Paul Finebaum's harsh criticism of Clemson's Dabo Swinney may be deserved

ESPN talking head Paul Finebaum has run out of patience with Clemson Tigers' head football coach Dabo Swinney.

Swinney had become a college football legend at Clemson, leading the Tigers to national championship wins in 2016 and 2018, but that's past glory.

College football is a "what have you done for me lately?" sport, and Finebaum has been clear this season that he believes Swinney has lost his touch at Clemson.

That's a "hot take" that's hard to argue with, too. The Tigers fell to 3-4 on the season with a 35-24 loss to SMU this past weekend. The Tigers started this 2025 season with a loss to No. 9 LSU while being ranked preseason No. 4 themselves. They've since gone on to lose to unranked Georgia Tech, unranked Syracuse and now, unranked SMU.

“What happened last year, when he had a pretty average season but managed to sneak into the playoffs by beating SMU on the final play of the game in the ACC Championship, was the outlier. The trend lines have been there.” Finebaum said on ESPN's "Get Up" (h/t On3). “He has really lost control of the program. Many people thought he had it back. A lot of people picked Clemson to win the title. He had [Cade] Klubnik, who was thought to be maybe the No. 1 draft choice. They lost that LSU game. It’s been straight downhill ever since."

Dabo Swinney and the Clemson Tigers are living in the past

The big issue with Swinney is that he's apparently not adapted well to the changes in college football. The recruiting trail is basically open 24/7 now, thanks to the prevalence of the transfer portal, and NIL money has basically created a free agency period every offseason.

Programs like Syracuse and Georgia Tech that used to be considered "second tier" can now literally buy better players for their rosters. 

Recruiting players who are unhappy with their current schools and getting them to transfer has become just as important as landing top recruits in high school, which is where Swinney has always stood out.

Swinney only brought in two players via the transfer portal in 2025, though, and his class was ranked No. 83 in the country. In the meantime, an ACC rival like Miami went out and brought in the No. 3-ranked transfer portal team in the country. Even after Miami's tough loss to Louisville this past weekend, the Hurricanes are still 5-1, ranked No. 9 in college football and considered one of the favorites to win the College Football Playoff.

The fact of the matter is that Swinney has been living in the past, and Clemson is struggling as a result.

“Dabo Swinney has gone to the well one too many times, trying to convince his fan base, ‘Hey, we played for four national championships. I have two. I can still do it again," Finebaum said. "There’s nobody that believes Dabo Swinney is ever going to win a national championship again at Clemson. This was his last shot.”

Swinney has been a tough coach to bet against throughout his career, but it's hard to argue with what Finebaum is saying.