New video offers more detail of ‘personal attacks’ Clemson great says Dabo made

A week after publicly accusing Clemson football coach Dabo Swinney of mistreating and purposely belittling his son during practice, a former Tigers legend shared further details on the alleged incident.

The player in question, former Clemson walk-on safety Jaden Kinard, also publicly discussed his allegations against Swinney for the first time in a Dec. 27 Facebook video with his father, Terry Kinard, a former All-American Tigers safety in the 1980s.

During a seven-minute video, the Kinards detailed further allegations on what Terry Kinard previously described in a Dec. 19 Facebook post as a “two day public onslaught” carried out by Swinney against his son, prompting Jaden Kinard to transfer from the team earlier than he’d planned ahead of the Gator Bowl.

Swinney pushed back against the allegations Dec. 20, saying after his early signing day news conference that Jaden Kinard was one of “about five or six guys that got their butts chewed out” after failing to perform in practice during a drill.

“Football at this level is not for everybody,” Swinney said in part.

Jaden Kinard, a walk-on safety who joined Clemson in summer 2022 and played in three games this year, has not been part of the team since Dec. 15, according to a team spokesperson. That was the same day Clemson received notice of Kinard’s intent to enter the transfer portal. Kinard formally entered the portal Tuesday, per Rivals.

A day after the Kinards posted their Facebook video, adding new details to their allegations, Swinney said during a pre-Gator Bowl news conference that he had no further comment.

“No, I’ve spoken on all that already,” Swinney said Dec. 28. “Nothing to add.”

Terry Kinard’s initial Facebook post accused Swinney of making his son’s last two Clemson practices “the worst experience of the entirety of the time he was there.”

“He purposely belittled Jaden, insulted him and called him names,” Terry Kinard wrote. “This two day public onslaught went far beyond anything resembling any kind of appropriate coach to athlete exchange.”

Kinards give details on allegations

The father and son elaborated on those allegations in Dec. 27 joint Facebook video, which has nearly 800 engagements and has been viewed nearly 15,000 times as of Tuesday. Here’s a recap of the video:

• Jaden Kinard, 19, said that Swinney “took personal shots at me” during an accountability run in a December bowl practice. Clemson football has 10 “accountability teams” with roughly 10 players apiece on each team, and those teams have to run a certain number of laps each week if they get “negative” accountability points for mistakes such as missing class or being late to a tutoring session. “He would talk about how sh*tty my effort was,” Jaden Kinard said. “And that must mean that outside of football, my lifestyle must be sh*tty as well.”

• During a team meeting the following day, Jaden Kinard said that Swinney took more personal shots at him, “talking about how sh*tty my lifestyle is and how sh*tty my effort was during the accountability runs.” At practice later that same day, Kinard said Swinney was still upset with his lack of effort during the previous day’s accountability run and told him: “You’re walking around like an entitled five-star. You’re just a walk-on. And you’re barely on the team as is. And honestly, you’re not even good enough to play.”

• As that day’s practice went on, Jaden Kinard said Swinney “would continue to just keep badgering me and throw personal shots” while he tried to tune the coach out. “He would walk away and come back and say more things like I have the ability to be good, but I’m just mentally weak,” Kinard said.

Terry Kinard, who was part of Clemson’s 1981 national championship team and later played eight seasons in the NFL, said he felt like Swinney’s alleged singling out of his son during the accountability run was “unfair” but not something he felt was worth speaking out about.

Terry Kinard said he changed his mind after Swinney allegedly singled out his son for a second consecutive day and made “personal attacks” toward the walk-on during a team meeting and practice. He described those allegations as “the straw that broke the camel’s back.”

“These things, we thought, were out of place and out of line,” he said. “And we had to call them out on it.”

Terry Kinard went public with the family’s allegations of mistreatment against Swinney on Dec. 19, five days after his son left the team with intent to enter the transfer portal. His post quickly went viral and drew local and national attention.

“We got a lot of negative comments, a lot of positive comments in regards to this effort,” Terry Kinard said. “At no point were we attempting to do harm to Clemson University or tear down Coach Swinney. Me, as a father … there was no way I was gonna let that go.”

Swinney was asked about Kinard’s allegations after his early signing day news conference two weeks ago and pushed back on Kinard’s framing of the situation.

“Basically, we just had an accountability run that (strength coach Joey Batson), he schedules these runs all throughout the year with our accountability teams,” Swinney said. “Most teams didn’t have to run. A couple teams did have to run. But one team in particular had to run several over-and-backs and there were about five or six guys that got their butts chewed out and they earned it.”

“So anyway, that’s really it. Other than just, look, football at this level is not for everybody. The commitment, the discipline, the accountability, the mental toughness — again, it’s hard at this level. So that’s really all there is to say. Appreciate the opportunity to say it.”

Player was ‘ridiculed,’ father says

Terry Kinard, 64, has deep ties to Clemson as a member of the school’s first football national championship team under coach Danny Ford and is widely regarded as one of the best defensive players in Tigers history.

He was the first Clemson player to be a unanimous All-American selection pick (1982) and remains one of only six unanimous All-America selections in team history. He still holds the Clemson record for career interceptions with 17 and is a member of the Clemson Hall of Fame and the Clemson Ring of Honor, “the highest honor a Clemson student-athlete can receive.”

Because of Swinney’s alleged mistreatment of his son, though, Kinard wrote in his Facebook post that he and his family were “no longer loyal Clemson Football Fans!!!”

Terry Kinard emphasized in the video lots of people at Clemson did a “wonderful job” caring for his son, who redshirted the 2022 season and appeared in three games during the 2023 season, making one special teams tackle on Sept. 16 against Florida Atlantic.

“At no point did we ever feel that he was unwanted from the staff and the people that surrounded Coach Swinney,” he said. “But for whatever reason, he singled Jaden out and made these attacks against him. And we didn’t think it was right.”

Terry Kinard also acknowledged that a lot of people were “not pleased” with him going public with allegations against his former school’s coach but he felt like the Kinards had to publicly address the situation since Swinney’s alleged mistreatment came in team settings.

“If he did this privately, then we would’ve handled it privately,” Kinard said. “But it was done publicly. (Jaden) was ridiculed in front of his teammates. And we don’t expect anyone — any player or anyone that heard (Swinney) say these things — to come forward. Because that would be crazy. Because if he does it to Jaden, he’ll do it to someone else.”

Swinney, 54, just completed his 15th full season as Clemson’s coach and is the winningest coach in school history after passing Frank Howard with his 166th victory earlier this season.

The Tigers finished the 2023 season at 9-4 and on a five-game winning streak after beating Kentucky in last Friday’s Gator Bowl, a 38-35 thriller.

Terry Kinard and Jaden Kinard said their Facebook video would be their last time addressing Swinney’s alleged mistreatment, as they’re now shifting their focus to finding Jaden’s “next chapter” in his football career as a transfer.

“We wish Clemson all the luck, but that’s it for us,” Terry Kinard said.