With the program teetering on the brink of disaster, it may be time for the Clemson Tigers to move on from head coach Dabo Swinney.
The Tigers entered the season as a national championship contender, but their College Football Playoff chances are evaporating rapidly after falling to 1-2 in a 24-21 road loss to Georgia Tech in Week 3. Swinney, who is clearly feeling the heat amid the early struggles, sent a fiery message to his critics on Tuesday.
Dabo Swinney says those who want him gone can have their wish
“If they want me gone, they can send me on my way,” the coach said Tuesday, via On3. “If they’re tired of winning, they can send me on my way. I won’t stop. I’m 55. I’ll go somewhere else and win. I ain’t going to the beach.
“We’ve won this league eight of the last 10 years. Is that good? I’ve got a long memory in case y’all don’t know …”
Swinney has won nine ACC titles and two national championships in 18 seasons at Clemson. The problem is, he hasn’t been winning nearly as much lately. Since the 2020 season, the Tigers haven’t made it back to the National Championship Game. Yes, they reached the first 12-team CFP last season, but they got a little lucky.
Clemson needed a last-second field goal against SMU in the ACC Conference Championship Game to punch their ticket. The Tigers didn’t make a deep run in the CFP, losing 38-24 on the road to the Texas Longhorns in the first round.
Will Clemson ever reach the same heights it did under Swinney in the 2010s again? It doesn’t seem like it, considering the coach is now struggling to develop quarterbacks and still not embracing the transfer portal.
Clemson QB Cade Klubnik — a former five-star recruit — is backsliding in his fourth season with the program. Through three starts, he has completed a career-low 59.1% of his passes for 633 yards and thrown the same number of touchdown passes and interceptions (three).
Per 247Sports, Clemson had the ACC’s worst 2025 transfer portal class. Miami, meanwhile, had the best. Look at how that’s working out for the No. 4 Hurricanes, who look like early championship contenders after a 3-0 start.
You can’t take away from what Swinney has accomplished at Clemson. But it may be time for a change if it doesn’t rebound from the slow start. Things are growing stale. If Clemson did move on, a coach of Swinney’s stature would land somewhere else. Still, he may not produce championship-level results.