There’s never been a time when college football coaches were as susceptible to being on the hot seat as they are now.
By and large, gone are the days when coaches had something of a grace period to either improve a program they were placed in charge of — or maintain the high standards of a rich, storied program from their predecessors. Throw in the transfer portal and “roster building,” and coaches are given even less room for error today.
On Monday, veteran college football analyst Dennis Dodd released his annual Hot Seat Rankings for all 134 FBS coaches ahead of the 2024 season. In Dodd’s system, a 5 rating translates to “win or be fired.” A rating of 0 means that a coach is “untouchable.”
Only two coaches from the ACC ranked in the latter category in Dodd’s ratings — and neither of them were Dabo Swinney. The “untouchable” label instead went to Florida State’s Mike Norvell and Louisville coach Jeff Brohm.
As for Swinney, Clemson’s coach scored a 2 rating from Dodd, who assigns that number to coaches that are “All good… for now.” For comparison, some of the other Power Four coaches at major programs graded with the same score on Dodd’s Hot Seat Rankings are first-year Alabama coach Kalen DeBoer, Auburn’s Hugh Freeze and former Clemson defensive coordinator Brent Venables, set to begin his third season as head coach at Oklahoma.
In the ACC, North Carolina coach Mack Brown, NC State’s Dave Doeren, Georgia Tech’s Brent Key, Virginia Tech’s Brent Pry, first-year Syracuse coach Fran Brown and Stanford coach Troy Taylor all share the same 2 rating from Dodd as Swinney.
Coaches who received a 1 rating (described by Dodd as “safe and secure”) were 11th-year Wake Forest coach Dave Clawson, first-year Boston College coach Bill O’Brien, former Miami turned Duke coach Manny Diaz, and SMU’s Rhett Lashlee.
Elsewhere in the ACC, Miami coach Mario Cristobal, Pitt’s Pat Narduzzi, Virginia coach Tony Elliott and Cal’s Justin Wilcox all received a rating of 3 (described by Dodd as “pressure is mounting”).
Swinney was listed as “untouchable” a season ago in Dodd’s rankings, but that was before the Tigers went 9-4 and Swinney doubled down on his resistance to use the transfer portal to recruit players.
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A successful 2024 season would go a long way in moving Swinney back into the “untouchable” category, especially if success is defined as Clemson winning the ACC and earning an automatic bid to the 12-team College Football Playoff. The Tigers’ biggest conference game on paper is their Oct. 5 visit to Florida state. The Seminoles beat Clemson, 31-24, in overtime a season ago.
Of the Tigers’ three other losses in 2023, Clemson hosts NC State in the third game of the season on Sept. 21 in Death Valley. Duke and Miami, which beat Clemson last season, aren’t on the 2024 schedule.
The Blue Devils and Hurricanes are replaced by road trips to Pitt and Virginia Tech. The Tigers also have a Nov. 2 home game against a Louisville program that finished with 10 wins a season ago and came close to knocking off Florida State in the ACC Championship Game.
Clemson opens the season against the top-ranked Georgia Bulldogs at Atlanta’s Mercedes-Benz Stadium on August 31.
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