Clemson coach Dabo Swinney confirmed after the Cheez-It Bowl what had long been suspected: Robbie Caldwell was retiring as Clemson’s offensive line coach.
But Swinney said then Caldwell would still be involved with the football program in an off-field role. Last week, Clemson’s Board of Trustees Compensation Committee approved a one-year contract extension for Caldwell to be the Tigers’ director of high school relations and player development.
It’s a role Caldwell will serve in until at least January 2024 assuming he remains at Clemson through the end of his contract. What exactly will it entail?
“He’s going to be excellent from a high school relations standpoint working in recruiting, and then he’ll be doing a lot of scouting and evaluation as well,” Swinney said. “Then obviously once we get into the season, he’ll have a lot of football roles in the self scout, the crossover study, the opponent study. He’s going to be a great resource for us.”
Caldwell knows the lay of the local recruiting land as well as anybody on Clemson’s staff. Now 68 years old, the South Carolina native played his college ball at Furman and spent 35 of his 44 years coaching in the Carolinas. Those included stints at Furman, N.C. State, North Carolina and Clemson, where he was the offensive line coach for the last 11 seasons.
Swinney said the relationships Caldwell has forged over the years is a big reason why he lasted nearly five decades in the coaching profession. It’s also why Swinney believes Caldwell is the perfect fit for his new role, likening him to another former longtime assistant Swinney worked with at Clemson.
“Dan Brooks, that guy, he could recruit with anybody. Everybody loved Dan Brooks,” Swinney said. “It’s the same thing with Robbie. He just has long relationships. He can talk to anybody. He can communicate well. But he’s got great relationships with all these coaches and is just a huge resource for us to be able to put him in a little different role where he can really focus on the bigger picture as opposed to just a segment of the program.”
Fresh off finalizing the nation’s 11th-ranked signing class in the 2022 recruiting cycle Wednesday, according to the 247Sports Composite, Swinney said Caldwell has “already made us better.”
“Robbie’s a worker,” Swinney said. “He’s a guy that looks for work every single day. He’s going to be really, really great in this role.”
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