Billy Napier’s tenure at Florida has failed to meet expectations, and the Gators are staring down another potential reset. Meanwhile, Dabo Swinney and Clemson are enduring their worst start in over a decade, sparking speculation about his long-term future in Death Valley.
Which leads to one of the juiciest hypotheticals in college football: Should Florida go after Dabo Swinney if he and Clemson part ways?
The Case For
On the Unnecessary Roughness podcast, Brandon Walker argued that Swinney’s reputation won’t crater even if Clemson bottoms out this fall.
“I don’t think the open coaching market would view Dabo as a guy who went 2-10 this year,” the host said. “They would view him as someone where the fruit got rotten on the vine at Clemson, and it needed to be broken.”
The reasoning: give Swinney a fresh start at a program with resources like Florida, and he could rediscover his edge. Especially if he finally embraces the transfer portal and modern roster-building.
“If Florida could, Florida should call him right now and hire him tomorrow,” the host continued. “A rejuvenated Dabo who is told, hey, you better use the portal, you better adapt, he still knows how to win. You don’t become one of the best coaches in college football and then forget how to do it.”
The Case Against
But not everyone on the panel was convinced. Kayce Smith labeled the idea “insane.”
“Let’s be clear,” he said. “This is a talented roster with NFL talent up and down it. Dabo is doing a sxxxxy job coaching this team. There’s no two ways about it. If I’m a big-time program, I’m not calling Dabo.”
For critics, Swinney’s refusal to evolve — particularly around the transfer portal — isn’t a Clemson-specific issue. It’s a Dabo issue. They argue that giving him another blueblood job like Florida would be repeating the same mistakes, only with higher stakes.
“If you’re like a lower-tier Power Four school, sure, roll the dice on him because of the pedigree,” the host added. “But if you’re Florida, you’d be insane to expect him to turn it around.”
The Verdict
So would Florida be crazy or brilliant to go after Dabo? The truth lies somewhere between.
On one hand, Swinney remains a two-time national champion with a Hall of Fame résumé.
For Florida, the question isn’t just about Dabo. It’s about whether they want a proven winner who needs a reboot — or whether they’re better off chasing a coach already wired for the modern game.
Either way, the fact that this conversation is happening underscores just how far both Clemson and Florida have fallen from the national spotlight.