Dabo Swinney contract buyout, explained: How much money would it cost Clemson to fire coach? originally appeared on The Sporting News
The Clemson Tigers are looking to rebound after a pair of unimpressive games to start the season. Clemson opened the 2025 season with a 17-10 home loss to LSU on Aug. 30.
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Last week, although the Tigers beat Troy at home 27-16, Clemson trailed 16-0 for a good chunk of the game. The unimpressive start, paired with Clemson missing out on the playoff three out of the last four years, raises questions about Dabo Swinney’s future.
Swinney, who has been the head coach at Clemson since 2008, is one of the few active head coaches to have won a national title. But the Tigers not playing up to the standard that Swinney set for so many years has many speculating as to whether or not it’s time for a change in Clemson.
Let’s take a look at Swinney’s contract with Clemson, including his buyout and more.
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Dabo Swinney contract details
Swinney signed a contract extension back in 2022. According to the Greenville News, he signed a new 10-year contract with Clemson three years ago, worth $115 million. His annual salary is $11.13 million, which makes him one of the highest-paid head coaches in the country.
Per the USA Today head coach salary database, last updated in 2024, Swinney is second behind Georgia head coach Kirby Smart. Smart makes $13.28 million annually.
His contract also includes incentive bonuses for College Football Playoff appearances. Those include an extra $250,000 for making the CFP or national title game, and an extra $350,000 if the Tigers win the national title
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Last year, Swinney made an extra $250,000 for both making and winning the ACC Championship against SMU.
Dabo Swinney buyout details
As one of college football’s highest-paid head coaches, Swinney’s buyout is pretty stiff. Swinney’s buyout in 2025 is reportedly $60 million, which is the same figure from 2024.
There are also unique provisions in his contract if he leaves for another school or the NFL. Here’s a look at those, via SI Clemson:
If Swinney leaves Clemson for Alabama after the 2022 season, he would owe Clemson $9 million. In 2023 and 2024, it drops to $7.5 million, $6 million in 2025, $4.5 million in 2026 and 2027, $3 million in 2028 and 2029 and $1.5 million in 2030.
Should Swinney leave Clemson for another school this year, he would have to pay Clemson $6 million, $5 million in 2023 and 2024, $4 million in 2025, $3 million in 2026 and 2027, $2 million in 2028 and 2029 and $1 million in 2030.
There is no amount owed should Swinney leave Clemson at any point for the NFL.
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Dabo Swinney coaching record
Swinney has a 181-48 record, including a 12-9 in bowl games. He’s won a pair of national titles in 2016 and 2018, including five CFP appearances. He is 2-2 in national championship games, losing to Alabama in 2015 and LSU in 2019.
His 181 all-time wins ranks third amongst active FBS head coaches, behind Iowa’s Kirk Ferentz (205) and LSU’s Brian Kelly (197).
Although his record is impressive, Clemson hasn’t been a powerhouse like it has been in recent years. Clemson’s playoff appearance last season was the first since 2021, and the Tigers haven’t advanced past the first round since the 2019-20 season. Until last season, Clemson hadn’t played in the ACC title game since 2022, and the Tigers were already out of the CFP hunt by that point anyway.
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Swinney has also been one of the few modern college football head coaches to resist two of the biggest changes that have impacted the sport. Those are both utilizing the transfer portal and capitalizing on using NIL to build recruiting classes. But he has since done a complete 180 on both of those aspects, while promising to invest heavily in NIL, and even landing a pair of transfer-portal players this past recruiting cycle.
Swinney’s contract with Clemson is lucrative, there’s no question. But one interesting aspect about him and Clemson is that the school could have made a change during the Tigers’ down stretch from 2019-2023. Instead, Clemson stuck with him, and even gave him the 2022 extension following the Tigers’ ACC Championship victory.
It’ll likely take a lot more than just a few nine-win seasons—not up to Clemson’s standard, but considered great finishes for any other major program—for Swinney to be ousted.
