Dabo Swinney takes shot at coaching carousel, state of college football

Dabo Swinney arrived at Clemson as the head football coach in 2008 and he’s built a powerhouse that has solidified itself as arguably the top program in the last decade, behind only Alabama.

When a team consistently makes runs a the national title, it feels odd when an average season comes along. Though Swinney’s Tigers didn’t cruise through the regular season, win the ACC and make the College Football Playoff, they closed out the year with a (9-3) overall record and a No. 19 overall ranking in the country.

After one of the wildest coaching carousels college football has seen, maybe ever, one reporter was curious to hear Swinney’s thoughts on it all.

In his press conference ahead of Clemson’s Cheez-It Bowl vs. Iowa. State, Dabo Swinney was asked “given what’s happening in college football right now, the money going around, is college football in a good place?”

“No,” Swinney responded

Without elaborating, the longtime Clemson head coach said there were several reasons he believes the sport is trending in the wrong direction.

“College football is not in a good place for a lot of reasons,” Swinney added.

“There’s a lot of change going on, and I think some unintended consequences with that. At the end of the day, we’ll figure it all out as we move forward for sure. There’s a lot of things in college football right now that I think we’ll look five years from now and, and hopefully things will settle down a little bit.”

What does Dabo Swinney mean, exactly?

It’s difficult to decipher exactly what Swinney is referring to in his response, particularly when part of the question referenced “the money that’s going around out there.”

In 2019, Clemson agreed to a 10-year, $93 million contract extension with Swinney that will keep him with the Tigers through the 2028 season. The new deal paid him $8.25 million in 2019, and increase incrementally up to $10 million in 2027 and 2028. It was the richest coaching contract in college football history at the time.

Like plenty of high-profile coaches, Dabo Swinney’s name has been thrown around for years when it comes to premier college, or even NFL job openings.

But with so much drama all season long, it’s clear the Clemson front man isn’t pleased with the direction of the sport.

A year that began with massive news about conference realignment ended —and it isn’t over yet—with unprecedented changes that nobody saw coming.

The sudden departure of Lincoln Riley from Oklahoma was stunning. Then came Brian Kelly shocking college football fans yet again, accepting the LSU opening,

Those were just the high-profile moves, but a domino effect occurred. Ultimately Dabo Swinney lost his longtime right-hand man and defensive coordinator Brent Venables, who accepted the head coaching role at Oklahoma, filling the void left by Riley

For now, as he’s always done, Swinney will prep his team for a tough task ahead.

While Dabo Swinney and the Clemson Tigers are in unfamiliar territory slated for a bowl matchup that isn’t leading toward a national title, it was announced that Iowa State will be their final test of the season.

The first-ever matchup between the two programs will kickoff on Dec. 29 at 5:45 p..m. ET on ESPN.