Since the transfer portal opened in 2018, incoming transfers have made zero starts for Clemson. This is a byproduct of Tigers head coach Dabo Swinney’s stance on the transfer portal and Name, Image, and Likeness (NIL).
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Swinney is an old-school coach who refuses to adjust to the current landscape of college football. Instead, Swinney remains focused on building character in his players and places an emphasis on education.
Swinney hasn’t utilized the transfer portal either which has clearly hurt his talent on the team.
JACKSONVILLE, FLORIDA – DECEMBER 29: Head coach Dabo Swinney of the Clemson Tigers looks on before the start of the TaxSlayer Gator Bowl against the Kentucky Wildcats at EverBank Stadium on December 29, 2023 in Jacksonville, Florida. Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney’s reluctance to embrace the new era of college football has caused the program to fall behind.
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His stance on both NIL and the transfer portal has caused Clemson to fall behind in the new age of college football.
Since the transfer portal opened up in 2018, Clemson has had 0 starts from incoming transfers.
— Kevin Negandhi (@KevinNegandhi) August 31, 2024
Former Alabama head coach Nick Saban holds the same views as Swinney and consequently stepped down in January after leading the program to six national championships in 17 seasons.
“All the things that I believed in, for all these years, 50 years of coaching, no longer exist in college athletics,” Saban said. “It was always about developing players, it was always about helping people be more successful in life.”
“If we had some sort of revenue sharing proposition that did not make student-athletes employees … I think that may be the long-term solution,” Saban said. “You could create a better quality of life for student-athletes, you could still emphasize development, you can still create brand and athletic development with a system like that and it would be equal in all institutions. You couldn’t raise more money at one school to create a competitive advantage at another.”
Saban shared his wife, Terry, also had reservations about NIL and its impact on the development of players.
“She said, ‘All they care about is how much you’re gonna pay them, they don’t care about how much you’re gonna develop them, which is what we’ve always done, so why are we doing this?'” Saban said.
It’s evident Swinney’s reluctance to embrace NIL is costing the program. Only programs that are willing to compensate their players have emerged as winning teams.
Clemson fell 34-3 to No.1 ranked Georgia at Mercedes-Benz Stadium on Saturday. The loss is another sign that the Swinney era will likely come to a close sooner rather than later.
In the modern transfer and NIL era, Swinney is an outdated artifact. The Clemson head coach can choose to adapt to his new surroundings or he will soon drift into extinction.
