Dabo Swinney has been the head coach of the Clemson Tigers football team since 2008 and has been the engine behind the program\u2019s transformation from a middle-of-the-road ACC team into a perennial national championship contender.<\/p>\n
However, Swinney has struggled to adapt<\/a> to a college football landscape where the transfer portal, NIL, and local courts seem to reign supreme, and it has been seven years since Clemson\u2019s last title. While Swinney\u2019s former rival turned ESPN analyst, former Alabama head coach Nick Saban, doesn\u2019t see the longtime Tigers coach bolting<\/a> for greener pastures after finishing last season just 7-6 and going 4-4 in ACC play, one of his colleagues at the Worldwide Leader is tired of hearing from Swinney about his program\u2019s past.<\/p>\n \u201cSomebody should dunk (Swinney) in that Raising Cane\u2019s sauce because I am getting so, just exasperated listening to Dabo tell us how great he used to be,\u201d Paul Finebaum said on Friday\u2019s episode of Get Up.<\/p>\n Paul Finebaum: \u201cI am getting so exasperated listening to [Dabo Swinney] tell us how great he used to be. They\u2019re not great anymore\u2026 Dabo is just stuck on stupid right now trying to convince us that [Clemson] is still legitimate. It\u2019s not\u2026\u201dpic.twitter.com\/da4WlTqAAP<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) July 17, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cThey\u2019re not great anymore. You don\u2019t hear Brady talking about his Super Bowls or LeBron or any of the great\u2014 I mean, Dabo is just stuck on stupid right now trying to convince us that his program is still legitimate. It\u2019s not.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s slipping and sliding away. It\u2019s good. Maybe they\u2019ll win 9 games this year. Maybe they won\u2019t. But they lost 6 games last year with the Heisman favorite. That is downright embarrassing.\u201d<\/p>\n Swinney and Clemson will open the 2026 campaign with one of the most anticipated games of the season in a clash with the LSU Tigers and new head coach Lane Kiffin, another head coach whom Finebaum has been highly critical of<\/a> as of late. Whoever wins will be well positioned for the type of season that could make the analyst walk back his criticism.<\/p>\n \t