Heading into the upcoming campaign, preseason rankings of the top coaches in college football have been popping up online, and a couple more national outlets came out with their rankings this week.

Clemson’s Dabo Swinney is ranked among the top three in college football coach rankings released by both Sporting News and CBS Sports.

Sporting News ranked Swinney as the No. 2 coach in the sport, behind only Georgia’s Kirby Smart.

“Criticize the use (or lack thereof) of the transfer portal all you want, but the game hasn’t passed Swinney by quite yet,” Sporting News’ Bill Bender wrote. “Clemson is 30-10 the last three seasons, and a five-game winning streak to end the season showed this program will still be a factor in the ACC in the expanded playoff. Swinney is the only other coach on this list with multiple national championships, too – which allows us to defend this position for one more year.”

Last year, Swinney was ranked as the third-best college football coach by Sporting News.

Meanwhile, Swinney checked in at No. 3 in CBS Sports’ ranking of the top 25 coaches in the Power Four entering 2024. Ahead of Swinney are Smart at No. 1 and Ohio State’s Ryan Day at No. 2.

CBS Sports’ Tom Fornelli wrote that Swinney’s place in the ranking “feels tenuous” and he’s “skeptical” that Swinney would still be among the top three, if Alabama’s Nick Saban did not retire and Michigan’s Jim Harbaugh did not take an NFL job with the Los Angeles Chargers.

“Dabo stays at No. 3 this year, but the spot feels tenuous,” Fornelli wrote. “Had Nick Saban and Jim Harbaugh stuck around, would he still be in the top three? I’m skeptical. Swinney does things his way, and I don’t blame him because when you’ve had as much success as he’s had doing it his way, it’s natural to resist change. That refusal to adapt, however, played a role in Clemson failing to win at least 10 games last year for the first time since 2010. There are four teams who have yet to accept an incoming transfer this offseason. Three of them are service academies. Clemson is the fourth.”

Swinney, the first coach in program history to lead Clemson to multiple national championships, has compiled a 170-43 head coaching record entering his 17th season (and 16th full season) as the Tigers’ head coach in 2024.

Last season, when the Tigers went 9-4, Swinney passed Frank Howard for sole possession of the Clemson record for career head coaching wins, and also passed Bobby Bowden with his ACC-record 12th bowl victory.

Swinney, who has won two national championships as a head coach, guided four teams in five years to the national championship game. He is still the only coach to take his program to six College Football Playoff appearances in a row.

Swinney’s Clemson teams produced 12 straight 10-win seasons from 2011-2022 – the third longest streak in the history of college football — and he has won eight ACC Championships.

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