2 Tough Questions for Clemson Head Coach Dabo Swinney

Thursday evening former Alabama wide receiver and current Clemson University head football coach Dabo Swinney checked into The Game. Since taking over as head coach Swinney has accumulated a 40-21 record, including the 2011 ACC Championship. This past season Swinney led Clemson to its first 11-win season since 1981 to finish 9th in the Coaches Poll and 11th in the AP Poll.

During the course of the interview Swinney addressed a number of topics, including two of the toughest questions: the possibility of coaching Alabama (after Saban) and if collegiate athletes should be paid.

On the possibility of coaching Alabama
"Well I tell you, people ask me all the time, but the good lord has a plan for me. Who knows if that will ever come about; you just cross those bridges when you get there. I’m so blessed to be here and I tell my Alabama friends 'you've got the Crimson Tide and we've got the Clemson Tide.' There are so many Alabama-Clemson ties....Again, this is a place I'm very happy at and who knows what will happen in the future."

On paying college athletes:
"Well I think there needs to be an adjustment as far as, I don't think anything has changed since I was playing-I really don’t. I'll tell you this: I am not for professionalizing collegiate athletics. We have that already, its called the NFL. Somewhere along the line we've devalued an education, you know what? Its $50,000 a year to go to Clemson. Somewhere along the line no one wants to throw out the value of an education in this country for these young people.... The only thing I would say is we need to look at some kind of stipend, whatever, because it has become a 365 day-a-year deal. Its not like these guys can work summer 1. But I would love to see them get a bit more of a stipend, but something thats within reason that doesn't professionalize the game."

The Game airs weeknights from 6-8pm on 99.1 WDGM, 991wdgm.com and the Radio Pup application for Androids and Iphones. The interview can be heard in its entirety below.