Shane Beamer’s South Carolina Gamecocks almost made the College Football Playoff after a second-half surge in 2024, when they won their final six regular season games and ultimately finished 9-4. Because of that, expectations were high for South Carolina entering the 2025 season, especially considering the return of star quarterback LaNorris Sellers and elite talent on defense like edge rusher Dylan Stewart.
The Gamecocks were a top-15 team in the preseason AP Poll last year. But following those high preseason expectations, the team collapsed and took a major step back from the year before, going 4-8 and failing to even qualify for a bowl game.
Like Beamer at South Carolina, Dabo Swinney is looking to lead Clemson to a bounce-back season in 2026. The Tigers were ranked No. 4 in the preseason AP Poll and had national title aspirations going into last season, only to end up at 7-6, the second-worst record in Swinney’s tenure.
Despite leading the team back to the College Football Playoff in 2024, Swinney and the Tigers are just 26-14 overall during the past three seasons, and have lost at least four games in each of the past three seasons.
So, who is under more pressure entering the 2026 season, Beamer or Swinney?
ESPN personality Paul Finebaum weighed in on that question.
“I think Dabo should have more pressure because at least Beamer’s shown some signs of life lately,” Finebaum told Jordan Kaye of The State from SEC Media Days. “The only time Dabo is relevant is when he’s talking about the past, and that’s all he does.”
Swinney, 56, will kick off his 19th season (and 18th full season) as Clemson’s head coach in 2026 when his Tigers face the LSU Tigers and new head coach Lane Kiffin at Tiger Stadium in Baton Rouge, La., on Sept. 5 (7:30 p.m., ABC).
Beamer, 49, will begin his sixth season as South Carolina’s head coach in 2026 when the Gamecocks host Kent State at Williams-Brice Stadium in Columbia on Sept. 5 (12:45 p.m., SEC Network). Beamer has compiled a 33-30 overall head coaching record, including a 1-2 mark in bowl games, and earned SEC Coach of the Year honors in 2024.
Swinney owns a career head coaching record of 187-53, with two national titles, nine ACC titles and seven College Football Playoff appearances on his resume. He is Clemson’s all-time winningest coach and the winningest coach in ACC history.
Swinney’s four national championship game appearances are more than any other active coach, and Swinney and Georgia’s Kirby Smart are the only active coaches with multiple national titles. In 13 of the last 15 years, Swinney’s Clemson program has won 10-plus games, though the Tigers have won fewer than 10 in two of the last three years.
Finebaum never shies away from opportunities to take shots at Swinney, and Finebaum once again took his shots during a recent appearance on Get Up, saying that Swinney is “stuck on stupid.”
“I am getting so exasperated listening to Dabo tell us how great he used to be. They’re not great anymore,” Finebaum said. “You don’t hear (Tom) Brady talking about his Super Bowls. Dabo is just stuck on stupid right now, trying to convince us that his program is still legitimate. It’s not. It’s slipping and sliding away. It’s good. Maybe they’ll win nine games this year or maybe they won’t. But they lost six games last year with the Heisman favorite (Cade Klubnik). That is downright embarrassing.”