The year 2025 has to be the absolute worst year for Dabo Swinney and the Clemson Tigers. They took a majority of the preseason flowers, boasting what appeared to be the best team in the country on paper. They led the nation in returning starters heading into the season and had at least five players, including Cade Klubnik, Peter Woods, and TJ Parker, projected to go in the first round of the NFL Draft. Swinney even promised that Clemson would go 16-0 this year. Unfortunately, everything went south for the Tigers, and the national media feels burned by his preseason promises. Joel Klatt believes Clemson is beyond saving, at least for the 2025 season. As for the head coach, the fans may be calling for his head. But Swinney’s $60 million buyout acts as his safety net.

A loss to LSU at home set the tone for failure. Then the slide started innocently enough with an uncomfortable win over Troy. This was followed by a stunning last-minute field goal defeat to Georgia Tech. Finally Fran Brown’s Syracuse delivered the absolute knockout last Sunday at Clemson Memorial Stadium. 4 weeks into the 2025 season, and Dabo Swinney has already lost twice at home. The Orange’s 34–21 win in Death Valley was Syracuse’s first-ever victory in Clemson’s stadium, snapping a six-game skid in the series and leaving fans booing before halftime.

Joel Klatt, FOX Sports’ lead analyst, didn’t hold back. On his podcast, he straight-away admitted his preseason pick of Clemson as national champs was a disaster. “Your boy had Clemson not only going to the College Football Playoff… I had Clemson winning the national championship,” Klatt said. “Freezing cold take. It can’t get colder than that. This is just an utter failure from Clemson. “I don’t know what to learn from this,” he said. “They’ve got potentially four first-round draft picks, but the way they’ve played, maybe one.” Klatt doesn’t even know where he went wrong with his predictions as everything on paper looked rock solid for success.

Clemson entered the year with a playoff résumé from 2024, went to the coaching market, and arguably poached one of the best defensive coordinators in Tom Allen from Penn State. Combine all of this with a roster that included four to five players projected as first-round picks. Yet those names haven’t translated preseason hype into Clemson-caliber production. Heisman favorite Cade Klubnik looks shaky in his third year as a starter, with his production dropping significantly compared to last year. What makes this even harder is that Dabo Swinney is allergic to the transfer portal. He rarely explores it, preferring instead to develop players at home. While this approach is admirable by Dabo’s own standards, it doesn’t work well in the modern NIL era.

However, Clemson isn’t supposed to look this bad with this much talent. Klatt’s rant underscored how hard it is to explain. “This was an absolute whiff, and I don’t know how to correct it. I really don’t. I look over there, and all it makes me do is wonder what’s wrong at Clemson. I don’t know. I have no idea. I don’t understand what’s going on there at all. Losing 34-21, being down two, three scores every single time you turn on the TV, and it’s the first quarter, you’re like, “What is going on at Clemson?” Something’s broken at Clemson. Something’s broken.” Clemson fans are reacting to this by asking for Dabo to be fired. But that is easier said than done.

Clemson Tigers stuck with Dabo Swinney!

The frustration in the stands raises one question: can Clemson really move on from Dabo Swinney? Yes, but not without torching their budget. “By the way, Dabo’s buyout is $60 million. That’s not going anywhere,” Klatt said. He explained there’s no offset language in the deal, meaning even if Swinney were fired and he took another job, Clemson would still owe him every dollar of his contract.

That structure makes this buyout almost untouchable. Clemson could theoretically pay it all within 90 days, but that’s so unrealistic it borders on comical. The far more likely scenario is installments of about $11 million per year until 2031, which would mean paying Swinney to leave while also funding a new coach’s contract. For a program already under a lot of pressure, it’s a financial trap.

Analysts have called it one of the most egregious contracts in college football, and it explains why fans demanding change might not get it anytime soon. So, Clemson’s hands are basically tied with one of the biggest buyout clauses in college football, and there’s nothing they can do about it.