ESPN's Paul Finebaum doesn't have a whole lot of love for Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney, particularly amid the Tigers' decline from perennial top-4 program to one that ended last year unranked. But after some recent comments from Swinney, Finebaum couldn't help but go off on him.
During ACC Media Days, Swinney took time to remind everyone how successful he's been at Clemson, remarking on all of his winning seasons and conference titles over the past 15 years. He declared that he's defied expectations of being on the chopping block and will continue to do so.
“You know, we’ve had 15 winning seasons, 13 ten-plus win seasons, 14 nine-plus win seasons,” Swinney said. “We’ve won 11 championships in the last 15 years, and then you have a season like last year, and that’s kind of what everybody wants to focus on, and I get that. We earned that.
“This year, ain’t none of y’all going to pick us. Ain’t none of y’all going to say anything good about us. I’ve been dead. I’m gone. I think I’m still here, all right? But it’s not about that either. It never has been. If it was about what people predicted, I would have been gone a long time ago. All right? It’s about what you do. That’s what it’s about. You know, we didn’t do the football stuff well enough last year. You know, we got everything we need. We don’t make any excuses. We’re going to get what we earn this year. That’s what we’re focused on, doing what it takes to earn the results that we want.”
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What Finebaum Said
Appearing on Friday's edition of Get Up, Finebaum said that he's gotten "exasperated" from listening to Swinney talk about his past accomplishments. Finebaum called Swinney "stuck on stupid" for trying to convince football people that his program is still great despite the Tigers' recent struggles.
“I am getting so exasperated listening to Dabo tell us how great he used to be. They’re not great anymore. You don’t hear [Tom] Brady talking about his Super Bowls. Dabo is just stuck on stupid right now trying to convince us that his program is still legitimate. It’s not. It’s slipping and sliding away. It’s good. Maybe they’ll win nine games this year or maybe they won’t. But, they lost six games last year with the Heisman favorite. That is downright embarrassing," Finebaum said, via On3.
Since 2021, Clemson hasn't had a losing season, but has gone from great to just above average.
The team has had records of 10-3, 11-3, 9-4, 10-4 and most recently a mere 7-6 - their worst record since 2010. While they did win two ACC titles during that span and had four top-25 finishes between 2021 and 2024, the struggles of 2025 are just too tough to ignore.
Swinney can certainly turn things around but it would take a ton of changes on his part that he may not be ready to accept.
