USA Today released a “college football hot seat list” – with columnist Blake Toppmeyer highlighting different coaches who face varying levels of pressure to improve in 2026.

Clemson’s Dabo Swinney is categorized in the “fine, but keep an eye on” tier on the USA Today hot seat list.

Toppmeyer excluded the two-time national champion from the group of 11 coaches who are either categorized as being “on a scalding hot seat” or “it’s warm and could get hot.” However, Swinney is still facing pressure following a disappointing 7-6 finish in 2025.

Toppmeyer says his legacy and buyout “offer security,” but back-to-back underperforming seasons would accelerate the Clemson fan base’s “angst.”

“When a legend like Swinney supplies a bad season, you don’t even think about firing him. What if he has consecutive bad seasons?” Toppmeyer wrote. “Clemson fans widely cherish Swinney. They’ll give him a pass for last year’s fizzle if he rebounds, but Swinney’s dynasty is finished. One of the great sign-and-develop coaches of his generation, he’s struggled to adapt in the player free agency era. Swinney, 56, says he has no plans to retire. That’s grand if he wins. And if he doesn’t? Swinney’s resume and his $57 million buyout offer security, but a season that mirrors the last would accelerate angst.”

Swinney shares the “fine, but keep an eye on” designation with Nebraska’s Matt Rhule — as well as former longtime Clemson defensive coordinator Brent Venables, who is now entering his fifth season as Oklahoma’s head coach.

“Venables, facing the hot seat last season, took over play-calling for the defense. It worked,” Toppmeyer wrote. “Oklahoma’s defense propelled the Sooners to the playoff, and Venables put the thermometer in the cooler. And yet, expectations never wane at Oklahoma or inside the SEC. Venables’ tenure has lacked year-to-year consistency, and OU faces one of the nation’s toughest schedules. If the Sooners backtrack, Venables could find himself inching back toward the hot seat.”

Among the coaches “on a scalding hot seat” entering 2026, according to USA Today’s hot seat list, are Florida State’s Mike Norvell, North Carolina’s Bill Belichick and South Carolina’s Shane Beamer.

“Nobody can say Beamer didn’t deliver good times for South Carolina. Twice, he beat Dabo Swinney and Clemson,” Toppmeyer wrote. “His Gamecocks hung 30 points in the first half on then-No. 3 Texas A&M last November. Then, the second half started, and South Carolina blew a 27-point lead. Hello darkness, my old friend. Beamer switched offensive coordinators in the offseason, but his roster includes many familiar faces, including veteran quarterback LaNorris Sellers. Beamer has supplied a yo-yo tenure. To keep his job, the Gamecocks must climb the string once more.”

CBS Sports recently released its 2026 college football hot seat rankings, moving Swinney out of his historical “untouchable” status and bumping his hot seat rating up to a 3.1 out of 5. He is now placed in the “pressure is mounting “category.

Back in February, CBS Sports ranked the 10 college football coaches “under the most pressure” in 2026, and Swinney was ranked No. 7. Also in February, CBS Sports published an article on the college football coaching carousel, and Swinney was listed among 25 coaches “to keep an eye on when the carousel starts spinning in 2026” and who “could be on the move after the 2026 season.”

Despite his long track record of success as a two-time national championship coach, and the nine ACC titles and seven College Football Playoff appearances on his resume, Swinney is ranked No. 10 nationally among head coaches by Sporting News (down seven spots from last year) and No. 11 nationally by 10 CBS Sports panelists (down eight spots from last year), to name a couple examples of college football head coach rankings entering 2026. Swinney was ranked as high as No. 5 by one of those CBS Sports panelists, but another had him all the way down at No. 28.   

On3’s Andy Staples ranked Swinney as not the third-best head coach in the country, but the third-best head coach in the ACC alone, behind Miami’s Mario Cristobal and Virginia Tech’s James Franklin.

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, the winningest coach in ACC history and the first coach to lead the Tigers to multiple national championships.