Dabo Swinney and Clemson football are at a crossroads entering 2024 spring practice

CLEMSON – Dabo is still the same ol’ Dabo, but his program has not been the same ol’, same ol’ for a while now, which leads one to conclude that the 2024 football season is shaping up to be a crossroads campaign for both the coach and his 17th team.

A 9-4 season capped with a bowl victory in 2023 would be celebrated by the overwhelming majority of FBS programs and their respective head coaches.

But Clemson isn’t most programs.

And Dabo Swinney isn’t most coaches.

In many ways, Swinney is a victim of his own success. That has a tendency to happen when you win two national championships, make six consecutive College Football Playoff appearances and stockpile ACC titles like cordwood.

Expectations rise accordingly.

“If we did it once, why can’t we do it again?” fans say.

“If we did it twice, why can’t we do it a third time?” fans reason.

Instead, Clemson football finds itself mired in what be best described as a mild downturn – a reversal of fortune that has the Tigers clinging to the second rung on the ladder of college football’s elite.

Consider:

“We did a lot of good things last year and we did some things that were really frustrating – that really limited opportunities for us,” Swinney said Wednesday on the Tigers’ opening day of spring practice. “So we spent a lot of time on quality control and studying the good, the bad, the ugly and how we get better.”

To make matters worse, Clemson’s downturn has coincided with an uptick in Tallahassee, where Florida State dipped heavily into the transfer portal to help it re-enter the upper echelon of the ACC.

Make no mistake – Swinney continues to be revered by most Clemson fans, but they also remain convinced that his teams should be in the playoff on an annual basis.

Clemson Head Coach Dabo Swinney speaks with media before the first day of…

Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/dabo-swinney-clemson-football-crossroads-234157137.html

Author : Greenville News

Publish date : 2024-02-28 23:41:57

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