Clemson football: Is Dabo Swinney ever happy with the state of college football?

Clemson football coach Dabo Swinney says college football is not in a good state right now.

From NIL, to the transfer portal, to the countless revolutions on the coaching carousel, Clemson football head coach Dabo Swinney does not believe college football is in a good spot presently.

“College football is not in a good place for a lot of reasons,” said Swinney. “There’s a lot of change going on, and I think some unintended consequences with that. At the end of the day, we’ll figure it all out as we move forward for sure. There’s a lot of things in college football right now that I think we’ll look five years from now and, and hopefully things will settle down a little bit.”

Clemson is gearing up for the Cheez-It Bowl vs. Iowa State in Orlando. While neither the Tigers or the Cyclones lived up to lofty expectations this season, Swinney essentially whining at the podium is not a good look. It was a tough year for Clemson, and that stinks, but the Tigers have to pick up the pieces. It all starts with finding the right hire to replace defensive coordinator Brent Venables.

Clemson football head coach Dabo Swinney is disappointed in college football

While Swinney’s displeasure of the transfer portal is well-documented, that’s not going away anytime soon, as it is a manner to combat coaches leaving programs behind on a whim. Though the coaching carousel is getting a tad ridiculous, we are seeing the unintended consequences of what happens by moving up Early Signing Day to mid-December. Coaches are on the move.

Ultimately, this comes down to the very simple premise of adapt of die. Clemson has been the preeminent program in the ACC throughout the College Football Playoff era. Though it could continue, it might also be changing, especially with Mario Cristobal taking over his alma mater’s program in the ACC Coastal. Miami will be a challenge in a few years, but these things take time.

Regardless of how Miami builds under Cristobal, how Clemson responds to losing its longtime defensive coordinator could change the trajectory of the program. Venables had been an institution on that side of the ball throughout the Swinney era. Replacing him will be so difficult. If Clemson makes the right hire and dips into the transfer portal, the Tigers should be back to good.

Without question, this is the most important offseason Clemson will have in well over a decade.

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