Booger McFarland believes Dabo Swinney has a disconnect with Clemson players, assistant coaches

Clemson has struggled to a 1-3 start to the season and analysts everywhere are trying to get a handle on what exactly has gone wrong. Coach Dabo Swinney is also looking for those answers.

But there might not be an easy fix for the Tigers. Joining The Dan Patrick Show, ESPN analyst Booger McFarland gave his thoughts on why Clemson is struggling.

He was asked the question in framing about Mike Gundy also struggling and being fired. But McFarland sees the two situations a little differently.

“When you don’t evolve, you get left behind,” McFarland said of Gundy’s chief problem. “I think Dabo is in a situation that’s a little bit different, because Dabo did start to evolve. He went into the transfer portal. His best defensive player came from Purdue out of the transfer portal.”

Despite Swinney’s adaptations, the Clemson program continues on a downward trajectory. The program hasn’t had this rough a start in decades.

“You know, it’s kind of a weird thing up there,” McFarland said. “They’ve got a ton of talent. Talent is not the issue. So here’s what I always go back to. When you have a coach that’s been successful and you have a team that has a ton of talent, but that team is not winning, I always go back to this: There’s a disconnection between this team and the coach.

“And you wonder how that could happen. But at a certain point, the message starts falling on deaf ears. Like the coach can be the same and the team can have been in the program, but the team is not hearing the message for whatever reason. I think that’s the case up in Clemson, man.”

Just an off year potentially? That will be the hope at Clemson. But things need to get righted in a hurry before they start becoming damaging to recruiting.

Still, it’s an oddball situation. The Tigers, by most accounts, simply should be better.

“They’ve got probably five or six guys that are going to be drafted in the first two rounds,” McFarland said. “So how can a team that talented be 1-3? Somehow, there’s a disconnect between the coaches and the players and on top of that, I’ll go one step further.

“I don’t think Dabo has hired the greatest coaches to run his offense and defense in the last few years. Like he’s got Garrett Riley running the offense. He’s got Tom Allen running the defense. There’s a disconnect there also, because when talent and the coaching staff don’t connect, I think what you get is you get 1-3.”

Is that all there is to the Clemson problem? That’s how McFarland sees it. And for now, at least, the results remain disappointing.