Dabo Swinney didn’t sugarcoat the past or linger over the next pages.
“2025 is in the books,” Swinney said. “It was a frustrating season for us. We won’t give that a lot of effort to go over.”
Instead, Clemson's head coach framed the year through margins - and lessons.
"Football, it’s a small margin for error," Swinney said. “We lost three games by 11 points, two of them on the final play of the game. Two other games we lost in the fourth quarter. I didn’t get the job done.”
The root causes, Swinney said, were apparent and brutal. “Biggest problem — scoring, scoring offense,” he said. “That’s rushing offense and third down. We also had the worst pass defense I’ve had since I have been a head coach.”
Still, Swinney refused to allow the season to be dominated by failure. “There was also a lot of good,” he said. “The team reacted, and they still stayed together. Some incredible leadership for me was from some awesome young men in our program — championship men, guys who have won championships.”
There was a late surge in that response.
“They were the best turnaround team in Clemson Football history,” Swinney said. “I’m proud of how they managed to finish, four in a row and the state championship for the ninth time in 11 years.”
For Swinney, the rally was significant — even if it wasn’t the ending he desired. “It wasn’t what I wanted our story to be, that was our story,” he said. “We came together to accomplish our 15th consecutive winning season. We aim to do better than have a winning season but with where we were all you can do was respond -- and we did it.”
Now, the emphasis is reset. “Today is focusing on and resetting,” Swinney said. “We’re better, stronger and wiser because of the lessons of 2025. God never says oops. I’m not going to say the season was a disappointment. I think what ended had a reason and what’s beginning is right on time.”
That belief is paired with sweeping staff changes, beginning on offense.
"With Chad Morris, I've gone back to the future," Swinney said. "The reasons I hired Chad in 2011 are exactly the same reasons I now want to employ Chad again."
Morris will be an offensive coordinator with a structure. “Chad will be our OC. Tajh Boyd will be our quarterbacks coach,” Swinney said. “Chad won’t be on the road. He’ll be in the office.” Offensive hires came on the heels swiftly. “Our senior offensive assistant will be Lonnie Galloway,” Swinney added. “I did get Mike Miller hired, as well,” he said, referring to Miller’s previous stops before Clemson. “Jacoby Ford will be our coach of player development, speed development and assistant wide receivers.”
“Artavis Scott … will be our assistant running backs coach. Then Brad Glenn will be assistant tight ends coach and player development coach.” Swinney even smiled as he remarked on the presence of a well-known NFL name in a new role.
“Freddie Kitchens is an unpaid volunteer analyst here,” he said.
Defensively, the main change was in the passing game.
“The biggest change we made was that Thomas Allen will be our defensive passing game coordinator,” Swinney said. “He’s a gifted young coach. He will manage our installs and ensure everyone is on the same page.”
The secondary got new leadership as well. “Nolan Turner will be our safeties coach. He’s incredibly knowledgeable,” Swinney said. “I’m excited to bring Corico Wright back … He’ll coach our nickels.”
One of the more emotional moments had a former Tiger returned to campus.
“Another guy you’ll see pacing around — he’s called Jayron Kearse,” Swinney said. “The 31-year-old Jayron Kearse is so different from the 19-year-old Kearse. He will be a student-assistant for us and get his degree.”
Even the very basis of the program changed.
“From a strength point of view, y’all already know about Dennis Love,” Swinney said. “Anthony Lazard is from Stanford coming in. He’ll take over Dennis’ job.” And just about as for special teams, Swinney is known for leaving one door open. “There’s a plan that we have in place now as our special teams coordinator,” he said. “I have an announcement on that soon.”
For now, Swinney’s message was more about posture and less about promises. “It’s a new team, new season, new journey,” he said. “Sometimes, you have to go back to have a way of moving forward.”