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Can True Believer Dabo Swinney Get His Swag Back?

Originally posted on Mike Farrell Sports
By Rock Westfall  |  Last updated 5/6/24

By Rock Westfall

Dabo Swinney’s reluctance to embrace today’s college football makes him a polarizing figure. To millions of fans, he is a stalwart who stands for college football’s original values. But to others, he epitomizes the antithesis of Nick Saban, who always adjusted to dominate the times. 

Defiantly Stuck in a Dabo World of Days Gone By 

Dabo Swinney has two national and eight Atlantic Coast Conference titles. He is a three-time Paul “Bear” Bryant Award winner. He led Clemson to the College Football Playoff six consecutive seasons from 2015 through 2020 with four national championship game appearances. His career record is 170-43. For all of that and more, Swinney is in the conversation for a place on college football’s Mount Rushmore of coaching.

But as NIL and the transfer portal became more prominent in college football, Swinney’s success has declined. After that last CFP appearance, Swinney has gone 10-3, 11-3, and 9-4, with no final rankings in the Top 10.

Swinney strongly believes that his players should have the full college experience, which includes getting a degree and building relationships that last a lifetime. He is known for working with his players in recruiting to ensure that Clemson gets “Our Kind of Guys.”

Offsetting that is Swinney’s distaste for the portal and NIL and his previous warnings that they would destroy the game as we know it. And with Clemson losing its cache as a national power, Swinney has been under greater scrutiny and criticism. 

Tampering With Dabo World 

If there is one specific factor that triggers Dabo Swinney about the new ways of college football, it is tampering. On December 7, 2023, Swinney told ESPN that tampering is the biggest problem facing the game.

"The problem is tampering," Swinney said, “And we could fix it easily if they'd let football people fix it. But they usually don't listen to us. Rosters are not the same because of the portal, because of the trend of guys not playing, and you can get in a bad spot pretty quick,"

Swinney has called for tougher penalties against tampering but lamented the NCAA's apparent lack of interest in stricter enforcement. On February 8, 2024, another story surfaced in The State, in which it was said that a Clemson player was offered $200,000 to leave.

Tampering stands against everything Swinney believes in regarding honor, sportsmanship, and what should be the ethics of college sports. For that, he has won millions of devoted admirers. 

Using the Portal Until He Wasn’t 

On April 1, 2024, Dabo Swinney was quoted in The Tiger that he would be using the portal.

“After putting more thought into it and many late-night discussions with my staff, I am finally giving in to the fans. I will be using the portal,” Swinney said. “I know this puts a smile on Tyler from Spartanburg’s face. It is my duty as the coach of Clemson football to do anything to keep this program at the top of college football, and I feel like this adjustment will do just that. If wearing a G-string means we win another championship, I’ll be a Victoria’s Secret model.”

While the quotes were hopeful, self-deprecating, and humorous, they did not amount to much in the end. For its current portal class ranking, Clemson ranked in the middle of the pack (mid-50s).

Indeed, Swinney is a Clemson Tiger who is not about to change his stripes. 

Signs of Optimism 

Swinney has embraced the expanded College Football Playoff as a new factor in college football. He believes Clemson will be one of the 12 teams that qualify in 2024.

In a recent appearance on Sirius XM, Swinney said, “We went in the final four. I think we had the second-most appearances. I think we went six years in a row and got the second-most wins. We’ve proven we can do it with four, so we definitely feel like that with 12 or 16 or wherever it’s going to end up that we’re a playoff-caliber team, and you get in the playoffs, anything can happen.”

In the relatively weak ACC, Swinney’s boast could well come true.

Equally important, most national recruiting services have Swinney’s 2025 class ranked inside the Top 5. With the 2024 class ranked outside the Top 10, the current class is much more like Swinney’s great championship hauls of the past. 

The Non-Nicktator 

Nick Saban would often grumble about the rapidly changing ways of college football during his tenure as the GOAT of coaching. He was selective about his ethics based on what he needed to do to stay successful. But the devil must be given his due. Nobody in history could match Saban for his ability to adapt to every change thrown at him as the Alabama coach.

When Saban retired, Swinney embarrassingly was never considered for the Alabama job despite being an alum and former Crimson Tide player with one of the best coaching records in the game's history. It was his stubborn refusal to get up to speed with today's realities that cost him the opportunity for an interview, not that he was actively seeking the job. 

Swinney's admirers love Dabo for being Dabo. They love his idealism. They love his refusal to live a lie and capitulate to the things that many fans believe are ruining the fabric of the game they love. Even those who are not fans of Clemson pull hard for Dabo as a courageous voice of sanity and reason. To them, Swinney represents the way things ought to be in college football.

Although it is not perfect, Dabo World still claims millions of proud citizens. Dabo and his fans see better days ahead. For the sake of college football, let’s hope they are right.

This article first appeared on Mike Farrell Sports and was syndicated with permission.

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