Clemson Tigers Football Coach Receives Surprisingly Low Rank Among Peers

The Clemson Tigers have had a busy offseason after a very successful campaign in 2024.

Last year, the Tigers were able to bounce back from a down year in 2023 with 10 wins and an ACC title.

While 2024 was a success, 2025 is shaping up to be potentially a great season for Clemson. Quarterback Cade Klubnik will be returning for his senior year, giving the Tigers a Heisman candidate at the most important position on the field.

Also, the talented quarterback will have his top three receivers back from last year, with star Antonio Williams also electing to come back for one more year.

Coach Dabo Swinney has done a great job building the program for the Tigers since being hired, but in a recent ranking of the best coaches in the country, he was shockingly left out of the Top 5.

Ari Wasserman of ON3.com recently ranked the Top 25 head coaches in college football. Shockingly Tigers head coach Dabo Swinney was ranked sixth with a couple of interesting names ahead of him. Wasserman highlights recency for Swinney being ranked where he is.

“Coaches like Swinney are what makes these lists difficult,” he said. “Do you go with the built-up equity of having two national titles or do you more heavily consider how the program has slid from prominence the last few years?”

Seeing someone with Swinney’s resume left out of the Top 5 in the rankings was shocking. Ahead of him in order were Kirby Smart, Ryan Day, Dan Lanning, Steve Sarkisian, and Marcus Freeman.

Aside from Smart, none of those other coaches have won a national title as a head coach in college football. Even though Clemson might not have been in a title game recently, Swinney has two national titles within the last decade and four appearances in the championship game overall.

While winning championships is the name of the game, Swinney also has only had one season in which Clemson hasn’t won 10 games since 2011. The consistency and title success of the Tigers should have had Swinney much higher on this list.

Seeing coaches that have never won a national title ahead of him is fairly ridiculous considering how well the program has performed over the last decade.

Even though Clemson might not have been in title contention within the last couple of years, that appears like it will be changing in 2025 with the roster that Swinney will have.

Overall, the ranking of sixth is far too low for Swinney. It is understandable to have Smart at No.1 with the success of the Georgia Bulldogs recently, but he shouldn’t be ranked below any of the other coaches who were ahead of him.