Can Dabo Swinney return Clemson to greatness? What the Tigers' staff overhaul says about 2026 expectations
The longtime Clemson coach has not led his team to a College Football Playoff win since 2019
From once being untouchable as a two-time national champion to now feeling intense pressure to win during an era of significant NIL and revenue-sharing changes, Dabo Swinney's long-term future at Clemson becomes more muddled if the upcoming 2026 season fails to show advancement.
Swinney appears to have completed his offseason coaching staff overhaul as promised this week, following Monday's reported hire of former Green Bay Packers special teams coordinator Rich Bisaccia. Pending approval by the school's board, Bisaccia is the final piece of a program-rewiring of sorts that the veteran head coach expects to push the Tigers back to prominence.
Before opening spring camp, Swinney said the next few weeks were marked as a return to basics, with all parties inside his building getting on the same page with a new-look staff following various role changes and hires.
Swinney has pounded the table for credibility several times in recent years during this unexpected downturn, even promising "more championships" at Clemson during last season's tumultuous spin. He said changes were coming, the most notable in the form of replacing a coordinator for the second time in two years after parting ways with play-caller Garrett Riley, the first of several moves.
Few programs in the ACC have been through this much change over the last few months.
Clemson's coaching staff changes
- The Tigers landed former program assistant Chad Morris as offensive coordinator, a surprising move after Swinney initially called the ex-SMU and Arkansas head coach to pick his brain on the OC pool. This is the third time Morris has been on Swinney's staff and second as a coordinator after calling plays from 2011-14.
- Nolan Turner was promoted to safeties coach after two seasons on the Tigers' support staff.
- Tajh Boyd was promoted to quarterbacks coach following Garrett Riley's dismissal as OC.
- Coming to the Tigers from Delaware, Corico Wright is Clemson's new nickelbacks coach, replacing DeAndre McDaniel, who is now a senior defensive assistant.
- Thomas Allen, the son of defensive coordinator Tom Allen, was promoted to defensive passing game coordinator after serving as a defensive analyst under his father last season.
- With three decades of coaching experience, veteran Brad Glenn is joining the ranks to assist with tight ends.
- Clemson added or promoted several staffers to analyst positions, welcomed former wideout Jacoby Ford as an assistant wide receivers coach to replace Will Swinney, and has former North Carolina OC Freddie Kitchens in tow. Kitchens' transfer-filled offense struggled with the Tar Heels last season. He'll be a volunteer analyst at Clemson.
Swinney's banking on a different offensive philosophy to produce, along with better play at the back end of his defense. During last season's loss to Duke, he got in the face of safety Khalil Barnes and several other teammates after blowing a coverage on fourth down, which helped lead to the Blue Devils' 28 first-half points.
Clemson gave up 251.2 passing yards per game in 2025, the most in 10 seasons and 11th in the ACC.
Part of the intended fix is the promotion of defensive coordinator Tom Allen's son, Thomas Allen, to the Tigers' defensive passing game coordinator position. In addition, Nolan Turner will handle safeties.
"Let me tell you, (Thomas) will be a coordinator in the SEC, the Big Ten, the ACC, the Big 12 before he's 30," Swinney said in January. "He is a really gifted, young coach. I'm thankful that we were able to keep him here for at least another year. He did an awesome job [last year]. He'll work with the back five, he'll handle our installs, and just make sure everybody's on the same page. He did a great job when we empowered him this way as the season wore on this past year."
Don't expect Swinney to make any outlandish predictions about Clemson this offseason, not after high-end expectations capsized early last fall.
Ranked No. 4 in the preseason with four first-place votes, the Tigers stumbled quickly with three September losses. Increasingly uneasy as the season progressed, Swinney looked broken last November at 3-5 overall, in danger of missing the postseason for the first time in his 17-year tenure following the 46-45 home loss to Duke.
His joke about being fired failed to land postgame with Clemson athletic director Graham Neff in attendance, leading to many questions surrounding his sizable buyout and future in Death Valley.
Clemson's stock price has seen diminishing returns since the program hit all-time highs to end the 2019 campaign after reaching the College Football Playoff national championship for the fourth time in five seasons. The Tigers' 72.1% win-rate under Swinney since includes three ACC titles, but no CFP victories since 2019.
Futures outlooks are bleak coming off a 7-6 finish, Clemson's worst since 2010, and few seem interested in buying low on a Tigers team taking the field in 2026 with an inexperienced quarterback. The Tigers' signing class ranked 25th overall and fifth in the ACC behind Miami, Florida State, North Carolina and Virginia Tech.
The only major headline out of Clemson this offseason so far was Swinney opening the lid on NCAA tampering and pointing fingers -- with alleged proof -- at Ole Miss. He lost a top transfer portal commit as a result, which preceded the NCAA's strongly-worded memo on future penalties for rule-breakers.
Getting back to the top of the conference and playoff picture for the Tigers involves these coaching moves working out for Swinney with better execution on gameday. Unfortunately for Clemson, the Tigers aren't showing up to the field with a considerable talent advantage any longer, and that's started to be reflected in the win-loss column.
