Dabo Swinney's buyout, contract details as Clemson football coach

Dabo Swinney will almost certainly pick the exact moment when he finally leaves Clemson as its most accomplished football coach, but a vocal portion of the fan base is already calling for his job after a miserable start to the 2025 season.

Clemson was touted as the consensus favorite to win the ACC title and return to the College Football Playoff this season, but some surprising early losses have resurrected a long-time criticism around Swinney’s perceived reluctance to get with the times, especially around his use of the transfer portal.

But while an increasing number of fans may want to entertain parting ways with Swinney and starting over, the school may be disinclined to take that chance given how much money they would have to dole out. Let’s take a look at the numbers.

Dabo Swinney contract, buyout details at Clemson

Swinney signed a 10-year contract extension worth $115 million at Clemson in 2021 that runs through the end of the 2031 season, making him one of college football’s highest-paid coaches.

Swinney’s buyout after the 2025 season would be $60 million before dropping marginally to $57 million in 2026.

From 2027 onwards, the buyout is the complete remaining salary left on the contract.

Clemson can pay the buyout in regular installments through the life of the contract, through 2031, or can pay it in full within 90 days of Swinney being terminated.

The deal contains no offset language if Swinney were to take another coaching job.

That is simply a huge amount of money for even a program of Clemson’s caliber and resources to have to pay out in order to get rid of a football coach.

That money would be on top of any incoming Swinney replacement who would likely command something in the neighborhood of $10 million per season, too.

The only way Clemson would likely entertain an investment of that kind to pay someone to not coach its football team is in the event of a complete catastrophe on the field.

Swinney has been defiant in the face of the criticism, reminding fans about his record at Clemson and reminding them of the program’s failures before his arrival, and even appeared to dare the school to fire him if they’re, in his words, “tired of winning.”

“Hey, listen, if Clemson’s tired of winning, they can send me on my way, but I’m going somewhere else to go somewhere else and coach,” Swinney said after the loss to Georgia Tech last week.

“I ain’t going to the beach. Hell, I’m 55. I got a long way to go. Y’all going to have to deal with me for a while. I got a long way to go. I’m just getting going. I’m just now good enough to be a head coach. I’m just now figuring it out. So we’ll be around a while. Let’s hang in there.”

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