Love him or hate him, Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney is certainly unique.
Sure, he may rub some people the wrong way with his approach, but the man is one hell of a football coach.
However, many feel like his trademark stubbornness and unwillingness to adapt to the new world of college football will end up dooming him in the big picture.
Swinney has been quite outspoken about his concerns over NIL and the transfer portal.
While there are undoubtedly some coaches who agree with many of his stances, some are most likely afraid to speak publicly about them.
With recruiting as fierce than ever, many coaches are scared of rubbing potential recruits the wrong way.
Fair or unfair, the long line of Swinney critics stretches around the block.
You can count ESPN’s Paul Finebaum as one of these many critics.
Appearing on “McElroy & Cubelic In The Morning,” Finebaum took his doom and gloom approach on Swinney a step further and predicted that big trouble lies ahead for the polarizing Tigers coach.
“It is catching up to him as we speak,” Finebaum said, referring to Swinney’s lack of interest in 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.”
Swinney’s reluctance to heavily utilize the transfer portal has been evident, with Clemson being the only non-service academy FBS program not to land a single transfer this offseason.
In a recent interview on SiriusXM Radio, Swinney defended his approach to the portal.
“There’s three types of players in the portal. I mean, it’s really pretty simple. Most of the guys in the portal aren’t good enough to play for us. That’s just the reality of it,” Swinney said.
“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.
“And so, we’d rather take a good high school player, as long as we can get him, and develop him,” Swinney concluded.
Despite Swinney’s rationale, Finebaum believes this approach is insufficient for Clemson to regain its former status as one of the top programs in college football.
“He is falling so far behind. 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,” Finebaum said.
“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.”
Clemson’s decline in performance over the past three seasons is notable.
After a dominant run from 2015 to 2020, where they lost only seven games, the Tigers have dropped 10 games over the last three years alone.
Last season, they suffered four losses under Swinney for the first time in over a decade.
It should be noted that this is far from the first time that Finebaum has went after Swinney…
What are your thoughts on Swinney and his approach to the transfer portal?
Do you agree with Finebaum that Clemson’s days as a truly elite program have come to an end?
If so, is Swinney solely to blame? … Are his days as the Tigers head coach numbered?
Or do you think Dabo is going to shut all the haters up and take Clemson back to the top of the college football mountain???