ESPN ranked the top 10 coaches in college football entering the 2025 season.

Clemson’s Dabo Swinney received 87 points in the voting from ESPN’s college football reporters — good for third place on the list behind Georgia’s Kirby Smart (119 points) and Ohio State’s Ryan Day (97).

“No shade here,” ESPN’s Kyle Bonagura wrote regarding Swinney’s ranking. “There’s not a clear line of delineation between No. 3 and No. 6, and there are logical arguments that could be used to advocate for Swinney as high as No. 1. So when splitting hairs, I think I dropped Swinney below the consensus because his recent success hasn’t matched his peak success. But, again, this shouldn’t be misconstrued.”

Notre Dame’s Marcus Freeman (64 points) and Texas’ Steve Sarkisian (62) round out the top five in the rankings.

Swinney is the only ACC coach that made the top 10, though a few of the conference’s other coaches received votes – North Carolina’s Bill Belichick (10), Louisville’s Jeff Brohm (6) and SMU’s Rhett Lashlee (3).

Brian Kelly, whose LSU team will open the season at Clemson on Aug. 30, received 13 votes to lead the coaches outside the top 10.

Swinney has a career head coaching record of 180-47 in 17 seasons (16 full seasons) at Clemson. He enters the 2025 campaign as the program’s all-time winningest coach, the winningest coach in ACC history and the first coach to lead the Tigers to multiple national championships.

Clemson has won nine ACC titles under Swinney, including eight in the last 10 seasons, while he has guided the Tigers to seven College Football Playoff appearances during his tenure.

Swinney and Smart are the only active coaches with multiple national titles. In 13 of the last 14 years, Swinney’s Clemson program has won 10-plus games.