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Justin Williams: With Clemson no longer a perennial title contender, where does that leave Dabo Swinney’s program?

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CLEMSON, S.C. — Just outside the Clemson football practice facility is an area dubbed The Graveyard. Nestled beneath a towering willow oak, it’s home to almost 50 literal headstones, crowded together, each commemorating Clemson’s road and neutral-site victories over ranked opponents that date to 1948. Head coach Dabo Swinney has accounted for 27 of those markers over the course of his 18-year tenure, one that includes nine conference titles, seven College Football Playoff appearances and a pair of national championships in 2016 and 2018.

But on a sun-splashed morning in late September, just a few yards from the graveyard, Swinney described his job performance as “an absolute coaching failure.” “That’s the best way I can say it,” Swinney added. “This team, this moment, we have failed.” Clemson was 1-3 at the time, continuing a concerning habit of slow starts in recent seasons. A few weeks later, the Tigers are now 3-4, their conference title and Playoff hopes obliterated before Halloween. A team with national championship aspirations is playing for pride and, at best, a spot in the Pop-Tarts Bowl.

That’s a disappointing reality check for any program with high-end resources and higher hopes. But this is Clemson. And Dabo. A program and coach that have become synonymous, the proverbial sleeping giant that Swinney woke up. He’s one of only two active coaches with multiple national championships. He also hasn’t won one in six years (going on seven), and hasn’t really sniffed one since 2020. At a program that not only invests in and expects to compete for titles, but also has actually won them, that’s an eternity.

It’s why Clemson has found itself at a similar crossroads the past few seasons, a good team chasing greatness. But at what point does a crossroads become a crisis? Is Clemson’s run as a perennial title contender dead and buried? Despite entering the season at No. 4, the team faceplanted out of the starting blocks with losses to LSU, Georgia Tech and Syracuse sandwiched around an unencouraging comeback over Troy. Each game exposed a talented, veteran roster as disjointed and… average. Painfully average.

Quarterback Cade Klubnik, a senior and preseason Heisman Trophy favorite, made freshman mistakes, missing reads and turning the ball over. A defense loaded with projected NFL Draft picks has been bullied. Clemson did bounce back with road wins over lowly North Carolina and Boston College, outscoring them by a combined 79-20. But in a home rematch of the 2024 ACC championship last Saturday against SMU, and with Klubnik sidelined by an ankle injury, the Tigers lost 35-24.

“There’s a bunch of holes in the ship. It’s not just one gaping hole,” said Darien Rencher, a former running back on the Tigers’ last two national championship teams. “We’re definitely not playing to the standard.”

Swinney, 55, remains one of the sport’s preeminent coaches, with the personality to match. Even on this side of the titles and the Tigers’ ascension, he’s still that same try-hard wide receiver who famously walked on at Alabama. The same 30-something interim with no chance to land the Clemson job, but who still hasn’t left. The same folksy originator of the “Bring Your Own Guts” mentality, who charmed every family room recruiting visit and never met a news conference question he couldn’t expound on for minutes at a time.

All of it has engendered haters and admirers alike, but what’s clear is that Swinney is adding fewer headstones to The Graveyard these days. Now, after the worst start of his career, with the program rutted in this new era of big-money name, image and likeness contracts and dispersed player talent that threatens to make Nick Saban-esque dynasties a thing of the past, the question for Clemson is: Does Dabo have another revival in him?

Last month’s “coaching failure” mea culpa was a notable shift in tone from a few weeks prior, following the early loss to Georgia Tech, when Swinney defiantly declared: “If Clemson’s tired of winning, they can send me on my way.”

It was some pent-up frustration from a coach who, to be fair, has done a whole lot of winning and is paid like it, earning nearly $11.5 million this season, which ranks fourth in college football according to USA Today. It wasn’t the first time things boiled over — remember the “Tyler from Spartanburg” spat in 2023? (The reason Swinney’s weekly radio show no longer takes live questions on-air.) But that frustration cuts both ways.

The Tigers have lost four of their past five season openers, including 2-2 starts in 2021 and 2023 and a blowout loss to Georgia in 2024. Clemson recovered to win at least nine games in each of those prior seasons, including squeezing out an improbable ACC title and CFP spot in 2024, but it’s been a considerable drop-off from the four national championship appearances from 2015 to 2019. And this year has been the most disappointing of the bunch.

