Clemson football in the realignment spotlight. Why Dabo Swinney is ‘not concerned’

Amid major SEC and Big Ten realignment, Clemson coach Dabo Swinney admits this is a “time of change and transition for the game of college football in a lot of areas.”

At the same time, Swinney said at Tuesday’s team media day, he’s “not concerned at all” about Clemson’s ability to maintain a championship-level program — regardless of conference.

“No matter what happens, whether the ACC goes to 52 teams or we move to a new Megatron world conference, people have never come to Clemson because of the league, honestly,” Swinney said. “People come to Clemson because we’re Clemson.”

Swinney — who hass led the Tigers to two national championships and six of the first eight College Football Playoffs — added that school administration has provided his program with “everything we need … from a Clemson football program standpoint, we’re incredibly blessed.”

National reports linked the Tigers to the SEC and the Big Ten earlier this month in the wake of the Big Ten’s acquisitions of Southern Cal and UCLA from the Pac-12.

That was a direct response to the SEC’s acquisitions of Big 12 schools Oklahoma and Texas last summer and prompted serious questions about the ACC’s ability to compete with those forthcoming mega-conferences, given a growing TV contract-fueled revenue gap.

“I think it’s a bigger question than just the ACC,” Swinney said, adding that “most people that are really a part of this game can agree that ultimately there’s going to be a restructuring of college football” in the near future.

Swinney expressed his confidence in Clemson president Jim Clements and first-year athletic director Graham Neff, describing them as “two very, very good leaders and good people that are incredibly plugged into all things college football” and would take the lead in such a situation.

“These decisions aren’t made by coaches,” Swinney said.

Another thing working for Clemson, Swinney said, is a mantra that’s proven true throughout his coaching career: players aren’t hung up on conference status.

“I spent 13 years at Alabama and I never recruited anybody who came to Alabama because we were in the SEC,” Swinney said. “They came because we were Alabama … (former star defensive tackle) Christian Wilkins didn’t come here because we play in the ACC. Christian Wilkins came here because we’re Clemson.”

Sheer revenue also doesn’t bother Swinney, he said, despite projections that the SEC ($105.3 million) and the Big Ten ($94.5 million) will dwarf the ACC ($55.3 million) in annual payouts to member schools by 2029 thanks, in part, to advantageous TV contracts.

“If it was all about walking out and comparing your checkbooks, we wouldn’t win half the games we’ve won,” Swinney said. “We’ve won with people. We’ve won with belief. We’ve won with evaluation, discipline, accountability and development. You can’t put a price on those things.”

With his focus on the Tigers’ Sept. 5 season opener at Georgia Tech, Swinney, 52, reiterated Clemson is “a special place” that can support high-level college football “long after I’m gone from here.”

“Regardless of what happens in the landscape of college football … in five years, in 10 years, in 20 years and in 50 years, Clemson’s (still) going to be Clemson,” Swinney said.