CLEMSON — Dabo Swinney’s search for Clemson’s new defensive coordinator is in full swing. The Clemson Insider has new information on what we have heard regarding the coaching search in the last 24 hours.

According to our sources, Clemson has had contact with Tennessee defensive coordinator Tim Banks’ camp. As of right now, according to the information we have, Banks will not be the guy at Clemson.

TCI also heard, as of Tuesday, that Clemson has not spoken with Georgia Tech defensive coordinator Tyler Santucci. Banks and Santucci are two names we have heard from the beginning as potential candidates to replace Wes Goodwin, who Swinney officially announced was out this past Monday.

We also want to pass along some news we heard late last night and early this morning on two other potential candidates. Again, in a coaching search things are always fluid and dynamic and things can certainly change and change fast.

One of the potential new candidates is currently coaching in the College Football Playoff. Obviously, Clemson cannot move forward with an interview with that candidate until the conclusion of their season.

However, we are not ready to release his name at this time until we get more confirmation on his candidacy.

The other candidate we heard is current Indiana defensive coordinator Bryant Haines. He just finished his first season at Indiana under head coach Curt Cignetti.

Haines, who helped Indiana to its first CFP appearance, has been a member of Cignetti’s four head coaching staffs, and has been the coordinator or co-coordinator of the defense in each of Cignetti’s five seasons at James Madison.

Indiana ranked second nationally in total defense this past season, allowing just 256.3 yards per game. The Hoosiers also ranked sixth in scoring defense (15.6 ppg) and led the country in rushing defense (80.2 ypg allowed). They also ranked third nationally in yards per carry allowed (2.74) and ninth in passing defense (176.1 ypg allowed).

Indiana was tied with Clemson this past season in sacks (35) which ranked 26th nationally. The Hoosier ranked 16th nationally in tackles for loss (95), two behind Clemson (97), which ranked 12th.

In each of Haines’ four seasons at JMU (2019-23), the Dukes ranked in the top 10 nationally in total defense. His unit was in the top 10 in the FCS in scoring defense while ranking in the top 25 in the program’s first two FBS seasons in 2022 and 2023.

Over his final two seasons in Harrisonburg, Haines led one of the nation’s top defenses against the rush. In 2023, the Dukes owned the nation’s best rushing defense (61.5 ypg), which was bolstered by an FBS-best 9.1 tackles for loss per game. In 2022, JMU was No. 2 in both categories at 79.5 rushing yards allowed per game and 8.6 tackles for loss.

A former linebacker at Ball State,  Haines coached linebackers for the past eight seasons and spent one season as a graduate assistant at Indiana in 2012.