Paul Finebaum calls Dabo Swinney 'a laughing stock' amid 1-3 start: 'It's time for him to go'

After suffering a 34-21 loss to Syracuse on Saturday, Clemson fell to 1-3 for the first time in head coach Dabo Swinney‘s tenure. During an appearance on The Matt Barrie Show on Sunday, ESPN’s Paul Finebaum didn’t mince words about Swinney’s future at Clemson.

“My advice to Dabo, and I know he doesn’t like taking advice from people like me, is to get out of there,” Finebaum said. “Be quiet. Quit talking. Because, he has no credibility now with his fan base. I mean, they’ve heard the whines before. He’s become a meme. He’s become, for a really good coach — and I do believe he’s a really good coach — he’s become somewhat of a laughing stock every time he opens his mouth.

“It’s time for him to do one of two things. It’s either consider another school, and I think he is hireable if he quits talking. Or, just get away from football and become a TV guy. He’s very funny, he’s very clever. He’s got more credentials than any other non-TV coach out there. And what I mean by that is Saban has already got a job. I’m not talking about him. I’m talking about of the people that can leave coaching and go into TV, he would be very coveted.”

Clemson entered the season as one of the favorites to win the national title. Alas, Clemson fell 17-10 to LSU in their season-opener and hasn’t recovered since.

It’s a perplexing issue for the Tigers, who returned 16 starters from a team that won the ACC Championship last season. Alas, Clemson is now 0-2 in conference play and not showing any signs of a turnaround.

In the loss against Syracuse on Saturday, Clemson’s offense was successful on just 3-of-its-13 third-down conversion attempts and 1-of-its-5 fourth-down conversion attempts. Clemson is averaging 365.6 yards per game this season, ranking No. 88 in the country.

Ahead of the game last week, Swinney made headlines when he fired back at critics calling for his job. If Swinney ultimately isn’t ready to quit coaching, Finebaum believes he should at least search for a fresh start.

“There will be a lot of openings, and when you introduce Dabo Swinney, it’s not that’s not a bad look,” Finebaum said. “Jimbo Fisher has done pretty well leaning on one national championship. Dabo has a much better resume.

“I think it’s over at Clemson. Let’s quit trying to sugarcoat it, Matt. Sometimes it’s very difficult to get it back when you’ve lost it. He lost it, he got it back. Now, he’s lost it again, and he’s lost it badly. And it’s time for him to go.”