Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney has said that Tony Elliott is like a son to him, and Elliott certainly feels he has a father-son bond with Swinney as well.
“He is like a father to me,” Elliott said on Monday during his introductory press conference as Virginia’s new head football coach.
Elliott, who spent 11 seasons at Clemson as an assistant coach under Swinney, including the last six as offensive or co-offensive coordinator, first formed a relationship with Swinney in 2003 – Swinney’s first year as an assistant at Clemson, when he was the wide receivers coach, and Elliott’s final season as a receiver for the Tigers.
At that time, Elliott – who came to Clemson as a walk-on in the fall of 1999 – had already graduated and was deciding whether to return for one more season at Clemson or to go ahead and start his career in the engineering field.
That’s when Swinney stepped in and convinced Elliott to come back, and the point when they began to build a bond that will last a lifetime.
“Our relationship started in 2003 when he came to Clemson,” said Elliott, who finished his career with four letters and 44 games, including four as a starter as a senior in 2003.
“I was asked to come back for my last year, and right after the bowl game, (former Clemson receivers coach) Rick Stockstill leaves to take another job, and we’re sitting in limbo. I was already a graduate and I was debating whether or not I was going to come back, and then Coach Swinney came along. He didn’t have a reason to believe in me. I was a former walk-on, wasn’t a scholarship guy. Asked to come back, and there was some dudes coming back in that room from a receivers standpoint. But he saw something in me, and he believed in me and he gave me an opportunity. And from there, the bond has been strong ever since.”
Swinney has long served as a mentor to Elliott, who has been a candidate for plenty of various coaching vacancies but stayed selective in his search for the right head coaching position.
He knew Virginia was the right job and situation for him when he heard Swinney say it.
“He’s always been in my corner,” Elliott said. “He understands who I am, he understands the right fit, and he’s been the one that’s helped me to stay patient, to look for the right fit, to make sure that I get into a situation where there is alignment. There were jobs that he would give me his blessing on, and there were jobs that he wouldn’t give me his blessings on. And when I heard him say that he felt like Virginia was the perfect fit for Tony Elliott, then that’s all I needed to hear.”
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