We just witnessed the exact moment the Clemson football-Dabo Swinney era unofficially came to end
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As the Clemson football team took a royal beating to the LSU Tigers in Week 1 on Saturday night, 51-10, it served as another reminder for people to look at their personal flaws with head coach Dabo Swinney. Though Swinney appeared to never be happier about Clemson football during the NIL and transfer portal era of college football, as he argued with Stephen A. Smith about being reluctant to adapt, Saturday’s game was an opportunity for people to call it the end of an era.
When it came to CBS Sports’ Jordan Dajani, the blowout in the game got so lopsided that ESPN would instead focus on LSU cheerleaders who had to do push-ups every time the team scored, which came aplenty.
“The Dabo Swinney Clemson era is over,” Dajani wrote on X, formerly Twitter.
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The Dabo Swinney Clemson era is over.
ESPN is interviewing the LSU male cheerleaders who are struggling to complete all of the pushups for points scored. pic.twitter.com/s6ABicrf0A
— Jordan Dajani (@JordanDajani) September 6, 2026
The criticism for Swinney in the past has been that he has been slow to use the transfer portal and NIL resources, instead preferring the traditional route of recruitment and other avenues. Fox Sports’ Aaron Torres used the beatdown to LSU to compare Swinney to other coaches who retired or adapted with the landscape of college sports changing, mentioning how Swinney did neither.
“When NIL/portal became a thing, old school coaches had a choice: Retire or adapt…Nick Saban, Coach K, Jay Wright, Roy Williams retired…John Calipari, Tom Izzo adapted,” Torres wrote on X. “Dabo Swinney did neither. And he hit rock bottom tonight.”
Should Clemson football’s Dabo Swinney retire?
Some are even going as far as to say that Swinney should think of retirement to “protect his legacy,” as said by Yahoo Sports’ senior writer Dan Wolken, as he’s won two national championships.
“It’s like the 4th biggest story of the day, but if tonight isn’t going to convince Dabo that his program has been headed in the wrong direction since the start of the decade, I’m not sure what will,” Wolken wrote on X.
At any rate, it remains to be seen how the Clemson football team progresses beyond this point, especially Swinney, as Week 2 of the season comes on Saturday, Sept. 12, against Georgia Southern.
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