CLEMSON — Look, I get it.

Clemson had a bad year last year. I understand why everyone is down on the Tigers. However, what I do not get is why everyone is down on Dabo Swinney.

One good year does not make a great coach, just like one bad year does not make a bad coach.

With that said, I cannot wrap my head around these sportswriters that are saying Swinney is not a top 5 or top 10 head coach in college football and I do not understand how someone can rank anyone, other than Swinney, number one in the ACC.

However, that’s not the case. There are writers out there who rank Swinney behind Miami’s Mario Cristobal and Virginia Tech’s James Franklin in the ACC.

I understand there are all kinds of ways in which someone can rank these coaches. You can rank by resume. You can rank by consistent success, or you can rank them by recent consistent success.

But what you do not rank them by is one-year success. Look at this way, James Franklin did not have a good year last year. He was fired by Penn State at mid-season after the Nittany Lions lost three straight games.

Clemson, though nowhere near its normal under Swinney, was 7-6 and Swinney was not fired. That alone is why Swinney should be ahead of James Franklin.

Also, Franklin has won one conference championship and has never played for or won a national championship. By the way, his lone conference title came the same year Swinney won his first national championship.

Let’s look at Cristobal. His teams have done well the last couple of years, that is true. The Hurricanes were 13-3 last season and played for the national championship. The year before they were 10-3.

However, Miami did not win a conference championship or a national championship.

Again, I am not really getting why Cristobal and Franklin would jump Swinney at this time. I understand the idea that Swinney is not with the times and was slow to embrace the transfer portal and NIL.

Though true, those should not be the reasons to drop a coach to No. 3. I believe of the three coaches we are talking about here, Swinney has won the most recent conference championships and the only one of the three to win a national championship, much less two.

All three have played in the College Football Playoff recently, with Franklin taking Penn State to the CFP Semifinals in 2024 and Cristobal getting Miami to the CFP title game last season.

However, that is the only time either one of them coached in a CFP. Swinney took Clemson in 2024 to the playoff, his seventh appearance, behind only Nick Saban for the most.

Also, did you know Swinney has more conference championships (3) than any other coach, regardless of conference, this decade? Now you do.

So, despite Swinney not always playing with the same deck of cards as everyone else, his success is roughly the same or better. Plus, he has not been fired from a job.

I do not know about you, but that means he is a pretty darn good football coach in my eyes, and he is for sure the best head coach in the ACC.