Where Dabo Swinney ranks in best coaches of the 2000s

The fun has been in the winning for Dabo Swinney and Clemson in the 2000s.

Brandon Rink · Assoc. Editor / Staff Writer · Wednesday, May 21 2025

Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney has established himself as one of the greats in college football history, within a highly competitive era in the 2000s.

The Athletic has been doing a dive into the best of the 2000s to date in college football, which included ranking two Swinney teams in the Top 25 (No. 6 for 2018; No. 23 for 2016).

Swinney is one of five coaches to win multiple national titles in the span and is ranked fifth in The Athletic exercise.

"Swinney went from lame-duck interim head coach to future Hall of Famer. He went 2-1 against Nick Saban in national championship games, with wins in 2016 and 18 and a loss in ’15. He also lost to an all-time great LSU team in the 2019 title game. That five-year run of top-four finishes was the closest anyone had come to Saban at that point. While the Tigers have slid back from that high in recent years, they still win 10-plus games a year and just won another ACC title in 2024, earning them a spot in the expanded CFP," The Athletic's Chris Vannini said.

Nick Saban and his seven national titles top the coaches, followed in the ranking by Urban Meyer (three national titles), Pete Carroll (two) and Kirby Smart (two).

Swinney owns wins over that group as head coaches in Saban and Meyer, in addition to over more Top 10 coaches in Bob Stoops (No. 6) and Mack Brown (No. 9).

More active coaches check in the Top 25 with Ohio State's Ryan Day (No. 11), LSU's Brian Kelly (12), Penn State's James Franklin (16), Utah's Kyle Whittingham (19), USC's Lincoln Riley (20) and Iowa's Kirk Ferentz (22).