As football season winds down and the coaching carousel starts to move at a stronger pace, Tiger fans have already heard Clemson coaches’ names brought up with different openings. This is to be expected when your program is competing year in and year out for the playoff and national championships.
One thing that has become evident, even before the carousel began to pick up steam, is that Mike Tennenbaum is determined to try and link Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney with the Jacksonville Jaguars.
Tennenbaum back in August started floating Swinney’s name as a possibility to become the Jaguars’ next head coach. Now, Tennenbaum has thrown Swinney’s name out there again as Jacksonville’s season is about to be over.
Doug Marrone is currently Jacksonville’s head coach. He has been with the team since 2017 and has an overall record of 23-41.
The Jaguars have not made any kind of announcement on Marrone’s future with the team moving forward, but with the Jaguars sitting at 1-13 this season some feel a change could come in the offseason. Then over the weekend, Jacksonville surpassed the New York Jets for the team who will pick number one in the upcoming NFL Draft and many expect Clemson quarterback Trevor Lawrence to be selected in that spot. That would make the rumors sound a little better since he played his college career for Swinney.
“Look, the Jacksonville head coaching job isn’t open, but to speculate that if it did open, Dabo Swinney has been on the shortlist of many NFL teams in recent years,” Tannenbaum said on ESPN NFL insider Adam Schefter’s podcast. “They see him as a program builder. They see him much in the mold of a young Pete Carroll. This is a big if, but if I was ever going to do it, why not travel 418 miles down the road with Trevor Lawrence with a lot of pieces in place? A great place to live and a great owner who has a lot of resources and go from Clemson University to Jacksonville.”
All of this sounds good in theory, but let’s be honest, Swinney isn’t going to coach the Jaguars. Trevor Lawrence or not. Swinney has never spent one day in the NFL. Not as a player or coach.
Not to mention, why leave a job in which he’s making far more money than the NFL would pay. He also has job security at Clemson. He can stay there as long as he likes and that just wouldn’t be the case in the NFL.
