The more Dabo Swinney says, the more he gets himself into trouble. For a man who has been the head coach at Clemson for the better part of two decades now, Swinney sure loves to put his foot into his mouth. His latest holier than thou comment has everything to do with not using an NFL model for roster-building. Clemson does not use its general manager to make roster decisions for the team.
"We believe in what we do here ... It's very thorough. We've got a young team that we think we've evaluated well. I know our record isn't what we want it to be right now, but we're coming," Swinney said about using the NFL model of allowing general managers to make roster decisions. "We're building this thing back the way we need to do it here at Clemson, and we're gonna build it back to the top."
Swinney made it a point to say the team's general manager Jordan Sorrells and fellow staffer Kevin Kelly have helped him out of late. Well, how is this triumvirate helping Clemson win more games in the modern era of college football? It feels like Swinney has empowered Sorrells and Kelly to be his yes men because he does not want any pushback whatsoever. Why not pursue a transfer quarterback?
Dabo says Clemson has made "a lot of changes" with roster management in recent years and highlights staffers Kevin Kelly and Jordan Sorrells (team's GM). Dabo: "We're building this thing back the way we need to do it here at Clemson, and we're gonna build it back to the top" https://t.co/4bmGM1MUM1
— Chapel Fowler (@chapelfowler) October 27, 2026
Dabo Swinney needs to take a page out of the Brent Venables playbook
The best assistant to ever serve under Swinney was Brent Venables. The longtime former Clemson defensive coordinator returned to Oklahoma a few years back. While it has not always been smooth sailing in Norman, Venables has a strong, defensive-minded culture, a playoff appearance, and two wins in Red River under his belt. He also embraced having a general manager help get him his guys.
Jim Nagy left overseeing the Senior Bowl to help revamp the Sooners' roster. Again, it has not been seamless, but the effort OU has put forth in the personnel department is commendable. Frankly, this might have played a part in Clemson legacy Jay Schell choosing the Sooners over the Tigers during his recruitment. Oklahoma has become a much easier sell to high schoolers because there is a vision.
While empowering a general manager may not offset Swinney re-hiring his friends like Chad Morris, at least the Tigers would have enough talent to compete on the offensive side of the ball. Because Swinney said Clemson was all good on offense coming into last offseason, the Tigers are paying for it dearly. Tait Reynolds has clearly stagnated midway through his true freshman season at quarterback.
With Clemson being the only team in FBS with more points on defense and special teams than on offense, you simply cannot be this arrogant about the program you used to be and the culture you used to have. To be totally honest, Swinney may continue to unravel all the good he has ever done at Clemson more at the podium than he does on the field. The results are not there to put up with this.
There are many examples Swinney could learn from, but he would rather bury his head into the sand.
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