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3 most overrated ACC football coaches ahead of the 2024 season

By Connor Muldowney

Clemson Head Coach Dabo Swinney speaks with media before the first day of Spring practice at the Poe Indoor Practice Facility at the Allen N. Reeves football complex in Clemson S.C. Wednesday, February 28, 2024.
Clemson Head Coach Dabo Swinney speaks with media before the first day of Spring practice at the Poe Indoor Practice Facility at the Allen N. Reeves football complex in Clemson S.C. Wednesday, February 28, 2024. / Ken Ruinard / staff / USA TODAY NETWORK
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2. Dabo Swinney, Clemson

I know, this sounds ridiculous to say because Dabo Swinney has won national titles and had Clemson at the top of the college football world for a bit but the fall from grace has been interesting.

Swinney was considered the best coach in college football not named Nick Saban from about 2015 until 2019. He lost more than one game in a single season just one time in that span and he had just two ACC defeats as well. Swinney looked like he was about to run college football for the next decade or two, but something happened in 2020 (yes, COVID happened, too).

The Tigers took a step back in 2020, going 10-2 and they finished second in the ACC behind a Notre Dame team that joined for the season and made the playoff. That seemed to knock Swinney and Clemson off track as they lost three games for the first time since 2014 in 2021 and then lost three again in 2022 before going just 9-4 in 2023 with a measly 4-4 mark in conference play.

Swinney is still talked about as a top-five coach in college football and he probably is just because of what he did from 2015-19, but that seems like a distant memory now.

Plus, fans are dying for him to use the transfer portal but he claims that guys who are in there aren't good enough to play at Clemson. Maybe this is why the Tigers finished sixth in the ACC last year.

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