Whether right or wrong, nobody receives more criticism in today’s college football than Dabo Swinney. The Clemson head coach receives a ton of heat for his use of the NCAA transfer portal, with many believing he is playing from behind. Heading into the 2024 season, the Tigers are the only non-service academy program to not bring in a transfer this offseason.
If you ask ESPN’s Paul Finebaum, Swinney and his philosophies may be out the door before we know it. Finebaum says this after speaking to fans in the surrounding area as his show is live every day from Charlotte, NC.
“It is catching up to him as we speak,” Finebaum said on Swinney’s use of the transfer portal. “People that graduated from Clemson, people that are Clemson fans — they don’t think Dabo Swinney is going to be there a long time. When I say long time, I mean three to five years. I think his time is nearly up.”
Not too long ago, Clemson was considered the 1B program in college football, competing with Alabama every year. Swinney was one of the few head coaches with multiple wins over Nick Saban, winning head-to-head in the 2016 and 2019 national championship games.
The last three seasons have gone differently, though. Ten total losses in 2021-2023 were three more than during the six years Clemson made the College Football Playoff annually. Certainly not the standard Swinney brought during the heights of 2015-2020.
“He is falling so far behind,” Finebaum said. “That doesn’t mean they can’t have a good program. That is if you call 9-3 or 8-4 or maybe an occasional 10-2 a good program. But that’s not the same school that went to six consecutive CFPs a few years ago, played for four national championships. I think that part of it is over.”
Swinney has continually defended Clemson’s lack of use in the transfer portal, most recently saying most guys available are not good enough to play for them. He believes if somebody is leaving their school, it’s for better opportunities elsewhere due to being stuck on the depth chart.
“I mean, it’s really pretty simple,” Swinney began. “Most of the guys in the portal aren’t good enough to play for us. That’s just the reality of it. I mean, we have guys that are backups at Clemson that go in the portal because they just want to have an opportunity, and most of them are graduates, by the way. But we have guys that are backups. They want a chance to go play. I’ve got no problem with that. So rarely do we have a starter leave Clemson.
“So the majority of the guys, they’re guys that are in the portal because they wanna have a chance to go start somewhere. They’re not playing where they are. They’re not good enough to come in and play for us.”
In what Finebaum seemingly believes is an outdated approach from Swinney, there is “no catching up” to the elite programs in college football at this point.
“If you missed a minute, you fell behind,” Finebaum said. “He missed three years. He is way behind and he’s not catching up.”
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