There are some college football jobs where the expectation every year is to compete for a national championship, or to at least take strides towards doing so. According to On3’s Andy Staples, Clemson is not one of those jobs.
Staples detailed Thursday morning which jobs are national championship-or-bust and why Clemson is not one of them.
“Pre-Dabo, I don’t think Clemson fans expected national titles. I do think they expected a better team than they were frequently getting. But I don’t think they expected national titles,” Staples said. “Dabo gave them national titles. I think as long as Dabo’s there, they expect a really good team. I don’t get the sense that they’re completely unreasonable.”
You can point to the recent seasons Clemson has had as proof that you don’t have to compete for a national championship every year at Clemson.
The Tigers have gone 10-3, 11-3 and 9-4 the past three years, failing to reach the College Football Playoff all three seasons.
“Look, if they were like some of these other programs on this list, they would be agitating right now. They’d be like, ‘Eh, I don’t know if Dabo’s going to make it,’” Staples explained. “And I don’t get that sense from them. I still think that there’s a great appreciation for what Dabo Swinney’s done. There’s a great love for Dabo Swinney at Clemson.”
There was some talk of Swinney possibly going to Alabama this offseason to take over for Nick Saban. But Clemson fans were relieved when Kalen DeBoer was hired and not Dabo Swinney, which is further proof that Clemson fans appreciate Swinney, despite some recent years that didn’t live up to the lofty standards he created.
“If you were that cutthroat, like some of these other fanbases I’ve talked about, the discourse would be completely different right now,” Staples said. “So I don’t think Clemson belongs on that list.”
As for which schools do feel like they should be competing for national titles every year, Staples mentioned Auburn, Alabama, Georgia, Ohio State, Michigan, LSU, Texas, Texas A&M, Florida and Florida State.
According to Staples, those programs aren’t satisfied unless they’re in the mix for a national title.
“When I say that your job is to win the national championship at a certain school, I do not mean that I think you’re going to win it this year or that you even can win it this year,” Staples said. “I mean that your fanbase thinks that the only two acceptable trajectories while you are coaching this team are getting better so that you can win the national championship or in contention for the national championship.
“Those are the only two acceptable trajectories. You are not allowed to do anything else or have any other kind of year.”
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