From 2011 to 2022, you would have been hard-pressed to find a college football program that was more consistent than the Clemson Tigers. Thanks to Dabo Swinney, they were able to rattle off 12 consecutive 10+ win seasons throughout that same time span, and up until this current season, the Tigers had enjoyed a place in the national rankings for the last 14 years.
Advertisement
Unfortunately for the ACC giants, those days are far behind us. It’s 2025 now, and Clemson is holding a 1-3 record. The criticisms have never been louder, especially for Swinney, but the veteran head coach isn’t having any of it.
“If you’re tired of winning, then send me on down the way, cause that’s all we’ve done, win,” Swinney snapped during his most recent trip to the post-game podium. Nevertheless, many, including Cam Newton, are beginning to wonder if his time in the sun is almost over.
“It seems like we’ve got an individual that’s staying in the past, and brother, oh brother, times have most definitely changed,” Newton remarked on the latest episode of his budding 4th & 1 podcast. According to the former Carolina Panther, Swinney’s “stubbornness” is more than likely to blame for the program’s sudden fall off.
“The struggles that Dabo Swinney have does not come from one particular issue, it’s a multitude of things. It’s a combination of stubbornness, the inability and unwillingness to change with the times. Two, you’ve got roster challenges, which also go back to your stubbornness. Three, how the college football landscape has changed, and it goes back to your stubbornness… There ain’t no way that Clemson should be struggling the way that Clemson is struggling.”
In the eyes of the former MVP award winner, Swinney’s refusal to get with the times highlights the stark contrast between older coaches and newer coaches. In referring to Swinney’s decision to “build from within,” Newton surmised that this mentality that Swinney and Clemson used to live by is now the same one that they will be forced to die by as well. He added coaches like Fran Brown has got “a lot of relatability for Gen Z players.”
The transfer portal and NIL dealings have opened things up like never before. They are now commonplace tools for the majority of successful programs. In other words,
“The issue with Clemson is they don’t got a lot of wide receiver talent, man… At one point in time, Clemson was labeled as ‘Wide Receiver U’ back in the day… But not here, not this day and age. And that’s a testament to what? Dabo’s inability to change with the teams. But this isn’t where we beat up on Dabo, this is where we acknowledge that, if you don’t change, you get left behind.”
Even though Clemson won’t be seeing the playoffs this year, they can still do well by bearing down for the remainder of the season prior to making some necessary changes in 2026. Until then, however, they’d be well advised to follow Newton’s advice and simply choose to “turn the page.”
