Athlon coaches ranking sees Swinney 'poised to challenge for the national championship'

Dabo Swinney has two national titles at Clemson and is positioned to challenge for a third.

Brandon Rink · Assoc. Editor / Staff Writer · Friday, May 30 2025

Dabo Swinney is the class of the ACC and a candidate for the top nationally in coaching rankings.

Athlon Sports affirmed that with its ACC coaches ranking this week, slotting the two-time national champion coach at No. 1.

He could be going for title No. 3 in 2025.

"After an ACC title and trip to the College Football Playoff last season, Clemson returns a loaded roster and is poised to challenge for the national championship in ‘25. Following an appearance in the playoff in ‘20, the Tigers regressed a bit in recent years with no finish in the final Associated Press Top 25 higher than No. 13," Athlon's Steven Lassan writes. "Despite that small downturn, Clemson is 180-47 overall under Swinney and has won at least nine games in each of the last 14 seasons. Swinney is one of just three active coaches with a national title (2016 and ‘18)."

His next ACC peer is one the Tigers have a grudge match with on the road this November, with Louisville's Jeff Brohm.

"Brohm’s return to his alma mater is off to a strong start with a 19-8 record over the last two seasons. The Cardinals recorded a top-25 finish (No. 19) in ‘23 and just missed another with a 9-4 mark last fall. Widely regarded as one of the top offensive-minded coaches in the nation, Brohm is 85-52 overall as an FBS head coach counting his previous (and successful) stops at Western Kentucky and Purdue," Lassan writes.

Miami's Mario Cristobal, SMU's Rhett Lashlee and Florida State's Mike Norvell round out the Top 5.

League coaches on the regular-season slate also include Brent Key at Georgia Tech (6), Bill Belichick at UNC (7), Manny Diaz at Duke (10), Bill O'Brien at BC (11) and Fran Brown at Syracuse (12).