Where this ESPN analyst ranks Dabo Swinney among 2025 college football coaches |
Brandon Rink
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- Thursday, March 27 2025
ESPN college football analyst Greg McElroy is "super-bullish" on Dabo Swinney's Tigers as a national championship contender, and he sees this season as a bellwether on Swinney's spot in the coaching rankings.
McElroy released his ranking on the top coaches for 2025, where he slotted Swinney at No. 7 overall. It's a list topped by Georgia's Kirby Smart, who is trailed by the most recent national title winner, Ohio State's Ryan Day. McElroy reviewed Swinney's stellar resume, which includes two national titles, seven Playoff appearances, 180 wins, and 10+ win seasons in 13 of the last 14 years (with AP Top 25 finishes in 14 straight). He addressed the typical critique of Clemson's roster management, but he offers a different perspective than some. "The big question about Dabo Swinney, though, in the modern day, is how adaptable has he been and will he be in the future in the NIL/transfer portal era," McElroy said. "I think Dabo Swinney might be doing it a bit differently than some of the other guys who will be ranked at the top of the list, but it doesn't mean that the way he is doing it is wrong. He's just looking at it more holistically. He's putting a greater emphasis on culture and a greater emphasis on retaining his top players as opposed to going out and stealing other teams' top players. "Now, they went and got in the portal a little bit this year. They added a receiver. They added a defensive end. They've added a few, but they're not going to ever be a team that majors in the portal. They might just minor in it, and it depends on what their team needs may be, and those portal additions may serve more from a depth standpoint and to allow some position flexibility that they didn't have prior to the arrival of some of those portal additions." McElroy refutes that Swinney has lost his fastball. "So I look at Dabo Swinney, and people will say, 'Not today, not anymore. He's lost a step.' I respectfully disagree," he said. "I just think Dabo Swinney believes what he believes, and for good reason, because he averages over 10 wins a season and has in his 17-year career as the head coach of the Clemson Tigers. I'm super-bullish on Clemson this year. If things go sideways, if things go off the rails and they don't have the success I anticipate this season -- I could see Dabo Swinney's ranking dropping significantly, but I think this is the year they've had circled. "This is the one they've been building towards, and this is the one where they very well could win the national championship for the first time in quite some time." McElroy 2025 CFB coaches ranking 1. Kirby Smart (UGA) More from the rankings podcast:
2. Ryan Day (OSU)
3. Steve Sarkisian (Tex)
4. Marcus Freeman (ND)
5. Dan Lanning (Ore)
6. Kalen DeBoer (Ala)
7. Dabo Swinney (CU)
8. Jeff Brohm (UofL)
9. Brian Kelly (LSU)
10. James Franklin (PSU)
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