Keeping Clemson’s Culture as College Football Becomes Pro Sport

CLEMSON — In the last three years, according to Dabo Swinney, Clemson has played in the 94th percentile of FBS teams.

Since the start of the 2021 season, the Tigers have won 30 games, more wins than 126 of the 134 FBS teams in college football. In other words, they have been good, but not great.

However, Clemson wants to be great. It was great during its run from 2015-’20, when the Tigers posted two national championships and went to six straight College Football Playoffs, when only four teams made the playoff.

What is it going to take for Clemson to get back in the 96 ^th percentile, when it was winning championships on an annual basis, and will it truly ever get back there.

Swinney mentioned the Tigers need to start making plays, taking care of the football and finding ways to win close games, something they did better than anyone in the country from 2011-2020.

However, getting to those points is not as simple as it sounds. The game of college football has changed and continues to change with every passing day.

It can be argued Clemson did not manage the transfer portal/NIL era as well as some of its competitors, in particular Georgia, Ohio State, Alabama and Florida State. The Bulldogs, the Buckeyes and the Crimson Tide all found ways to stay relevant, while FSU used the NIL and the portal to build its program back up.

Beginning in August of 2025, the major college football world embarks on a new era, where players will be paid large amounts of money from the universities thanks to the House Settlement.

The days of fancy facilities and the arms race of college athletics are gone. It is now about who has the cash and how well they can manage that cash to build a roster. Does that sound familiar?

It should. It sounds like the NFL.

This is where college football is going and the teams who adjust to this world the quickest are going to be the ones who succeed.

As The Clemson Insider outlined in our House Settlement article on Aug. 3, Clemson will have an opportunity to be successful. However, the football program needs to embrace this new world of college athletics better than it did the transfer portal/NIL era.

Other programs, including several in the ACC have already embraced an NFL model, which is what it will take to succeed in the new college football landscape.

Miami head coach Mario Cristobal indicated its their job to identify and bring in the best players possible to compliment the players they already have on the roster, whether that is through the transfer portal or high school recruiting and using the NIL to aid in both.

“You have guys that have been here, have been through a lot, are driven to compete and win,” Cristobal said. “Then you have some transfer portal guys at some positions that needed bolstering that are driven, that want to win, want to be at Miami. Then they’re sandwiched in there with some uber-talented freshmen classes.”

Dave Doeren at NC State indicated the Wolfpack has already adopted an NFL-type model for their roster.

“We’ve revamped our recruiting office two years ago. Once this stuff started, we felt like we were chasing our tails a little bit,” he said. “We came up with a plan based on the NFL model on how they assess and evaluate. Once players are deemed players we would want on our rosters, how do they go about the process. Then integrating that into our program.”

In other words, NC State, Miami and even Boston College, are building NFL-like personnel departments in their programs.

Not all colleges have adjusted to this model, yet, but with universities required to pay players as part of the $21.5 million cap, they will have to manage their programs more like an NFL team than a college team.

For instance, programs will probably have to hire someone to run the roster management and financial part of the program, like a general manager in the NFL. This person will be in charge of how much money they offer a player at a certain position, especially when programs start setting values to positions, such as quarterbacks, running backs, wide receivers and defensive ends.

This person will also run a personnel staff that will handle the day-to-day operations of the program when it comes to recruiting, the transfer portal, NIL and using the cap money. Yes, high school recruiting will still be similar to what it is now, but there needs to be someone who manages all these things to ensure they are building the best roster possible.

Could the head coach be the general manager, too. Of course, it is done in the NFL. However, it is usually the franchises that separate the head coach from the general manager’s duties that are the most successful.

The head coach will still be in charge of the program and will be in charge of his coaching staff and players, but he and the athletic director will have to entrust in someone to help with roster management and personnel decisions when it comes to the program.

In the end, programs that totally invest in this model will likely be the most successful ones. Under the House Settlement, Clemson appears to be one of those schools that has the resources and opportunity to be successful.

Ultimately, this will be Swinney’s biggest decision and possible hire since he brought Brent Venables to Clemson in 2012.