Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney spoke with the media around 6 p.m. Sunday and said it wasn’t until right before then that he heard the news of Jeff Scott being fired by South Florida.
Scott, of course a longtime member of Swinney’s staff at Clemson before taking USF’s head coaching job ahead of the 2020 season, was relieved of his duties Sunday after going 4-26 in three seasons with the Bulls.
“I literally, like 30 seconds before I got on here, Ross (Clemson Assistant Athletic Director for Football Communications Ross Taylor) told me that,” Swinney said during his weekly Sunday Zoom conference call. “So, I literally just heard that. I hadn’t seen anything, so I didn’t know anything about it but definitely will reach out to Jeff.”
Scott’s firing comes on the heels of USF’s 54-28 loss at Temple on Saturday, which marked the Bulls’ seventh straight defeat following a win over Howard on Sept. 10 and dropped their record to 1-8 this season.
USF special teams coordinator Daniel Da Prato will serve as the interim head coach in place of Scott, who had a 1-26 record against FBS teams across his close to three full campaigns.
“I just know he gave it everything he could down there, and it just didn’t work out,” Swinney said. “But he’s a great coach and a great person and got a great family and somebody I love dearly, and I know he’ll grow from it.”
Scott, who received a two-year contract extension back in January, spent 12 seasons on Swinney’s staff including the last five as the Tigers’ co-offensive coordinator.
Swinney was asked Sunday if Scott, a Florida native who also played his college football for the Tigers, would be welcome back at Clemson if a spot on Swinney’s staff were to open up in the future.
“I’m not getting into any of that kind of stuff, man. I just want to beat Louisville,” Swinney said, referring to Saturday’s game at Death Valley. “That’s all I want to do. That’s the only thing I’m focusing on right now.”
–Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images
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