But despite Swinney’s huffy ultimatum, his job status is not in question — program sources confirmed as much, finding the question unnecessary. They, like others interviewed for this story, spoke on the condition of anonymity in exchange for candor. Swinney is as bulletproof as any other coach in the game, and not just because of his $60 million buyout.

Still, he operates in a world where Penn State, which reached the national semifinals last season, went from the No. 3 team in the country to firing coach James Franklin in the span of two weeks, while on the hook for a $45 million buyout. Nearly every week, another high-profile coach is getting fired, or an athletic director is compelled to put out a statement explaining why a change isn’t being made.

Now more than ever, money steers the ship of college athletics, with football at the bow. And on this picturesque campus in upstate South Carolina, sterling athletics buildings and new-money construction projects are tucked around every corner, with more than $350 million poured into facilities over the past decade. Clemson reported athletics revenues north of $190 million in fiscal year 2024, with nearly $90 million coming from the football program. In 2023, the athletic department received a record $135 million in donations.

Much of that growth is directly attributed to what Swinney achieved over the past two decades.

Clemson fans, including deep-pocketed stakeholders, aren’t tired of winning. They’re tired, fair or not, of the shortcomings at such a resource-rich program, particularly those that feel stubborn and self-inflicted. It was no coincidence that Swinney’s subsequent media appearances have been more contrite and accountable.

“It starts with me,” he said on Sept. 30.

Those resources include a massive staff that features two highly paid coordinators in Garrett Riley (offense) and Tom Allen (defense). But neither of those hires nor their immediate predecessors have matched the glory days of Tony Elliott (offense) and Brent Venables (defense) commanding top-five units on championship teams. Swinney also has multiple family members and numerous former players on staff, which is not uncommon, but the type of thing that draws the ire of fans when a team struggles.

Swinney has described the team’s issues this season as “football stuff,” yet so much of the angst directed at the head coach stems from his off-field hesitancy to fully embrace the transfer portal and NIL era. It may not be a coincidence that Clemson has slipped from the ranks of annual contenders since 2020, the season before NIL compensation was approved — though losing star quarterback Trevor Lawrence to the NFL in 2021 and, a year later, Venables and Elliott to head roles at Oklahoma and Virginia didn’t help.

Clemson has been the most transfer portal-averse program in the FBS outside of the service academies. Swinney did add a trio of transfers to the 2025 roster, including former Purdue defensive end Will Heldt, who currently leads the team in sacks. It’s the most Swinney has brought on in a single offseason, and a nod to an evolving philosophy.

Swinney has also been critical of what he’s described as a “pay-for-play” NIL landscape, even as he and the Tigers have been proactive about player retention. Clemson is distributing the full revenue-share cap under the House v. NCAA settlement, and program sources confirmed to The Athletic that players such as Klubnik and defensive linemen Peter Woods and T.J. Parker are bringing in significant NIL dollars.

“The alignment that we have here at Clemson from the Board of Trustees through the President and into athletics is a differentiator for us,” athletic director Graham Neff told The Athletic via a statement. “Athletics is important here, and we’ve always been focused on how we can put our programs in position for long-term, sustained success on and off the field. At the same time, we always need to have a look around the corner at what’s next to be nimble and decisive.”

Swinney’s strategy is to value continuity and build from within, so Clemson didn’t expect to need many outside reinforcements, with 17 returning starters this season and the highest rate of returning production in the country. Only it hasn’t played out that way. Klubnik underwhelmed particularly during the 1-3 start, when he completed just 60.1 percent of his passes for six touchdowns and four interceptions.

An opposing personnel director who faced Clemson this season told The Athletic that Klubnik looked rattled by pressure. An NFL scout said the quarterback was pressing, trying to hit a home run every play rather than make a simple, safe decision. Klubnik, who did shine in the wins over North Carolina and Boston College, disagreed with the pressing critique, instead citing missed opportunities. “Executing fundamentals, we’ve really got to fine-tune those,” he said. “We all have to be better. That starts with me leading guys and playing good.” But the problems run deeper.

