Michigan football: Which coach would you choose over Jim Harbaugh?
Dabo Swinney
Dabo Swinney has been at Clemson since the ’09-10 season. Since the early 2010s, Clemson was always a very solid team, but could never quite get over the hump and compete for a national title. It was always a few unfortunate losses here or there that would spoil their season, that is, until 2015, when they finally broke through and made the CFP.
Dabo Swinney’s calling card has been his ability to develop quarterbacks. Names like Tajh Boyd, Deshaun Watson, and Trevor Lawrence come to mind. Clemson might have another great college quarterback this season in D.J. Uiagalelei. Also, Clemson’s defense has been elite ever since their first playoff appearance in 2015.
Since 2015, Clemson has had the #7, #9, #6, #4, #1, and #15 defense. So, the defense has finished top-10 five out of six seasons and no worse than top-15 in any of those seasons under Swinney. Also, Swinney’s ability to recruit also sticks out. From 2015-2021, Swinney has had the #9, #11, #16, #7, #10, #3, and #5 ranked recruiting classes.
Now, not all of these class rankings might jump off the page. It is the development of these lower-class rankings that jump off the page immediately though. Swinney got the most out of his roster, even when some of the classes weren’t top-10. We as Michigan fans can’t say the same thing about some of Jim Harbaugh’s lower-ranked classes.
No, we’re not going to act like the ACC is the hardest conference to win in in college football (because it’s definitely one of the worst in Power Five), but hey, you have to beat the teams in your conference, no excuses. And Clemson has consistently dominated their conference for the last 5-6 years in a row. Since 2015, Swinney has a 79-7 record overall, with only three of those losses coming in conference play, which is absolutely insane.
Surprisingly, Swinney has not had a Heisman-trophy-winning QB walk through his doors in all his time at Clemson. But you can’t really fault Swinney for that. In any other year, Deshaun Watson and Trevor Lawrence would’ve definitely won the Heisman if it wasn’t for another arguably even more elite player at a different college at the same time as them (and Watson and Lawrence were definitely as elite as can be).