Following a disappointing 7-6 season in 2025 — Dabo Swinney’s worst record at Clemson in well over a decade — the program is looking to regain the elite status it previously boasted and return to national prominence.

That’s part of why Swinney slid down in The Athletic’s 2026 college football coaching tiers.

After annually maintaining a spot at the top of the pecking order since The Athletic started compiling coaching tiers, Swinney has now dropped from Tier 1 (“the standard”) down into Tier 2 (“established winners”).

Swinney is entering his 19th season (and 18th full season) as Clemson’s head coach in 2026, with a career head coaching record of 187-53. He is Clemson’s all-time winningest coach and the winningest coach in ACC history. He has nine ACC titles and two national titles on his impressive resume, though the last national championship came eight years ago, and Clemson has made only one College Football Playoff appearance over the last five seasons.

“Dabo Swinney drops out of the top tier for the first time since this exercise began,” The Athletic’s Chris Vannini wrote. “He has two national titles, but the last one was eight years ago. The Tigers have one CFP appearance in the last five years, and last season’s 7-6 record was Swinney’s worst since 2010. You can’t deny the highs, but the Tigers aren’t close to the bar he set and are trending downward.”

Only two coaches – Indiana’s Curt Cignetti and Georgia’s Kirby Smart – are in Tier 1 for 2026.

Swinney now shares Tier 2 with a bunch of other coaches, including Ohio State’s Ryan Day, Alabama’s Kalen DeBoer, Notre Dame’s Marcus Freeman, Oregon’s Dan Lanning, Texas’s Steve Sarkisian and Michigan’s Kyle Whittingham.

Three coaches set to face Swinney and Clemson during the 2026 season – LSU’s Lane Kiffin, Miami’s Mario Cristobal and Virginia Tech’s James Franklin – are also in Tier 2.

“Mario Cristobal moves up into Tier 2 after last year’s run to the national championship game; he also nearly made the 2024 CFP and had a top-five finish and a Rose Bowl win with Oregon,” Vannini wrote.

“The toughest coach to place was James Franklin, who was just fired at Penn State. I generally won’t knock a coach with a strong resume down a tier for one bad season. In 2024, Franklin was eight minutes away from playing for the national title, and he had five top-10 finishes in nine years. So he stays here for now, though I understand any pushback. It was time to move on at Penn State. Let’s see how things go at Virginia Tech.”

Louisville’s Jeff Brohm and SMU’s Rhett Lashlee are among the coaches in Tier 3 (“consistency with upside”), while South Carolina’s Shane Beamer, Duke’s Manny Diaz, NC State’s Dave Doeren, Georgia Tech’s Brent Key, Pitt’s Pat Narduzzi, and former Clemson defensive coordinator/current Oklahoma head coach Brent Venables are among those in Tier 4 (“usually solid”).

Tier 5 (“up and down”) includes coaches such as Syracuse’s Fran Brown, Wake Forest’s Jake Dickert, Florida State’s Mike Norvell, Boston College’s Bill O’Brien and former Clemson offensive coordinator/current Virginia head coach Tony Elliott.

North Carolina’s Bill Belichick is in Tier 7 (“tough starts and hot seats”).

“Bill Belichick took over a solid UNC program from Mack Brown and went 4-8, so there’s no other basis to put him any higher. Expectations aren’t high for 2026, either,” Vannini wrote. “We’ll see whether new coordinator Bobby Petrino can spark an offense that was dreadful last year.”