When Tony Elliott was asked what it was like to finally be on the same level as his former boss professionally, all Virginia’s first-year football coach could do was grin.
“I’m not on that level yet,” Elliott told The Clemson Insider during this week’s ACC spring meetings, referencing Clemson coach Dabo Swinney. “He’s always going to be about three levels up from me, but it’s awesome.”
For the first time in his career, Elliott, who left his post at Clemson’s offensive coordinator in December to take the Virginia job, was doing all the things head coaches do at Amelia Island this time of year, starting with simply being there. Elliott even arrived at The Ritz-Carlton early before the coaches’ first meetings Tuesday to scout out the layout and figure out where he was supposed to be.
He then spent most of the week bouncing from one ballroom to another with his peers as they discussed some of the most pressing topics concerning their sport, including name, image and likeness, the transfer portal and future scheduling models that don’t include divisions. Elliott was spotted exiting a few rooms while chatting it up and enjoying the occasional laugh with Swinney, whom Elliott said he has a better appreciation for in terms of just how much there is for head coaches to manage in their jobs.
“Now you understand a little bit more of how he shielded the program from a lot of different aspects,” Elliott said. “There’s so much more to running a program than what you would ever imagine as an assistant.”
So it should come as no surprise that there’s more than just Elliott and his family that he’s taking with him from Clemson to Charlottesville. Elliott acknowledged his current program is at a deficit from a facility and investment standpoint compared to his former one, though the University of Virginia recently approved an athletic department request to move more than $10 million from the school’s endowment fund to construct a new football facility.
While that’s being worked on, there are some things Elliott learned from his time working for Swinney that he plans to incorporate into his approach to his first head coaching job that he’s hoping pays off for the Cavaliers, who’ve had just three winning seasons since 2007. After 15 years at Clemson – four as a player in the early 2000s before spending 11 years on Swinney’s staff – Elliott said some of them are almost second nature.
“I think it’s just inherent,” Elliott said. “There will be a lot just with the practice structure and creating that competitive environment. The core values will be similar. Maybe not articulated the same way. I have my own specific messaging, but fundamentals of the program, the culture we’re trying to create that center around the holistic student-athlete development. Doing things the right way. Being uncommon. Maybe not use the word uncommon but just that mindset and that mentality.”
But Elliott said there are some aspects of his new job that are unique to the University of Virginia, which was founded by former United States President Thomas Jefferson in the early 1800s. Ellliott said he made it clear to his team, former players, administrators and donors shortly after taking the job that he plans to keep them that way.
“At Virginia, they don’t call it the campus. They call it on grounds,” Elliott said. “They don’t say freshmen, sophomore and junior. They say first-year, second-year and third-year because of the learning experience that Thomas Jefferson envisioned when he established the institution. So there’s going to be some core-value fundamentals and structure that will be similar, but the messaging and just the authenticity will be geared toward what the University of Virginia is all about.”
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