Why Clemson’s Dabo Swinney is (and isn’t) a great fit for Alabama

Alabama football coach Dabo Swinney?

People in and around the sport are considering that possibility after Nick Saban’s Wednesday announcement he was retiring after 17 seasons coaching the Crimson Tide — and a rush of national reports mentioning Swinney, Clemson’s longtime coach, as a projected candidate to replace him.

Swinney, 54, has not yet been formally linked to the job.

Washington coach Kalen DeBoer, Ole Miss coach Lane Kiffin, Texas coach Steve Sarkisian and Florida State coach Mike Norvell have also been mentioned as possibilitiescandidates to replace Saban, who won six national championships with Alabama. Oregon coach Dan Lanning, considered perhaps the No. 1 candidate, announced Thursday he’d be staying put in Eugene.

Neither Swinney nor Graham Neff, Clemson’s athletic director, has commented publicly on reports floating Swinney’s name as a candidate for Alabama. Clemson’s president, Jim Clements, told The State on Thursday that “Dabo is our guy” but declined to reveal whether he’d directly spoken with Swinney about the opening or if he was worried the coach would leave.

As Alabama’s coaching search ramps up, here’s a closer look at why a potential Swinney-Alabama pairing would make sense … and why it wouldn’t.

Pro: Dabo’s Alabama ties

Of all the prominent coaches being mentioned for the Alabama job, no one has stronger ties to the program — or the state of Alabama at large — than Swinney.

He’s a native of Pelham, Alabama, about 30 minutes from Birmingham, and walked onto the Crimson Tide football team in 1989 as a wide receiver. He earned three varsity letters with Alabama from 1990-92 and was part of the Crimson Tide’s 1992 national championship team.

Swinney also began his coaching career at Alabama, starting there as a graduate assistant in 1993 and working in various roles through 2000, primarily as a wide receivers coach, before being fired during a staff change. He wound up at Clemson in 2003 and has never left.

But Swinney’s never forgotten his roots. He references his time in Alabama frequently in news conferences. It’s where he persevered through a tough childhood, where he met his wife, where he got his first taste of college football and where he crossed paths with Gene Stallings, the legendary Alabama coach who remains a lifelong friend and mentor of Swinney’s.

Pro: Championship experience

In terms of track record, Swinney also offers an elite résumé. He’s led Clemson to two national championships in 2016 and 2018, toppling Saban-led Alabama teams in both of those games, and is the all-time winningest coach in Tigers history at 170-43 (79.81% winning percentage).

Among Swinney’s other accomplishments in building up Clemson: six consecutive College Football Playoff appearances from 2015-20 and two other national championship game appearances; eight ACC championships; 12 total bowl wins, more than any coach in ACC history; and the second most wins by a coach through their first 15 seasons in FBS history.

Pro: Big name, big money

Swinney is widely regarded as one of the faces of the sport and an excellent recruiter, the type of established coach Alabama, with its program history, could take a big swing at. The Crimson Tide could likely match or exceed Swinney’s current salary ($10.75 million), considering Saban made over $11 million his last year at Alabama.

Amid Clemson’s 9-4 season in 2023, Swinney also had a few prominent rants directed toward the Tigers fan base for lacking an appreciation for how hard it is to win in the sport. That led a handful of national talking heads to speculate if Swinney might be looking for a fresh start (he was mentioned as a candidate for the Texas A&M job that went to Duke’s Mike Elko late last year).

Con: Clemson’s current trend

Another train of thought surrounding Swinney and Alabama: If Saban retired, say, five years ago or three years ago, Swinney would be a clear-cut No. 1 candidate. But, given how the past few seasons have gone, perhaps that thinking has changed on the Alabama side.

The Tigers haven’t fallen off a cliff, but from 2021-23 they haven’t exactly played at the elite level they did during the early years of the CFP era. Clemson was 10-3 in 2021, 11-3 in 2022 and 9-4 in 2023 (its worst record since 2010, when the Tigers went 6-7 in Swinney’s second full year).

Clemson has missed three consecutive College Football Playoffs and is five years removed from its last national title at the conclusion of the 2018 season, which has prompted questions about the Tigers’ standing in an evolving college football world.

Con: NIL and transfer portal

Swinney, an admitted traditionalist, has not leaned into certain aspects of the sports like other coaches. Clemson does not lead with name, image and likeness (NIL) in its recruitment of top prospects, though the university does have an extensive NIL program and a standalone facility. Swinney and the Tigers also stay away from “pay for play” NIL inducements for recruits.

Clemson has also used the transfer portal minimally since the NCAA, in 2021, allowed every athlete to transfer once and be immediately eligible at their new school. Since the portal became an undeniable part of roster management in the sport, the Tigers have only used it to add two backup quarterbacks: Hunter Johnson for 2022 and Paul Tyson for the 2023 season.

After a disappointing 2023 season, in which Clemson started No. 9 in the AP preseason Top 25 but spent most of the year unranked amid a 4-4 start, Swinney’s program hit the portal much harder than usual and offered scholarships to a number of offensive line prospects.

But all of them ended up committing to other schools, leaving Clemson with zero portal commitments to date this recruiting cycle. The Tigers are the only program ranked inside the 247Sports Top 25 team rankings for the 2024 recruiting class with zero transfer additions.

A combination of Clemson’s recent struggles and Swinney’s preferences on roster management — prioritizing high school players and development over the portal, not leading with NIL — could be a sticking point in his potential Alabama candidacy. Saban was praised for his adaptability in those two realms, as well as modernizing his traditional ground-and-pound offense as the college game sped up around him, during his tenure.

Con: Alabama clause in contract

Clemson’s longtime coach also has an “Alabama clause” in his current contract that heightens the buyout he and/or his new school must pay if he leaves the Tigers for another coaching gig. If Swinney leaves for Alabama, his buyout is 1.5 times higher for Alabama than any other school. For 2024, that buyout is $7.5 million (versus $5 million for any other college job).

Finally, Swinney exists as a sort of “love him or hate him” figure in college football. For better or for worse, most fans and observers of the sport have firm opinions on Clemson’s coach, who has spoken candidly on just about any topic — football or otherwise — throughout his career.

Some Alabama fans even demonstrated their displeasure in the possibility of Swinney being targeted as the Crimson Tide’s next coach in a now-viral social media video by chanting “Anyone but Dabo! Anyone but Dabo!” on Wednesday night.