Clemson head football coach Dabo Swinney says he believes God will be “glorified” during the COVID-19 pandemic and that football will be played this fall.
Swinney, who often discusses his Christian faith during public interviews, made the remarks last week on ESPN’s First Take.
“Faith and hope,” he said, make him optimistic the pandemic will end soon enough to allow for a football season.
“I just have always lived my life with optimism,” he said. “… I think that God is bigger than this [pandemic]. I think He’s gonna be glorified and shine through this in a mighty way. … He has the ability to stamp this thing out as quick as it rose up.
“… If it doesn’t work out that way, then you adjust. But my plan is to get back at it and hope for the best.”
Swinney’s optimism, he said, is driven by his faith.
“The reason I have that optimism is because of 50 years of life and because of my faith in Jesus,” Swinney said. “Over 2,000 years ago this weekend, the world was in a crisis. And I’m sure a lot of smart people didn’t think that Jesus could come back to life. But He did. And this Sunday, we’re gonna celebrate that.”
Swinney acknowledged the decision to have a football season was out of his hand.
“At the end of the day the leaders of the universities – the presidents, the [conference] commissioners, the medical experts – they’re ultimately going to make a decision on if we play, when we play, when we start,” Swinney said. “My job is to have my team ready. … My mindset is to make sure that I have the best-case scenario [and am] ready to go and we’ll adjust from there. But my optimism is simply from nothing else other than my faith.”
Swinney’s Tigers lost to LSU in last season’s national title game but previously won championships in 2016 and 2018.
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Photo courtesy: ©Getty Images/Kevin C. Cox/Staff
Michael Foust has covered the intersection of faith and news for 20 years. His stories have appeared in Baptist Press, Christianity Today, The Christian Post, The Leaf-Chronicle, the Toronto Star and the Knoxville News-Sentinel.
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