Dabo Swinney receives new hot seat status from CBS Sports

Clemson Tigers coach Dabo Swinney would seem to have one of the safest jobs in college football entering the 2026 season.

Or does he?

On Thursday, CBS Sports’ staff of college football writers handed down their annual hot seat ratings for every college football coach in the Football Bowl Subdivision. A coach with a rating of 5.0 faces “win or be fired” job pressure. Conversely, a coach with a 0-0.99 rating is described as “untouchable.”

Swinney received an overall 3.1 rating, which falls under the category of “pressure is mounting.” Last season, Swinney garnered a 0.2 rating as the ACC’s most untouchable coach.

But a 7-6 finish with the type of talent Clemson had on its 2025 roster (they had a school-record nine players taken in the NFL draft) has renewed criticism of Swinney for, among other things, being too resistant to the changing landscape of college football.

The Tigers’ 2015-20 run included six straight ACC titles and College Football Playoff trips, two national championships, and four national title game appearances. Clemson’s record over that span was 79-7, including 49-3 in ACC play.

Since 2021, however, the Tigers have gone just 47-20 overall. They’ve captured two ACC titles, but they their two subsequent postseason games by double digits.

For his part, Swinney still firmly believes he can return Clemson to the top.

“We’ve been to the top many times around here, and we’re gonna take Clemson back to the top. That’s going to happen,” Swinney vowed at Clemson’s annual media day on Tuesday. “Whether it happens this year, I don’t know. But my main objective is to make sure we get the arrow pointed back where it needs to be, and that we’re a tougher football team mentally.

“I don’t know if we’ll get all the way to the top of the mountain, but we need to get it pointed back in that direction,” Swinney added.

Clemson football rivals on the hot seat entering 2026

Across the state, South Carolina’s Shane Beamer was the only SEC coach in CBS’ hot seat rankings with a “win or be fired” rating of 4.3.

Within the ACC, Mike Norvell was the only coach to receive a 5.0 rating after Florida State posted a dismal 5-17 record the past two seasons. North Carolina’s Bill Belichick was graded a 4.3 after the Tar Heels’ 2025 flop.

Coaches with similar 3.1 ratings to Swinney around college football included Alabama‘s Kalen Deboer (3.0), Nebraska‘s Matt Ruhle (3.0), Colorado‘s Deion Sanders (3.1), and NC State’s Dave Doeren (3.0).

On the opposite end, Georgia Tech’s Brent Key (0.1 rating), first-year Virginia Tech coach James Franklin (0.3), and Miami Hurricanes coach Mario Cristobal (0.5) were graded as the ACC’s most “untouchable” coaches. SMU’s Rhett Lashlee (0.9), Louisville’s Jeff Brohm (0.8) and California’s Tosh Lupoi (0.8) also received “untouchable” ratings.

Clemson opens the 2026 season on Sept. 5 against LSU at Tiger Stadium in Baton Rouge. Lane Kiffin’s hot seat rating from CBS Sports was a 1.0 (“safe and secure”).

Clemson’s Dabo Swinney says ‘we have everything we need’ at ACC Kickoff

📸 Jim Dedmon, Jim Dedmon-Imagn Images https://t.co/ZksnCEjxtwpic.twitter.com/RH75fvt4w3

— Clemson Wire (@Clemson_Wire) July 16, 2026

Clemson football schedule 2026

Here’s a game by game look at Clemson’s 2026 schedule. All start times Eastern.

• Sept. 5: at LSU, 7:30 p.m., ABC
• Sept. 12: vs. Georgia Southern, 7:30 p.m., ACC Network
• Sept. 19: vs. North Carolina, noon, ESPN
• Sept. 25: at California, 10:30, ESPN
• Oct. 3: vs. Miami, TBA
• Oct. 17: vs. Charleston Southern, TBA
• Oct. 24: vs. Virginia Tech, TBA
• Oct. 31: at Florida State, TBA
• Nov. 7: at Syracuse, TBA
• Nov. 14: vs. Georgia Tech, TBA
• Nov. 20: at Duke, 7:30 p.m., ESPN
• Nov. 28: vs. South Carolina, TBA

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This article originally appeared on Clemson Wire: Dabo Swinney receives new hot seat status from CBS Sports