ACC Media Days are this week, and there’s been some drama between Clemson coach Dabo Swinney and ESPN’s Paul Finebaum. On a recent show, Finebaum insinuated that Swinney was never in consideration for the coaching job at his alma mater Alabama, and the two have engaged in verbal sparring since then. The one thing that the radio host is right about is the Tigers’ current decline: “[Swinney’s] relevance in the sport continues to dissipate with each new season”. The head coach has sabotaged his own program by not using the transfer portal to its full potential, and that directly impacted on-field performance. What’s worse is that he may have closed the national championship window too.
A Lack Of Transfers And Success Have Plagued Dabo Swinney And Clemson
Swinney has historically avoided using the transfer portal to build Clemson’s roster in an effort to preserve program culture. The argument is sound, but there is so much roster churn with NIL that it’s supremely difficult to keep talent away from schools like Ohio State and Georgia. The Tigers have changed their philosophy for 2026, as they brought in a program-high ten transfers from the portal to plug the holes in the roster. Despite this change, the average college football team brings in 15-25 transfers per year, so it’s fair to wonder if Clemson has done enough to be competitive in the ACC.
Ever since NIL was introduced in college football in 2021, Swinney and the Tigers haven’t been among college football’s elite. The program has averaged four losses per season in that span, including an opening round loss in the College Football Playoff in 2024. The fear of using the transfer portal set Clemson back as a program, to the point where the head coach allegedly wasn’t even in consideration for the job at Alabama. The team’s wounds were self-inflicted, and created a wide-open ACC as a result.
The decline of Clemson also has ramifications for the rest of the league. Miami (FL) made the national championship game last season, but the team lost a substantial amount of talent and isn’t positioned to be a perennial contender yet. It’ll be years until Florida State returns to college football’s elite, and the UNC-Bill Belichick experiment looks like a total flop. Of the new additions to the ACC, SMU may be the most consistent program, but doesn’t have the top-shelf resources that the bluebloods of the conference have. The Tigers’ downfall made the league worse, setting up a potential breakup with the conference in 2031 when the exit fee is $75 million.
With Swinney’s inability to fully commit to utilizing the transfer portal, the national championship window may already be closed for Clemson. The team can’t possibly compete with the elites of the Big Ten and SEC, who aren’t afraid to leverage every advantage they have. After a mediocre 2025 campaign, fans will be hoping the Tigers will learn the right lessons from the decline. Unfortunately, the program might be riding off of their past successes until it hits rock bottom.
