Nick Saban makes feelings clear on whether Dabo Swinney would leave Clemson

Nick Saban on the set of ESPN College GameDay | Adam Cairns/Columbus Dispatch / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

At 3-5 with a home matchup against likewise-disappointing Florida State, the Clemson football program is soiled in perhaps its worst rut of the Dabo Swinney era. Such poor results have folks around the college football world speculating whether the longtime head of the Tiger program could depart for a new opportunity this offseason.

During Saturday morning's edition of 'College GameDay,' the crew discussed the Florida State and Clemson matchup under the prompt: Which team has been the bigger disappointment?

"Clemson!" Saban answered. "Because they were ranked higher to start with. Florida State was ranked. I mean, both teams are having a disappointing season. But I talked to Dabo this week and I think he really had the right approach, because every obstacle has an opportunity to learn and people can draw from it, and he really wants to see how his team finishes the season, responds, learns from all the adversity they've had to overcome this year."

After Saban mentioned that he spoke to Swinney this week, a conversation between the two best coaches of the 2010s, Herbstreit wondered: "Would he ever leave there and go start fresh? He's been there so long, would he take one of these jobs, you think?"

Not willing to spill grease on a growing fire in Death Valley, Saban responded that he didn't necessarily notice any indications that Swinney's mind was elsewhere during their talk.

"It would surprise me," Nick Saban commented on a potential Dabo Swinney departure. "In my conversation with him, he never mentioned that. I mean, he was totally focused on what his team needs to do to have success."

Swinney has manned the post at Clemson for 18 years now, dating all the way back to 2008. There's no questioning his past success with the school. Fans across the country know about the two national championships, but Swinney also had the Tigers consistently on the cusp of even more trophies, making six straight College Football Playoff appearances from 2015 to 2020, all in the old four-team model.

Next to Alabama, no other program dominated the four-team CFP era like Clemson and Dabo Swinney. Obviously, since 2020, wholesale changes have arrived to the sport as a whole and to the playoff format. So far, Swinney's simply struggled during the new era, and this is his worst year yet. We'll just have to see if he can pull things back together.