Clemson has had two eras of national championship football, and both were built by coaches who got the job almost by accident. Danny Ford was 30 when he was promoted for a bowl game in 1978 and won the 1981 national title three years later. Dabo Swinney was an assistant named interim coach in the middle of 2008, and he has since won two national titles, nine ACC championships and more games than anyone in Clemson or ACC history. Frank Howard, who coached for 30 seasons and gave the program most of its traditions, completes the big three.
Clemson Head Coaches Since 1940
| Coach | Seasons | Record | Titles |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dabo Swinney | 2008 to present | 187, 53 through 2025 | National 2016, 2018; ACC 2011, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2022, 2024 |
| Tommy Bowden | 1999 to 2008 | 72, 45 | None |
| Tommy West | 1993 to 1998 | 31, 28 | None |
| Ken Hatfield | 1990 to 1993 | 32, 13, 1 | ACC 1991 |
| Danny Ford | 1978 to 1989 | 96, 29, 4 | National 1981; ACC 1981, 1982, 1986, 1987, 1988 |
| Charley Pell | 1977 to 1978 | 18, 4, 1 | ACC 1978 |
| Frank Howard | 1940 to 1969 | 165, 118, 12 | Southern Conference 1940, 1948; ACC 1956, 1958, 1959, 1965, 1966, 1967 |
Records are wins, losses and ties. Gold rows are coaches who won a national or conference title. Swinney’s record includes the final seven games of 2008, when he was interim coach. Hootie Ingram (1970 to 1972) and Red Parker (1973 to 1976) coached between Howard and Pell.
Frank Howard, 1940 to 1969
Howard came to Clemson as an assistant in 1931 after playing at Alabama, became head coach in 1940 and stayed for 30 seasons, winning 165 games and eight conference titles, two in the Southern Conference and six in the ACC. The rock that players touch before running down the hill into Memorial Stadium was a gift to Howard in the 1960s and is still known as Howard’s Rock, and the playing field has been Frank Howard Field since 1974. He later served as athletic director and is in the College Football Hall of Fame.
Danny Ford and 1981
When Charley Pell left for Florida after the 1978 season, Clemson promoted his 30 year old offensive line coach for the Gator Bowl. Ford’s first game was a 17 to 15 win over Ohio State. Three years later his 1981 team went 12 and 0 and beat Nebraska in the Orange Bowl for the school’s first national championship. Ford won 96 games and five ACC titles before resigning in January 1990, and he is in the College Football Hall of Fame.
Hatfield, West and Bowden
Ken Hatfield, hired from Arkansas days after Ford left, won 32 games and the 1991 ACC title in four seasons. Tommy West followed and went 31 and 28. Tommy Bowden arrived from Tulane in 1999 and won 72 games in nine and a half seasons, with a team that was bowl eligible every season, but never won the ACC. He resigned six games into the 2008 season.
Dabo Swinney, 2008 to present
Swinney, a former walk on receiver at Alabama who had coached Clemson’s receivers since 2003, was named interim coach on October 13, 2008, and got the permanent job at the end of that season. He built the most successful run in ACC history: six straight conference titles from 2015 to 2020, six trips to the College Football Playoff in a row, and national championships over Alabama after the 2016 season, 35 to 31, and the 2018 season, 44 to 16, capping a 15 and 0 year. He passed Howard as the winningest coach in school history with his 166th win, over Notre Dame in November 2023.
The last two seasons have been bumpier. Clemson won the 2024 ACC title and made the playoff, then slipped to 7 and 6 in 2025, and the 2026 season opened with a 51 to 10 loss to LSU, the most lopsided defeat of Swinney’s career. Our 2026 schedule page has the rest of the slate.
John Heisman and the Early Years
Clemson first played in 1896 under Walter Riggs, often called the father of Clemson football. John Heisman coached from 1900 to 1903, went 19, 3 and 2 and won two SIAA titles, and his .833 winning percentage is still the best of any Clemson coach.
The Bottom Line
Danny Ford won Clemson’s first national title in 1981, and Dabo Swinney added two more after the 2016 and 2018 seasons on his way to becoming the winningest coach in both school and ACC history. Frank Howard coached the longest, 30 seasons, and built the traditions. See the coaches with the most wins, the hot seat tracker, Clemson stats and the Clemson score today.