Clemson Tigers head coach Dabo Swinney is watching his reputation as an elite coach teeter.
The Clemson Tigers are no longer a superpower on the college football landscape, and Dabo Swinney's reputation has taken a severe hit as a result.
It's not that Swinney has forgotten how to coach. Far from it. But his archaic roster-building methods have resulted in Clemson fading into near obscurity.
The Tigers went just 7-6 this past season, marking their worst finish since Swinney's second year at the helm in 2010. Clemson went 6-7 that year.
Swinney's refusal to dip into the transfer portal (up until this winter, when he finally decided to start getting active) has played a big role in the Tigers' demise, as has his slippage on the recruiting trail.
It all has people wondering about Swinney's long-term job security, and Brad Crawford went as far to include the 56-year-old on a list of 25 college coaches to monitor before the next hiring cycle begins.
"Like the captain of the Titanic, Swinney will go down with the ship and would be kicking and screaming on his way out if it comes to that," Crawford wrote. "Stubborn in ways with the Tigers, the two-time national champion hasn't won a playoff game since the 2019 season and just hired Chad Morris as his new offensive coordinator."
Clemson Tigers coach Dabo Swinney. Credit: Ken Ruinard / USA Today Network South Carolina / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images.Crawford clearly isn't a fan of the Morris re-hire.
"Yeah, that Chad Morris, who's coaching career since starring as Clemson's play-caller from 2011-14 consists of failed head coaching tenures at SMU, Arkansas and one year as Auburn's OC," Crawford added.
But would the Tigers really bail on Swinney so quickly?
Between 2015 and 2019, Clemson made it to four National Championship Games and won a pair of titles. It also registered 12 straight double-digit win campaigns between 2011 and 2022, and the Tigers were in the College Football Playoff as recently as the 2024-25 season.
Perhaps it depends on how poorly things potentially go for Clemson in 2026. If the Tigers look even worse than they did in 2025 (which is possible given how much talent they just lost), then maybe Swinney's sweat will be hotter than ever.
But you have to imagine that Clemson will give just a bit of leeway to a man who once rivaled Nick Saban among the best coaches in the sport.
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