During a recent edition of The ESPN College Football Podcast, an ESPN writer discussed what he called Dabo Swinney’s “double down” this offseason when filling the voids on his coaching staff left by the departures of former Clemson defensive coordinator Brent Venables and former Clemson offensive coordinator Tony Elliott after they took over as the head coaches at Oklahoma and Virginia, respectively.
Instead of looking outside his program to replace Venables and Elliott, Swinney, of course, decided to fill both coordinator roles internally, elevating senior defensive assistant Wes Goodwin to defensive coordinator/linebackers coach and giving safeties coach Mickey Conn the role of co-defensive coordinator, while bumping quarterbacks coach Brandon Streeter up to offensive coordinator.
ESPN’s Adam Rittenberg pointed out that Swinney’s philosophy of promoting from within his staff has turned out well for him in the past, and that Swinney himself was an internal promotion back in 2008, when of course he was Clemson’s receivers coach and was named the program’s interim head coach before taking over the team full-time in 2009 and then eventually guiding the Tigers to two national championships, seven ACC titles and six College Football Playoff appearances since then.
“I think the Clemson situation is so fascinating. … Dabo Swinney is doubling down on what’s worked for him at Clemson – this approach that hey, it’s different here, and the way that we’re going to win is through the guys who have been here rather than going to the outside,” Rittenberg said. “Now, he did that for Brent Venables and had incredible success. But the internal promotion has worked. It worked for Dabo Swinney himself, going and being promoted from within the staff somewhat surprisingly to head coach and leading them on this historic run.”
Rittenberg added that he’s particularly intrigued by Streeter’s promotion to offensive coordinator, considering the fact he is Clemson’s quarterbacks coach as well and how important it will be for the Tigers to get more production from the position next season if they hope to win the ACC and return to the playoff.
“Because he worked with the quarterbacks last year, they didn’t get what they wanted necessarily out of D.J. Uiagalelei,” Rittenberg said. “So, is it going to be him, is it going to be someone else, can they get back to the type of production at quarterback is really going to determine where they are in the ACC, where they are in the playoff race.”
Rittenberg also brought up another question that he says people will ask about Swinney’s dynasty if he doesn’t lead the Tigers back to the playoff in 2022.
“And then on a macro level, people are going to wonder, fair or unfair – probably isn’t fair – if they don’t make the playoff, is this window closing?” Rittenberg said. “Is the whole Dabo thing, the whole Clemson thing, kind of going out the window if they don’t win this year?”
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