(ESPN) Clemson coach Dabo Swinney on Monday defended his response to an assistant coach’s use of a racial slur during a practice three years ago.
Nearly a week after assistant coach Danny Pearman apologized for using the slur, Swinney made his first public comments about what happened in a taped message posted to the team’s website.
Swinney said former tight end D.J. Greenlee and Pearman were on a separate part of the practice field when an argument happened in 2017. Greenlee told The State newspaper he used the N-word and Pearman tried to correct that by using the same word. Pearman has said that was a grave mistake.
Swinney says the matter was handled internally but was not swept under the rug.
Swinney has received criticism for remarks he made last week during a teleconference in which he seemed to play down the role football coaches can have in enacting change in the wake of the protests and outrage that have swept the country following the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis.
