Clemson head football coach Dabo Swinney shrugged off a question Tuesday regarding his potential interest in the head coaching job at Texas A&M.
According to Chapel Fowler of The State, Swinney didn't flat-out deny interest, but he declined to engage in the discussion beyond saying: "I'm just focused on this job ... Always have been. Just trying to beat North Carolina. It must be November—that's all I can say."
The Texas A&M job became available this week when the school fired Jimbo Fisher following a disappointing 6-4 start.
After going 83-23 and winning a national title in eight seasons at Florida State, Fisher made the surprising decision to leave FSU for Texas A&M.
Fisher was seemingly lured in by the opportunity to build a perennial power in the SEC, as well as a 10-year, $75 million contract.
Following Fisher's arrival, the Aggies had the fifth-ranked recruiting class in the nation in 2019, per 247Sports, followed by No. 6 in 2020, No. 9 in 2021, No. 1 in 2022 and No. 10 in 2023.
Despite the amount of talent Fisher brought in, he went just 45-25 at Texas A&M and never won more than nine games in a single season.
As for Swinney, he has enjoyed success that was previously unprecedented in the history of Clemson football.
Since taking over as Clemson's head coach in 2008, Swinney is 167-43 with eight ACC titles and two national championships.
From 2015 through 2020, the Tigers reached the College Football Playoff six consecutive times and they played in the National Championship Game on four occasions.
The past few years have been a bit more of a struggle, though, with Clemson going 10-3 in 2021 and 11-3 in 2022, and missing the CFP each time.
They are just 6-4 so far this season as well, marking Clemson's most losses since going 10-4 back in 2011.
Not coincidentally, the downturn has coincided with quarterback Trevor Lawrence leaving Clemson for the NFL and going first overall to the Jacksonville Jaguars in the 2021 NFL draft.
That could potentially prompt Swinney to consider other options, as could the prestige of the SEC compared to the ACC, but it is somewhat difficult to envision him leaving what remains an enviable situation at Clemson.
