It's hard to believe that Dabo Swinney is closing in on 20 years at the helm of the Clemson football program, but the legendary head coach and future Hall of Famer has been there since 2008.
Since taking over at Clemson, Swinney has never had a losing record and since 2011, he's had just one season with fewer than 10 wins and that was just two seasons ago (2023). He's won two national titles, nine ACC titles, and has brought home countless coach of the year awards. Oh, and he's won 180 games which makes him the winningest head coach in Clemson history.
Dabo's run from 2015-2020 was one of the most dominant in college football history as he went 79-7 with two national championships and six ACC titles.
While he's fallen on "hard times" in recent years with one playoff berth and one season with more than 10 wins. Still, that "struggle" is better than 95 percent of programs. He's still one of the best coaches in the nation and Chris Vannini of The Athletic agrees.
Vannini ranked the top 25 college football coaches since 2000 on Wednesday and Dabo made his top five.
Only two coaches have won a national championship at multiple schools, and they top our list of the quarter-century's best.
— The Athletic (@TheAthletic) May 21, 2025
From Nick Saban to Ryan Day to Chip Kelly, @ChrisVannini has the best coaches since 2000. pic.twitter.com/pcnW958N97
Swinney came in at No. 5 behind three retired legends in Nick Saban (No. 1), Urban Meyer (No. 2), and Pete Carroll (No. 3) as well as a current juggernaut in Kirby Smart (No. 4).
It's hard to argue this ranking although there could be a case for Dabo to be ahead of Smart although Kirby's recent dominance would overshadow Swinney's past four, or so, seasons. Still, Swinney is easily a top five coach since 2000 and hopefully he continues to climb up this list in the coming years.
A national title in 2025 would help.