Dabo Swinney disrespected in latest ACC coach rankings ahead of 2026 season

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Dabo Swinney’s spot in On3’s latest ACC head coach rankings($) is certain to raise some eyebrows.

Andy Staples ranked the Clemson head coach No. 3 in the conference entering the 2026 season, placing him behind Miami’s Mario Cristobal and Virginia Tech’s James Franklin.

Staples acknowledged just how difficult the exercise was, writing that Swinney “has the best resume as a college coach in the ACC and will go down as one of the best coaches in college football history.” He also noted that Swinney “owned” the ACC’s top coaching spot for at least a decade before Clemson’s recent decline from its championship peak.

The explanation, however, doesn’t make the ranking any easier to understand.

Cristobal at No. 1 is at least debatable. Franklin at No. 2 is where the list becomes puzzling. Franklin is a good coach, but ranking him ahead of a coach with two national championships and nine ACC titles feels like a stretch. Swinney has reached heights that Franklin never came close to matching.

Staples explained his reasoning by pointing to Clemson’s performance since Trevor Lawrence left following the 2020 season.

“It feels as if Swinney has been trending down since Trevor Lawrence left following the 2020 season,” Staples wrote.

He also argued that Swinney is no longer “the coach you’d trust the most right now to take a team to the College Football Playoff” and concluded that the Clemson coach “needs to prove that this season.”

What’s interesting is that Staples wasn’t saying similar things a year ago.

Last offseason, he ranked Swinney as the No. 3 coach in all of college football and expressed confidence that Clemson could be on the verge of a resurgence.

“That gives me confidence that Swinney hasn’t completely forgotten how to be the guy who won two national titles and had no qualms about going toe-to-toe with Nick Saban,” Staples wrote at the time.

He also praised Swinney’s willingness to make changes within the program, adding, “This feels like the setup for a big comeback.”

Maybe Clemson does have something to prove in 2026. That’s fair. But placing Franklin ahead of Swinney remains difficult to justify. One coach has multiple national championships and spent years running the ACC. The other never fully broke through at Penn State despite having ample opportunities.

For many Clemson fans, that’s what makes this ranking feel less like a reflection of current coaching ability and more like an overcorrection based on recent results.

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This article originally appeared on Clemson Wire: Where Dabo Swinney ranks among ACC coaches entering 2026 may surprise fans

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