Stewart Mandel drops truth bomb on potential demise of Dabo Swinney after 1-3 start

National sportswriter Stewart Mandel shared a difficult truth for a major college football head coach after a Week 4 loss. Clemson fell to 1-3 with a 34-21 defeat to Syracuse and coach Dabo Swinney, long one of the top sport's biggest names, has gone on the defensive. Mandel set the situation straight in one memorable comment.

Swinney, who led Clemson to six consecutive top-five finishes including a pair of national titles in a run from 2015 to 2020, has found himself struggling in recent seasons, with four losses each in 2023 and 2024. He's nearly there in 2025 already after an upset loss to Syracuse.

Mandel's truth bomb

For his part, Swinney went on the offensive about the discontent around the Clemson program. Earlier in Week 4, Swinney addressed the culture in his weekly press conference, noting "If they want me gone, it they're tired of winning, they can send me on their way." In a piece written for The Athletic, Stewart Mandel cut to the center of the controversy with one memorable line.

No, coach. They're tired of losing.
Stewart Mandel

Dabo's history

Swinney had been an assistant coach at Alabama and then Clemson before taking over the head coaching role for the Tigers in 2003. Clemson had won a national title in 1981 under Coach Danny Ford, but at the time Swinney took over, Clemson hadn't even won an ACC title since 1991.

Swinney has claimed nine ACC titles and his golden run began with the inception of the modern four-team College Football Playoff. Over that six-season run from 2015 to 2020, Clemson made each Playoff field and ran up a 6-4 mark in the Playoff, winning championships following the 2016 and 2018 regular seasons. The Tigers also were defeated in the title game following the 2015 and 2019 regular seasons.

Swinney's struggles

But since that time, Swinney has lost more games, finishing with three losses in 2021 and 2022 and then four losses in 2023 and 2024. Critically, he has failed to embrace the transfer portal, and has seen developmental issues within his player development. Some players who were expected to star, most notably QB DJ Uiagalelei, struggled to find footing with the Tigers. In his column, Mandel acknowledged both that Swinney "lifted Clemson's program to unprecedented heights," but also commented, "this is getting sad."

Of course, as Mandel notes, Swinney is coaching with a massive buyout clause on his contract which might prohibit the Tigers from looking elsewhere absent some sort of mutual agreement. But after a brutal start to 2025, Stewart Mandel summed up the problems at Clemson in a hurry.