CBS Sports ranked every Power Four coach ahead of the 2025 season.

Clemson’s Dabo Swinney checked in at No. 3 on the list, behind Ohio State’s Ryan Day at No. 2 and Georgia’s Kirby Smart at No. 1.

Swinney was also ranked by CBS Sports as the third-best head coach in 2024.  

Here’s what CBS Sports had to say about the Tigers’ head man heading into the upcoming campaign:

Remember when Nick Saban asked, “Is this what y’all want football to be?” about up-tempo offenses, and then immediately pivoted to having a more modern offense at Alabama? I wonder if Dabo finally hitting the transfer portal is his “Is this what y’all want football to be?” moment. Not that I believe Dabo will live in the portal like so many other coaches, but that he’ll use it to fill enough gaps to return Clemson to national title contender status. Plenty of people looking at his 2025 roster feel he’s already done it.

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.

After Smart, Day and Swinney, Texas’ Steve Sarkisian is No. 4 in the CBS Sports head coach rankings, followed by Oregon’s Dan Lanning at No. 5.

Notre Dame’s Marcus Freeman, Penn State’s James Franklin, LSU’s Brian Kelly, Alabama’s Kalen DeBoer and Iowa State’s Matt Campbell round out the rest of the top 10, in that order.

South Carolina’s Shane Beamer came in at No. 28.

After Swinney, here’s where the other 16 head coaches in the ACC landed in CBS Sports’ ranking:

Louisville’s Jeff Brohm (No. 17)

Miami’s Mario Cristobal (No. 20)

SMU’s Rhett Lashlee (No. 22)

Florida State’s Mike Norvell (No. 25)

Georgia Tech’s Brent Key (No. 30)

NC State’s Dave Doeren (No. 31)

Pittsburgh’s Pat Narduzzi (No. 37)

Duke’s Manny Diaz (No. 44)

Syracuse’s Fran Brown (No. 46)

Boston College’s Bill O’Brien (No. 50)

North Carolina’s Bill Belichick (No. 54)

Cal’s Justin Wilcox (No. 55)

Wake Forest’s Jake Dickert (No. 56)

Virginia Tech’s Brent Pry (No. 63)

Virginia’s Tony Elliott (No. 65)

Stanford’s Frank Reich (No. 67)