The College Football Playoff games are this weekend.
My No. 4 Oklahoma Sooners (12-1) are two-touchdown underdogs to the No. 1 LSU Tigers (13-0). But OU coach Lincoln Riley said, “We are going to go ahead and show up.” So, friends, feel free to go ahead and pray for a miracle!
In the other semifinal, the No. 3 Clemson Tigers (13-0 and defending national champions) face the No. 2 Ohio State Buckeyes (13-0).
In advance of Clemson’s fifth straight CFP appearance, the Post and Courier of Charleston, S.C., wrote about “How Dabo Swinney’s Christian evangelism boosts Clemson recruiting.”
The piece opens this way:
CLEMSON — The journey from high school football stardom to Clemson passed through NewSpring Church for some of Dabo Swinney’s latest recruits. Visits started not in the head coach’s office or the Tigers’ $55 million training facility that includes a bowling alley and miniature golf course, but in a church parking lot 2 miles away.
Cars parked, players and their families then boarded a shuttle to the facility, where, many say, God’s presence was clear.
“Before we do anything, we’re going to pray,” said Sergio Allen, a highly rated linebacker from Fort Valley, Ga., who signed Wednesday as part of Clemson’s No. 1-ranked recruiting class. “Somebody’s going to pray, whether it be coach Swinney, one of the staff members, another coach. It might even be us. We’re going to pray.”
Swinney, an evangelical Christian, is reluctant to elaborate with reporters about his faith; he declined an interview request for this story. But in the moments after Clemson’s 44-16 win over Alabama in the College Football Playoff national championship game Jan. 7, he made a bold statement in front of a global audience.
“We beat Notre Dame and Alabama. We left no doubt. And we walk off this field tonight as the first 15-0 team in college football history,” he said. “All the credit, all the glory, goes to the good Lord.”
For those paying attention, the faith emphasis of Swinney and his team isn’t exactly breaking news.
“Yes, there’s a Jesus angle — and a Chick-fil-A one — in Clemson’s football national title,” I wrote here at GetReligion after Clemson defeated Alabama in the national title game this past January. That post included links to a variety of related articles.
More recently, I analyzed an in-depth Sports Illustrated report this past fall on “Faith, Football and the Fervent Religious Culture at Dabo Swinney’s Clemson.” I praised it as “a nice example of high-quality sports and religion journalism,” particularly in the way the writer handled predictable complaints from the Freedom From Religion Foundation.
So the subject matter covered by the Post and Courier isn’t new. And given that Swinney declined to talk, it doesn’t break much new ground. But here’s what I did appreciate: the paper’s direct quotes from a variety of players who discussed their personal experience with the Clemson football program.
Those players include Swinney’s oldest son, Will, a Clemson wide receiver:
Will Swinney said it makes sense players who have relationships with God are attracted to the program.
“We’re very selective on the players we take, because we just want to make sure they fit the culture,” he said. “Not just from a faith aspect. From an aspect of being a good person, doing the right thing. But naturally, I think the guys who prioritize keeping God first in their life, they can see the genuineness, and about how we want to do things the right way here.”
This quote from the archives is helpful in light of the coach declining an interview:
Asked about his religious emphasis during a press conference before the 2015 Orange Bowl, Swinney explained, “My job is to win football games. We’re always going to recruit and play the best football players. … We don’t play the best Christians. I’ve said that many times. If we were playing the best Christians, I wouldn’t be sitting here, I can guarantee you that. I just know how I’m called to live my life. I try to be consistent with that. Be who you are, whatever you are. I’ve coached a bunch of atheists I’m sure. Along the way, a ton.”
Yes, the Freedom From Religion Foundation gets a mention in the story, although mainly as a cameo:
The intermingling of Christianity and college football is hardly novel to Clemson, or the sport, but the program has attracted critics who believe that dynamic blurs the lines between the separation of church and state.
Patrick Elliott, the Freedom from Religion Foundation’s senior litigation counsel, said Clemson pushes the boundaries for a public university
“Anything that is done by the players themselves or player-initiated would be perfectly fine. That’s something that any student who attends a public university would have the right to do,” Elliott said. “Here, it obviously goes well beyond that, because of how the coaches have handled the program. They’ve created a program that recruits evangelical Christian players and that is making them the insiders.”
Swinney has signed non-Christian recruits in the past, and no former players have publicly shed light on negative repercussions for not bending their faith to more align with Swinney.
Asked about his religious emphasis during a press conference before the 2015 Orange Bowl, Swinney explained, “My job is to win football games. We’re always going to recruit and play the best football players. … We don’t play the best Christians. I’ve said that many times. If we were playing the best Christians, I wouldn’t be sitting here, I can guarantee you that. I just know how I’m called to live my life. I try to be consistent with that. Be who you are, whatever you are. I’ve coached a bunch of atheists I’m sure. Along the way, a ton.”
That statement about “no former players have publicly shed light …” raises questions that I wish the story had attempted to address. Is that suggesting that former players say something else privately? Or is that just an awkward wording? Either the paper has information to share or it doesn’t, but that wording doesn’t help.
All in all, though, it’s an interesting read, particularly for college football fans.
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