Clemson Tigers head coach Dabo Swinney has received a stern warning heading into 2026.
There was a time when Clemson Tigers head coach Dabo Swinney was considered one of the best in the business. Things have since changed.
After making four National Championship Game appearances between 2015 and 2019, winning two of them, Clemson has fallen on hard times.
The Tigers have not won a playoff game since 2019, and this past season, they went 7-6 in spite of entering the year with national title aspirations.
That also represented Clemson's worst finish since going 6-7 all the way back in 2010, which was Swinney's second full year with the program.
Swinney is starting to feel the heat. His mostly obsolete roster-building methods have been called into question, and there are some who are wondering if he is actually coaching for his job heading into 2026.
On that note, Brad Crawford of CBS Sports has listed Swinney among the 10 coaches under the most pressure going into next season.
Clemson Tigers coach Dabo Swinney. Credit: Ken Ruinard-Imagn Images."Swinney dismissed offensive coordinator Garrett Riley and replaced him with former protégé Chad Morris in an effort to revive a stagnant offense," Crawford wrote. "Swinney has remained committed to his long-standing approach, but in the NIL and transfer portal era, that model has produced uneven results."
Swinney mostly refused to use the transfer portal up until this winter, when he added 10 players. That was double the amount of transfers he added between 2022 and 2025 as a whole.
"Clemson has not won a College Football Playoff game since the 2019 season, one year after Trevor Lawrence led the program to a national championship -- a drought that has intensified scrutiny entering 2026. Still, it would be a bold -- and costly -- for Clemson to part ways with the man who led the program to two national titles," Crawford concluded.
The chances of Swinney losing his job after next season seem relatively slim. Not only has he likely bought enough goodwill with the program to get some grace, but he also has an estimated $57 million buyout.
Swinney has gone 187-53 since taking over as Tigers head coach midway through 2008. He posted 12 straight double-digit win campaigns between 2011 and 2022.
Barring a catastrophic 2026 campaign, Swinney is probably safe ... for now.
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