Dabo Swinney Might Not Be the Problem for Clemson

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There was a time when Dabo Swinney was viewed as one of the best head coaches in college football, and deservedly do. He led the Clemson Tigers to four National Championship Game appearances and two titles between 2015 and 2019, and he posted 12 straight double-digit win seasons between 2011 and 2022.

Now, however, Swinney is becoming a pariah. Not necessarily at Clemson, but in college football.

Just about everyone watching the sport has a problem with Swinney these days. He's too stubborn. He's too ornery. He's not innovative. He's not adaptible.

Those are all criticism we've heard of Swinney over the last couple of years, and in sense, some of them do have some merit.

But is Swinney really the problem here? Or is college football as a whole the real issue?

I'm sorry, but Dabo Swinney did not suddenly forget how to coach football. He did not suddenly forget how to develop his players. But his philosophy has become obsolete in the Wild West that is now the NCAA landscape.

Gone are the days where you would land a five-star talent and know he would be staying for four years. Gone are the days where coaches weren't siphoning NFL players on to their rosters.

It's a completely different ballgame now, and while Swinney would be playing by the rules to attack the transfer portal and utilizing NIL to build Clemson into a superteam, he simply doesn't have it in him.

And that's not necessarily a bad thing.

Does it mean that the Tigers will probably never be an elite program again so long as Swinney is in charge? Sadly, probably. The game has clearly passed Swinney by, and it's probably too late for him to adjust.

Clemson has already faded into near-irrelevancy in terms of being an upper echelon program, and once that happens, it's hard to recover, especially in this era.

Swinney tried using the transfer portal to his advantage this past winter, but clearly, that didn't work, as evidenced by the Tigers' 51-10 loss at LSU on opening night.

College football has changed, and while Lane Kiffin has had no problem changing with it, Swinney's old-school mentality remains firm.

Knock him and accuse him of yelling at the clouds if you want to, but there is something noble about sticking with what got you here, even if that's no longer a feasible option.

Swinney didn't win multiple national titles by accident. He built teams where the players absolutely loved him, and it showed on the field.

That was why top recruits were flocking to Clemson in droves.

But that just isn't the case anymore, and while Swinney absolutely deserves some flak for not adjusting, can you really blame him for not wanting to?

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