Commentary: Dabo Swinney deserves to be in top tier of salaries

The Clemson University Board of Trustees’ compensation committee approved a new contract last week for Tigers football coach Dabo Swinney that will pay him $30.75 million over the next six years.

Some critics questioned whether Swinney – who was previously set to make $21 million over the next six years – really ought to be making so much money.

Swinney’s new contract opens the door for attacks for his stance that college athletes shouldn’t be paid. This is a stance HBO’s John Oliver famously mocked him for in March 2015 while Swinney himself will make an average of more than $5 million over the next six years. Deadspin’s Tom Ley went as far as to describe Swinney as an “entitled (expletive)” getting an “undeserved raise.”

Swinney got a raise he clearly deserves from a market value standpoint.

Under Swinney’s leadership, Clemson football has evolved from being a middling ACC program that didn’t have a single 10-win season from 1991-2010, to an elite college football program that has put together five consecutive 10-win seasons. Fresh off a run to the College Football Playoff championship game, Swinney’s program shows no signs of slowing down. Clemson’s 2017 recruiting class is ranked fifth nationally by Rivals.

Over the past five years alone, Clemson has won 56 football games, tied with Ohio State for the fourth-most in the Football Bowl Subdivision, behind only Alabama, Florida State and Oregon.

Only Alabama’s Nick Saban and Florida State’s Jimbo Fisher have won more FBS games than Swinney over the past five years, but Swinney’s 2015 salary of $3.3 million ranked just 26th, according to USA Today’s coaching salaries database.

Winning games on the field and increasing Clemson’s recruiting footprint year after year, Swinney has proved himself to be one of college football’s top 10 coaches, and with his new 2016 salary of $4.55 million, he’ll be paid like one.

Three of the coaches who still earn more than Swinney – Michigan’s Jim Harbaugh, Texas’ Charlie Strong and Texas A&M’s Kevin Sumlin – have never led a team to the College Football Playoff.

Every other coach at a Power 5 program who has been in a national title game makes at least $4 million, except Oregon’s Mark Helfrich, who has only been in charge since 2013.

It shouldn’t be forgotten that Swinney was a walk-on player who paid his own way for four years at Alabama. Nor should it be forgotten that in 2012, Swinney chose to reassign $265,000 of his bonus to his assistant coaches for winning the ACC.

Where exactly Swinney ranks among college football’s best coaches will always be up for debate, but statistically, Swinney has been one of college football’s most successful coaches over the past half-decade, and he deserves to be paid accordingly.

This story was originally published April 23, 2016 at 11:36 PM with the headline "Commentary: Dabo Swinney deserves to be in top tier of salaries."