Dabo Swinney had what he called “absolutely incredible” interest in the coordinator roles he just filled on his coaching staff at Clemson. And why wouldn’t he?
Brent Venables and Tony Elliott have been integral in morphing Clemson’s football program into a national power over the last decade. Venables became perhaps college football’s top defensive coordinator in that time while Elliott called the shots for one of the sport’s most explosive offenses for the last seven years. The two helped Clemson win six straight ACC championships at one point, advance to three College Football Playoff national title games and win two of them.
Now they’re gone.
Both are first-time head coaches. Venables was the first to leave for Oklahoma on Dec. 5, and Elliott followed five days later, taking the job at Virginia. Once those spots on Swinney’s staff were officially vacated, his phone started blowing up.
“It was kind of a triple whammy,” Swinney said. “Not only is everybody reaching out for a job here but reaching out to get a job with Brent. Reaching out to get a job with Tony. So that part has been a little crazy, but it’s been cool because I’ve been able to communicate with a lot of people and it’s been good to catch up with some folks and have some good conversations.”
Swinney insisted that’s all it was. In fact, Swinney said he didn’t interview a single external candidate to fill those vacancies. Once they came open, it took him less than a minute to decide the execute the plan he’d been working on with Brandon Streeter and Wesley Goodwin, whose promotions to offensive and defensive coordinator, respectively, were finalized Tuesday.
“It’d be hard for me to interview someone in 30 seconds because that’s how long it took to make a decision,” Swinney said. “This has been a plan for a while.”
Years, Swinney said. And while Swinney said he doesn’t pay attention to it, he acknowledged that not everybody within Clemson’s fan base is likely to be on board with promoting from within to fill two of the premier coordinator jobs in college football.
“I’ve never worried about that,” Swinney said. “The only thing I’m worried about is what’s right, loving my players and developing great men through the game.”
A coach known for being loyal to his guys, Swinney has done this before. Not since hiring Chad Morris away from Tulsa in 2011 has Swinney hired an offensive coordinator from the outside. Elliott, then Clemson’s running backs coach, was promoted to co-offensive coordinator when Morris left to be the head coach at SMU in 2015.
“When (Morris) was leaving, (it was) we’ll never get a first down again. I remember that very well,” Swinney said. “Tony, he’s called every play for seven years. What an amazing job. For a guy who’s never called a play, he took us to six straight playoffs, three national championships against Alabama, averaged 40 points a game and 500-something yards of offense. Not bad.”
It wasn’t all that hard to see Streeter’s promotion coming either.
Streeter had previous experience coordinating offenses at Richmond and Liberty and served as Clemson’s quarterbacks coach the last seven seasons. Swinney said Streeter has turned down other opportunities to run his own offenses in the SEC and even in the NFL in recent years to remain at Clemson.
“He’s overprepared for this opportunity and deserves it,” Swinney said.
Goodwin, on the other hand, is taking a major jump from an analyst role to the first on-field coaching job of his career, a move viewed as a surprise by some considering the shoes left behind to be filled by perhaps what was the top defensive coordinator in the sport. But Swinney said Goodwin has been an integral part of Clemson’s defensive success behind the scenes since first joining the program as a graduate assistant in 2009.
Goodwin also spent part of a few seasons working in the NFL for former Arizona Cardinals coach Bruce Arians. But once Arians stepped down from that role in 2017, Swinney brought him back to Clemson. Goodwin has had chances to return to the NFL as a linebackers coach since, but Swinney said he informed Goodwin a couple of years back that he would be Venables’ successor once the Tigers’ longtime defensive coordinator ultimately decided to take a head coaching job, which is how Swinney believes he was able to keep Goodwin from making the jump back to the pros.
“There’s nothing he hasn’t done,” Swinney said of Goodwin’s assistance with game planning and scouting over the years. “He was trusted just like a d-coordinator for the last however many years. Unbelievable mind. Unbelievable planner. Unbelievably organized. Incredibly smart. He’s been a huge part of our success.”
Will these promotions work as well as others recently? Time will tell. Streeter and Goodwin will get a test run when Clemson takes on Iowa State in the Cheez-It Bowl on Dec. 29 before prepping for their first full spring and fall in their new roles.
“All I can tell y’all is there’s nobody that has more at stake than Coach Swinney,” Swinney said. “This is my livelihood.”
But what he’s seen from his new coordinators up close and personal over the years is why he didn’t need much time to make his latest decision to promote regardless of what anybody else may think about it.
“I’m going to hire the best person,” Swinney said. “I’m not hiring what other people want me to do and all that stuff. I’m going to hire what’s best for this team, for this university and for me.
“This was a very easy decision in all areas.”