Paul Finebaum reveals likelihood Dabo Swinney entertains Auburn, other opportunities

The college football regular season is over, which means we’re now in the heart of “silly season.” The coaching carousel has spun up and all sorts of crazy ideas are being tossed around. How about the potential Clemson coach Dabo Swinney entertains the Auburn coaching job or other opportunities this offseason?

That was a question ESPN’s Matt Barrie put to fellow analyst Paul Finebaum on ESPN’s College Football channel on YouTube on Sunday.

“I don’t think he would be interested,” Finebaum said. “I mean, he’s just got such a good situation there right now. And as we’re talking, I see Luke Fickell now being targeted by Wisconsin. That’s a guy who — Luke’s a name you heard in every coaching search. That was Pete Thamel reporting that, I just happened to catch my phone as we were chatting here.

“And again, the Auburn situation, I think, I would keep your eye on that as the day goes on. There’s a lot of pushback at the moment that could change.”

On Monday, Finebaum revealed on the McElroy and Cubelic in the Morning program that he thought someone will have dropped the ball on the Auburn coaching search if the Tigers make it through the day without a hire, given the lead time they had after firing Bryan Harsin in late October.

But the conversation with Barrie about Swinney continued.

And it was actually Finebaum that suggested an interesting alternate angle: What if Dabo Swinney ups and leaves for the NFL?

Could burnout be a factor for Dabo Swinney?

After Finebaum’s suggestion that maybe Dabo Swinney might entertain some looks in the NFL, Barrie quickly shut that down, noting Swinney’s “act” would wear thin by the “third day of training camp.”

However, the discussion led to Finebaum’s overarching point on Swinney following a pair of disappointing seasons at Clemson.

“There’s also a point — and I think it’s remarkable (Nick) Saban has been at Alabama 15, 16 years — Dabo’s been there since 2008 as the head coach,” Finebaum said. “You wear out.”

Enough to leave a program Swinney has been at since 2003? With 15 years as the head coach, seven ACC titles and two national championships?

“I was talking to a young student Friday in Tuscaloosa,” Finebaum said. “And the guy said, ‘You know, Saban’s old now.’ Everybody knows that, but you’ve never been able to say that before. And suddenly you lose a couple of games — and Dabo has now lost the biggest game of the year.

“Dabo’s not old but suddenly you just, like, you get tired of the guy. And it happens, and that’s why coaches move and get frustrated after they’ve been someplace for a very long time.”

Talk about a move that would seriously rock the college football world.