Dabo Swinney needs new coordinators. Former Clemson coach Tommy Bowden can relate
The longer Dabo Swinney coaches, the more he has in common with his predecessor, Tommy Bowden.
The present and past Clemson head football coaches added another similarity this weekend when defensive coordinator Brent Venables and offensive coordinator Tony Elliott left the program to take head coaching jobs at the University of Oklahoma and the University of Virginia, respectively.
When Bowden was the head coach in 2004, he lost his coordinators as well, though under different conditions.
“We went backwards from what we had done in 2003,” longtime Clemson SID Tim Bourret said in reference to going 9-4 that year and 6-5 in 2004.
The Tigers started 1-4 but won five of their last six games to end the 2004 regular season. They averaged 21.5 points per game while giving up 20.8 points. They didn’t go to a bowl game, though, as a self-invoked penalty after the brawl that took place at the end of the Palmetto Bowl. The Tigers beat South Carolina 29-7 on Nov. 20.
Less than a month later, Bowden fired offensive coordinator Mike O’Cain and defensive coordinator John Lovett following the 6-5 season. Rob Spence and Vic Koenning came in as the Tigers’ respective offensive and defensive coordinators.
In their first season, Clemson went 8-4, beat Colorado 19-10 in the Champs Sports Bowl and finished 21st in the final Associated Press poll. The team outscored opponents, 316-211.
Despite the offense sputtering this year, the Tigers finished 9-3 and won the final five games of the regular season heading into the Cheez-It Bowl on Dec. 29. The offense averaged 36.4 points in the final five games, while the defense ranked ninth in the country in total defense.
Unlike Bowden, Swinney didn’t have to fire his coordinators, though their departures still leave him with two openings to fill like Bowden 17 years ago. Swinney was the receivers coach then and has yet to deal with a situation like this. The closest he’d come was bringing in Elliott in 2010 and Venables a year later.
The one notable distinction between when Bowden and Swinney hired new coordinators at once, however, is the athletic director. Bowden had Terry Don Phillips as Clemson’s athletic director for most of his tenure with the program, while Dan Radakovich, who replaced Phillips in 2012, left for Miami on Thursday. That leaves Clemson with three major positions to fill sooner than later.
Deputy AD Graham Neff has been elevated to the interim AD. It’s believed he’ll be next in line for the position permanently. When it comes to replacing personnel on the football coaching staff, the biggest advantage Swinney has, Bowden said, is resources.
“He’s got the biggest pocketbook in college football, so when you have that extra hand, you can get anybody you want,” Bowden said of his former wide receivers coach. “When you’ve got the resources he does, when you have a pocketbook like he does, everybody is an option. He’ll do a good job.”
To Bowden’s point, Venables and Elliott had both earned raises this season for a combined salary of $4.5 million a year. Venables was believed to be the highest-paid assistant coach, making $2.5 million and agreed to a six-year, $43.5 million deal with the Sooners. The terms of Elliott’s deal with Virginia are yet to be known, though he was up to $2.5 million with Clemson.
Resources aren’t just limited to money, though. That goes for the viable options Swinney will have in replacing Elliott and Venables both internally and externally.
Early reports have Tigers defensive analyst Wes Goodwin as an option as a potential co-defensive coordinator with safeties coach Mickey Conn, while Elliott’s replacement is still being speculated.
“One thing that’s different from even 10 years ago is there’s so many more analysts and all that types of guys that are on your staff that are certainly capable of moving in within your structure that you already have,” Bourret said. “Back in 2004 when coach Bowden had to name an offensive and defensive coordinator, there was no such thing as analysts or other guys on your staff. You had your nine coaches and that was pretty much it. It was a lot tougher to promote from within than it is today.”
Swinney has had success with internal hires and/or hiring Clemson alum, particularly on the offensive side of the ball. While Elliott came to Clemson from Furman in 2010, he’s a former walk-on with the Tigers’ program and played for Swinney during his senior season in 2003. Brandon Streeter, believed to be an option to succeed Elliott, has been the team’s quarterbacks coach since 2014. Though he left for a while, the former Tigers quarterback was a graduate assistant with the team in 2004 and 2005, working with Charlie Whitehurst during those two seasons.
Then, there’s Tyler Grisham, who was an offensive analyst at Clemson before moving up to interim wide receivers coach later in the 2019 season and having the interim tag removed on Feb. 6, 2020. Last, but certainly not least, is former Tigers running back C.J. Spiller, who moved up from an unpaid coaching internship in 2020 to becoming Clemson’s running backs coach on Feb. 5.
No matter how many resources are at Swinney’s disposal, replacing Venables and Elliott won’t be easy. The two were part of two national championships in six College Football Playoff appearances, six ACC titles and never won less than 10 games in a given year up until this season.
Still, Bowden knows Swinney will be careful with how he proceeds in filling out his coaching staff to maintain the standard of success the Tigers have achieved in the last decade.
“Dabo, he knows what it’s like to hire a good coach. He knows to fire a good coach and hire another one,” Bowden said. “I think defensively, he’ll get a guy that’s got a tremendous amount of experience that he can let go. … Dabo’s now been around Chad Morris and Jeff Scott and Tony Elliott and himself, I’m sure he’ll still be heavily involved, so he’s going to be a little more hands-on offensively and maybe be a little more detailed in the interview process.”
Dabo Swinney statement on Elliott hire
Statement from Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney on Virginia’s hiring of Tony Elliott:
“I just can’t tell you how happy I am for Tony and Tamika and Ace and A.J. and also just how proud I am of Tony.
“Man, it’s really, really been an amazing journey for me to watch Tony since 2003. He was in my first receiver group — a captain. And I’m not quite old enough to be his dad but I look at him like a son. He really is special. I love him and his family with all my heart. I’m just so proud of him and all that he’s done since I hired him in 2011. And then obviously he had never called plays, and he’s leaving here as one of the best to do it. What he did from that bowl game in 2014 to now is just incredible.
“To see him now have a chance to go be the head coach at Virginia — like Brent [Venables] having the chance to go be the head coach at Oklahoma — it’s a blessing because I know what he’s going to bring. Those young men will be blessed by the way we do things here at Clemson. I have no doubt he’s going to be successful. And I’m super excited I’m still going to have a chance to interact with him on head coach calls, our ACC head coach meetings, etc.
“It’s good to see him move on and sad to see him move on, but it’s also exciting for new opportunity here as well.”
This story was originally published December 11, 2021 at 6:00 AM with the headline "Dabo Swinney needs new coordinators. Former Clemson coach Tommy Bowden can relate."
