It’s well-known that ESPN personality Paul Finebaum has often been a vocal critic of Clemson Football and Dabo Swinney over the years.
Finebaum’s latest jabs at Clemson’s longtime head coach came this week during an episode of The Paul Finebaum Show.
“I don’t have any faith or belief in Dabo Swinney anymore,” Finebaum stated.
Finebaum made that comment while discussing Clemson’s 2026 season-opener on the road against LSU and new head coach Lane Kiffin.
“It’s hard for me to believe that Clemson, with a new quarterback, is going to go into Baton Rouge and win that game,” Finebaum said.
Finebaum continued, adding that there’s “literally only one person” he knows who still has Swinney’s back – “Chris from South Carolina” – a frequent caller to The Paul Finebaum Show who is a loyal, die-hard Clemson fan known for his unwavering defense of Swinney.
“There’s literally only one person I know that still supports Dabo Swinney, and that’s Chris from South Carolina,” Finebaum said.
Despite his usual criticisms, Finebaum was surprisingly high on the Tigers entering last season, even going so far as to say that he thought Clemson was “a legitimate contender for the national championship.”
Of course, Clemson was ranked No. 4 in the preseason AP Poll and had national title aspirations going into the 2025 season, only to end up at 7-6, the second-worst record in Swinney’s tenure.
With Clemson’s struggles a year ago, Finebaum changed his tune back to normal and had plenty to say about the Tigers and Swinney over the course of the disappointing campaign as the program failed to live up to the lofty preseason expectations.
Following Clemson’s loss to Syracuse on Sept. 20 that dropped the Tigers to 1-3 for the first time ever under Swinney, Finebaum said he believed “it’s over” for Swinney at Clemson and “it’s time for him to go.” Finebaum suggested that Swinney should either leave Clemson to coach at another school, or become an analyst on TV like former coaches such as Nick Saban and Jimbo Fisher.
“There’s a lot of reasons for this, but my advice to Dabo – and I know he doesn’t like taking advice from people like me – is to get out of there,” Finebaum said at the time. “Be quiet. Quit talking, because he has no credibility now with his fan base. They’ve heard the whines before. He’s become a meme. For a really good coach, and I do believe he’s a really good coach, he’s become somewhat of a laughing stock every time he opens his mouth, and it’s time for him to do one of two things.
“It’s either consider another school, and I think he is hirable if he quits talking. Or just get away from football and become a TV guy. He’s very funny. He’s got more credentials than any other none-TV coach out there. And what I mean by that is Saban’s already got a job. I’m not talking about him. I’m talking about of the people that could leave coaching and go into TV, he would be very coveted. Or find someplace to go. There will be a lot of openings, and when you introduce Dabo Swinney, it’s not a bad look. Jimbo Fisher has done pretty well with leaning on one national championship. Dabo has a much better resume.”
Finebaum has previously made it clear he believes Swinney’s past reluctance to adapt to the changing college football landscape — specifically regarding NIL and the transfer portal — caused his program to fall behind the times.
Back in December, AL.com asked Finebaum for a single word to describe various college football coaches, including Swinney, following the 2025 regular season. Finebaum’s word for Swinney was “Grandpa” – with Finebaum not talking about Swinney’s age, but rather presumably referring to his hesitancy to adapt to modern college football.
Swinney, 56, is entering his 19th season (and 18th full season) as Clemson’s head coach in 2026.
Clemson’s season opener against LSU on Sept. 5 at Tiger Stadium in Baton Rouge, La., is set for 7:30 p.m. and will be televised on ABC. ESPN’s College GameDay show will broadcast from Baton Rouge for the highly anticipated Week 1 matchup, which will mark Kiffin’s LSU head coaching debut.