187-win head coach predicted to part ways with college football powerhouse

A coach at a major college football program has been predicted to be out of his post after the 2026 season.

Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney speaks after the Tigers’ 28-14 win over the Gamecocks at Williams-Brice Stadium in Columbia, S.C. Saturday, November 29, 2025. | Ken Ruinard / USA Today Co Inc SC / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Just under seven months separate the beginning of February from the first weekend of the 2026 college football season.

The first several weeks after each college football season give the media an opportunity to make way-too-early predictions about what may transpire in the next season. These predictions feature a variety of subjects such as conference standings, College Football Playoff brackets and Heisman Trophy odds.

28 writers from The Athletic compiled way-too-early predictions about a variety of different aspects for the next college football season. Ralph Russo claimed that Clemson and Dabo Swinney would part ways after the 2026 season ended due to another underwhelming showing on the field.

Swinney is entering his nineteenth season as the Tigers' head coach and has been a part of the Clemson football program since 2003. Only Kirk Ferentz of Iowa has held his head coaching post longer than Swinney in the Power Four ranks.

Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney celebrates in front of the College Football National Championship trophy | BART BOATWRIGHT/Staff via Imagn Content Services, LLC

Clemson has lived at the top of the ACC for the majority of Swinney's tenure. The Tigers boast nine ACC titles, seven College Football Playoff appearances and a pair of national titles (2016, 2018) under his leadership.

The trouble for Clemson is that it has been on a gradual decline that can be traced back to its loss to LSU in the 2020 College Football Playoff National Championship game. The Tigers had future No. 1 overall draft choice Trevor Lawrence at quarterback for another season, but his passing of the baton to D.J. Uiagalelei is when Clemson lost much of its national prominence.

For the final three seasons of the four-team College Football Playoff era, the Tigers were excluded as they lost two or more games each regular season. Clemson was able to slide through the back door into the first 12-team College Football Playoff, but it was a nine-win team in the regular season that had to win the ACC title to make the field.

2025 was Clemson's worst season since 2010. The Tigers started the year 3-5, meaning they had to win out the rest of the regular season to finish with a winning record. They fell in the Pinstripe Bowl to Penn State (22-10), who was led by an interim head coach for the final seven games of the season.

One element of college football that has gained prominence in the years after Clemson's last national championship victory is the NCAA transfer portal. For several seasons, Swinney strongly refused to use the portal as a means to better his program. That stance has changed over the last few seasons, but Clemson has still not assembled a class with more than 10 players.

Should Clemson decide to part ways with Swinney after 2026, it would be parting ways with one of only four active head coaches in FBS to have won a national championship. Of the four, only Swinney and Kirby Smart have won more than one national championship.

Clemson Tigers head coach Dabo Swinney looks on during the first half of the 2025 Pinstripe Bowl against Penn State | Vincent Carchietta-Imagn Images