Clemson Head Coach Dabo Swinney Has Bold Prediction for Future of College Football

Clemson Tigers head coach Dabo Swinney is one of the main figures in the game who is still truly fighting for the players and the sport, trying to fight for what is best for the players and the sport in the long-term, not just what is profitable in the short term.

Swinney has been criticized for being resistant to change, but there's also something admirable in standing by principles that have gotten the program to the highest mountain tops college football has to offer.

While he has started to adapt in terms of utilizing the transfer portal and everything that comes hand-in-hand with it, he also has not been afraid to voice his displeasure regarding the direction the sport is taking.

When it comes to that direction, it goes much deeper than just NIL and the portal.

Fans have seen entire conferences eliminated and reshaped over the last several years.

Though Clemson and the ACC, for the moment, have held on without seismic shifts, those could still be coming in the subsequent years.

Asked about the direction the sport is taking, Swinney sees super conferences and wholesale NFL-like changes as the inevitable.

"Eventually money’s going to win the day," he said in a piece by Seth Emerson of The Athletic (subscription required). "I think other dynamics and factors will eventually come into play. I just think people are eventually going to see the business opportunity involved, and it’s going to come down to brands, and TV viewership, and all of that type of stuff. More so than a league ... Eventually that’s where it’ll get to. Who knows when we’ll get there. Probably sooner rather than later."

Interestingly, Swinney seems to think this kind of model is what's best for the long-term health of the sport based on where things currently are.

"Eventually there will be a league [that] makes a little more sense, and you have a little more regionality, and you have some crossover games ... Call it whatever you want to call it, but I think the NFL’s a good model."

While he also cautioned against the possibility of turning into a feeder minor league program for the NFL given the fact that most college athletes are not going to the pros, he is optimistic that these wholesale changes are going to be better than the current chaos.

"I think we’re heading to a much better era, probably the best era for college football. And if programs are set up the right way, we can really help them maximize this opportunity."

Swinney proved beyond a shadow of a doubt in the last era that his way is capable of winning championships. However, he is still trying to get his program back to that level during what has been a completely new age.

Now that he is seemingly on board with the fact that things are never going back to the way they were, perhaps the Tigers will be able to take things up a notch and compete for championships once again.

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