Major Head Coach Predicted to Replace Dabo Swinney at Clemson in the Next Era

In a prediction from The Athletic, a surprising new boss is projected to be in place at Clemson in 2030.

While Dabo Swinney has spent nearly two decades at Clemson, at least one forecaster sees his era ending soon. | Ken Ruinard / USA Today Co / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

If predicting the future in college football was ever easy, 2025 suggested that it's getting harder. Virtually no one foresaw the rise of Indiana or the firing of James Franklin to name a couple of the season's most surprising stories. So looking ahead five years takes some courage, to say the least.

But The Athletic's Ralph D. Russo undertook the task and he forsees a significant change at Clemson. Dabo Swinney has been the boss since mid-2008 for the Tigers, but as he looks forward to 2030, Russo sees another head coach at the helm-- provided that Clemson can nab him from his current employer.

The next Clemson boss?

SMU's Rhett Lashlee is the coach that Russo sees helming the Clemson program in 2030. Russo terms it "a complicated time" to assess both Swinney and Lashlee, but terms him "a perfect fit" although acknowledging "a very real question about whether Clemson would be a clear upgrade from SMU for him."

Lashlee's resume

The 42-year old Lashlee is 38-16 after four seasons at SMU. He led the Mustangs to the first 12-team Playoff field in 2024 and had consecutive 8-0 conference runs, first in the AAC in 2023 and then in the ACC in 2024.

SMU coach Rhett Lashlee was identified as the potential next Clemson head coach by The Athletic's Ralph Russo. | Kirby Lee-Imagn Images

Given the Mustangs' solid standing within the ACC, it is a fair question whether Lashlee would be making an upgrade in making the move to Clemson.

Between 2013 and 2020, Swinney led Clemson to seven top 10 finishes in eight seasons. That run included national titles in 2016 and 2018. But since 2021, Swinney and the Tigers have been on a downward slide.

In fact, over the four seasons that Lashlee has been at SMU, Clemson's record in that span is 37-17, a game worse than Lashlee's SMU record. The Tigers haven't finished in the top ten since 2020 and Clemson's CFP resume is the same as SMU's-- a first-round appearance in 2024 and a quick loss.

Meanwhile, Lashlee is a desirable potential candidate, but he lacks any direct ties to Clemson. He played quarterback for Gus Malzahn in high school, then played at Arkansas and coached under Malzahn for several seasons. Lashlee was offensive coordinator at SMU in 2018 and 2019, then went to Miami as the offensive coordinator for Manny Diaz in 2020 and 2021.

Lashlee was hired in late 2021 to replace Sonny Dykes who left SMU to coach at TCU. The offensive guru could potentially help Clemson snap a series of underperforming runs from elite QB prospects Cade Klubnik and DJ Uiagalelei. It's worth noting that Lashlee is under contract until 2032 at a salary of around $9 million annually from SMU.

A disappointing 2025 season by Cade Klubnik continued Clemson's run of talented QBs grinding to ugly finishes. | Vincent Carchietta-Imagn Images