In the late 2010s, the only coach that really compared to Nick Saban was Dabo Swinney. The head of the Clemson Tigers program played in four national championships in five years — that one off year ended in the semifinals — and took home two titles in the 2016 and 2018 seasons. He even took Clemson to the College Football Playoff in the 2024 season.
So why did The Athletic drop Swinney in their ranking of college coaches? The Tigers started the season as No. 4, and quarterback Cade Klubnik was a popular Heisman candidate. They lost three of their first four to LSU, Georgia Tech and Syracuse, and they were 3-5 before winning their last four games of the season to make a bowl.
They lost that postseason matchup, the Pinstripe Bowl, to Penn State. Looking at Clemson over the past decade season-by-season, Clemson turned what had been regularly losing only one or two games per season into losing two or three. That then became four, then last season, six.
It's a trend Chris Vannini of The Athletic hinted may continue. "Dabo Swinney drops out of the top tier for the first time since this exercise began. He has two national titles, but the last one was eight years ago," he wrote.
"The Tigers have one CFP appearance in the last five years, and last season’s 7-6 record was Swinney’s worst since 2010. You can’t deny the highs, but the Tigers aren’t close to the bar he set and are trending downward." Perhaps the most frustrating part of that slide is seeing Brent Venables, Swinney's longtime defensive coordinator, take the Oklahoma Sooners to last year's CFP. Granted, they blew a big lead at home to the Alabama Crimson Tide, but due to quarterback John Mateer and the rest of the Sooners squad, hope abounds in Norman.
In Clemson, the feelings aren't so fond. After all, this season is the first time in 15 years that the Tigers won't begin the season ranked. Even Saban isn't expecting too much out of Swinney and Co.
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