t think you’ll have any more problem with that.”

After a bye week following the team’s loss to Syracuse on Oct. 13, the Tigers play Georgia Tech on Saturday.

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Nick Bromberg is the editor of Dr. Saturday and From the Marbles on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at nickbromberg@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!