Dabo Swinney predicted as ACC Coach of the Year by David Pollack

College football analyst David Pollack picked Dabo Swinney to win ACC Coach of the Year of the 2025 college football season. For Swinney, Clemson saw a return to form by winning the conference and making the College Football Playoff last year.

With an experienced squad back this fall, Clemson not only looks like an ACC favorite, but a national title contender. Getting a third title would put Swinney in elite territory with coaching legends like Barry Switzer, Walter Camp, Knute Rockne, Pop Warner, Tom Osborne, Darrell Royal, Bud Wilkinson and Urban Meyer. 

Pollack felt it was a runaway pick this year within the ACC. It’s Swinney then the field.

“It’s Dabo Swinney,” Pollack said on See Ball Get Ball. “I’d love to find other names and other guys, and I really want to be like, I want to give everybody love, (but I can’t) …

“Dabo has only won it like, in the last, you know, whatever, seven, eight years, like, he hasn’t won it since ‘18. It’s crazy that they found ways not to give it to him. Obviously, they gave it to him a bunch, you know, before that.”

Swinney has actually only won ACC Coach of the Year twice: 2015 and ‘18. Pollack is right that it’s been awhile, but Swinney only has two of those trophies in his case. 

Although, he has three Paul “Bear” Bryant awards, which recognizes the top coach in college football for a particular season. He won it in 2015, ‘16 and ‘18.

People know about quarterback Cade Klubnik coming back for his fourth season and how well he might play this season. In addition, TJ Parker and Peter Woods highlight a defensive line that could be dominant.

But leading that defense is DC Tom Allen, who came over from Penn State. Swinney regarded it as a massive addition to the Clemson program.

“Tom, if you know him, you know he’s a high-energy guy. So that’s been a lot of fun,” Swinney said during an appearance on ACC Network during the league Spring meetings in Amelia Island, Fla. earlier this month. “He doesn’t have much of a voice because he’s abused his voice much of his life, so he’s got a microphone that he carries around and we kind of go back and forth (at practice).

“The biggest thing is, he’s obviously a great football coach, but he’s a great leader of people. And he’s really brought a ton of leadership to that side of the ball. Listen, those are tough decisions you make from time to time. I mean, I can’t say enough good things about (former DC) Wes Goodwin. … But, in end, it just didn’t quite come together the way we wanted. And Tom has come in and really gelled it together from a staff standpoint, and certainly from a leadership side of those young people. And also recruiting, recruiting is a big part of this world too, and he’s highly respected and just really thankful that he came.”