Clemson’s Dabo Swinney Falls in Head Coach Rankings

Tom Fornelli feels his colleagues failed when they casted their ballots for the top active head coaches in college football.

In case you did not see Fornelli’s story, the panel at CBS Sports ranked Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney No. 3 on the list behind Alabama’s Nick Saban and Georgia’s Kirby Smart.

“This is the worst ranking of the year and is nothing but recency bias,” he wrote.

Fornelli agreed that Smart should move up from his previous No. 7 ranking after leading the Bulldogs to last year’s national championship, but he should not have jumped Swinney.

“I don't mean this as disrespect to Smart, who took Swinney's spot at No. 2, but this is a failure by my fellow panelists,” Fornelli explains in the article.

“So, of course, Kirby climbs in the rankings. Every coach that has won a natty has,” he continued. “Ed Orgeron was in the top 10 a couple of seasons ago, too, and Smart shouldn’t be lower than No. 3 on anybody's ballot. But as I said already, he shouldn’t be ranked ahead of Swinney. Not yet, anyway. Even Kirby would agree with that.”

Fornelli has a point.

In the CFP era, only Saban (7 times) has taken his team to the CFP more than Swinney’s six appearances. Only Saban (6) has advanced to the CFP Championship Game more than Swinney’s four. And only Saban (3) has won more CFP National Championships than Swinney’s two.

Also, Alabama and Clemson are the only two programs to win at least 10 games every year since 2011. The Crimson Tide’s streak of 14 straight years began in 2008 and is tied with Florida State (1987-2000) for the all-time record. They have all come with Saban as the head coach.

The Tigers’ current streak of 11 straight 10-win seasons ranks behind those two on the all-time list, all coming under Swinney’s watch.

Yes, Smart did guide the Bulldogs to their first national championship since 1980 and that deserves to be rewarded. But as Fornelli pointed out, that one title should not jump him over Swinney, who has two national championships and a track record of longtime success that rivals Saban’s.