A defense stocked with expected future NFL players has given up 350-plus yards in all four losses, including 433 to Syracuse and 429 to SMU, both at home. The outcome may have been different against the Mustangs if Klubnik were healthy, but backup Christopher Vizzina still threw for 317 yards with three touchdowns, zero interceptions and one fumble. It was neutralized by the team’s 35 yards rushing and a defense that allowed three touchdown plays of 20-plus yards, including a 70-yarder, and three drives of 10-plus plays.

Xavier Thomas, a former Clemson edge rusher now with the Arizona Cardinals, tweeted after the loss to Syracuse, “At this point, it’s not even an upset anymore,” and later added: “Not once would I ever [or] have ever spoke down on Dabo. But, the Standard will always be the Standard, & it’s not being upheld.”

Following that 34-21 loss to Syracuse on Sept. 20 — the Tigers’ worst home loss against an unranked opponent since 2001 — an emotional Swinney stood before the crowd at Memorial Stadium for the customary singing of the alma mater. “I’ve invested my life here, and when I don’t get the job done, I’m responsible,” Swinney said afterward. “I feel the pain. Not just my pain — I feel everybody’s pain. That comes with my job, and I don’t run from that.”

Answers have been hard to come by. The recruiting rankings have dipped since the championship run, though the Tigers still average third in the ACC and 18th nationally over the past four cycles, according to 247Sports, and the current roster ranks seventh overall in the 2025 talent composite rankings. Yet for all the talk about returning production and a veteran roster, this team could have benefited from a larger infusion of transfer talent.

“There are some guys on the team that I don’t particularly think would be on a Clemson championship-caliber team,” said Eric Mac Lain, an ACC Network analyst and former Clemson offensive lineman. “Let’s go out and get a game-wrecker with that scholarship instead of some of this charity work. You can’t tell me there’s not four or five guys in the portal that wouldn’t have loved to come to Clemson and been really dynamic pieces.”

Mac Lain still believes Swinney will return the Tigers to championship glory. Others question whether Swinney’s bouncy, BYOG persona still resonates. Clemson’s four losses match the totals from 2023 and 2024, and are tied for the most since 2010. The team has already lost three games at home, two to ACC opponents, both of which are the most since Swinney took over midway through the 2008 season.

The opposing personnel director told The Athletic the Tigers were “flat” to start the first few games. It was the same against SMU, when the team punted on four of its first five possessions and fumbled on the other. “They were sleepwalking through some first halves,” said the personnel director. “I’m not saying fire Dabo. But maybe Dabo’s message had gotten stale?”

Results aside, there are no signs that Swinney has lost the locker room. Cornerback Avieon Terrell, another of those projected high-end draft picks on the defense, came over to join his head coach during the post-Syracuse alma mater, putting his arm around him. “Tough time. I wanted to go to my coach and just let him know I’m here. I love coach Swinney,” Terrell said of that moment.

“The coaches have great game plans; they put us in position to win. We just have to go execute,” said fifth-year center Ryan Linthicum. “It falls on all of us.” Swinney, while acknowledging that this season hasn’t been up to snuff, remains steadfast. “Big picture, our program is great. Our program is built right,” said Swinney. “Something good will come from this. I always say the soil is fertile in the valley.”

Rejuvenation will require more than platitudes and assurances. Swinney’s teams have a history of improving as a season progresses. Perhaps Klubnik will get healthy and return to the form he flashed in the two blowout victories, and the defense will finally play to its potential. A road trip to No. 19 Louisville is the toughest remaining matchup. Regardless of how this season ends, it will fall well short of expectations.

That should be reason enough for Swinney and the Tigers to make distinct changes this offseason. A bigger onus on the transfer portal is obvious. As for coaching, what, if anything, is holding back those highly compensated coordinators? Swinney has given no indication he intends to walk away: “I promise you, though, I’ve never worked harder, and I’m going to continue to do everything I can,” he said after the loss to SMU.

Yet lifting Clemson back to what it was will be a unique challenge. In the past 40 years, no coach has gone longer than six seasons between winning national titles. Not Bobby Bowden. Not Urban Meyer. Not Nick Saban. Swinney is already past that window. The last to do it was Barry Switzer, who went 10 years between his second and third titles at Oklahoma in 1975 and 1985.

“We’ll be back. We’ll win more championships, I promise you that,” said Swinney. “May not happen this year, but we’re going to win more championships.” If so, it means a coach who built his reputation by defying the odds will have to do it again.

 

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