Assistant by Day, Head Coach by Night—How Coaches Pull Double Duty During CFP

What’s the day-to-day like when coaches who are already working around the clock trying to win a national championship, also have the added responsibility of balancing a new program?

NEW ORLEANS — Clemson will get on a plane home Tuesday morning, either as back-to-back national champions or having just lost to the greatest team in LSU history. Regardless of the outcome, Jeff Scott won’t be on that plane.

The Tigers’ co-offensive coordinator for the last five years has a different flight path Tuesday, heading to his new home in Tampa Bay where he’ll assume the role as head coach at South Florida. After accepting the job on Dec. 9, Scott has been pulling double duty: preparing Clemson for the College Football Playoff semifinal against Ohio State and for the title game against LSU, while also getting his new staff and recruiting class in place at USF.

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With the playoff lasting more than a month—from prep to practice to playing the games that are 16 days apart (at least this season)—some coaches are finding themselves balancing two jobs at this time of year. Former Ohio State co-defensive coordinator Jeff Hafley is a recent example, coaching the Buckeyes through the CFP semis before switching to full-time Boston College head coach. Last year, former Alabama offensive coordinator Mike Locksley remained on Nick Saban’s staff through the national championship game before moving onto Maryland.

So what’s the day-to-day like during a period when coaches, who are already working around the clock trying to win a national championship, also have the added responsibility of balancing another program?

“I feel like I’m Clemson’s co-offensive coordinator during the day, and the USF head coach at night,” says Scott, who doubts he’ll get a good night’s sleep until after National Signing Day on Feb. 5.

Clemson coach Dabo Swinney doesn’t have a ton of experience losing assistants. He’s been immune to the turnover other elite programs regularly face. The last time he lost a coordinator was when Chad Morris sprung for SMU following the 2014 season, which prompted the elevation of Scott and Tony Elliott to co-offensive coordinators. Since then, the Tigers have played in five straight playoff semifinals and won two titles. On the brink of a third, Swinney has a planned-out schedule for his staff. And while he’s perfectly understanding of Scott’s extra commitment—Clemson coaches are working 6 a.m. to midnight at “100 miles per hour,” Scott says—that leaves limited time to focus on USF duties.

“I’ve lost about 10 pounds in the last two weeks just from all this,” Scott quips. “But that’s a good thing.”

Scott has found windows to step out and make calls to recruits or staffers, though. For 10 days before the Fiesta Bowl on Dec. 28, Scott went to Tampa Bay, had his introductory press conference, met with administrators and players, and hired 10 full-time coaches. He hasn’t been back to Florida since, but last week before the Tigers left for New Orleans, Scott held two meetings with USF assistants via Skype from Clemson meeting rooms. He says his staff will be able to handle some official visit weekends without him.

Scott never envisioned his initial staff meetings as a head coach would be through video chat, but he’s just happy the Bulls won’t be too far behind once he’s permanently on campus. That’s not the case for everyone and wasn’t for Locksley last year, who admits Maryland was behind when he finally arrived after coaching Alabama through the title game. When Locksley was announced as the Terrapins’ new coach in early December 2018, he spent a few days in College Park and then put everything on hold. Once he flew back to Tuscaloosa, Locksley threw his Crimson Tide gear back on and his energy back into trying to win another championship. Like Scott, Locksley used whatever free moments he had at night to work on Maryland stuff. But he didn’t sign a bunch of kids during the early signing period and he didn’t hire coordinators until he was back full time because he “didn’t want to rush into anything.”

“That put us behind at Maryland, but I thought I owed it to Alabama and Coach Saban for the opportunity they gave me to be part of three championship games, have a chance to win another one, and finish the job there,” Locksley says. “I brought that to Maryland’s attention when I took the job, that I wanted to finish, and said that it may put us a little behind. But it was the right thing to do.”

Locksley remembers the flight home from last year’s title game in the Bay Area. He talked to Saban on the plane, discussing everything from future staff hires to how grateful he was for the chance to coach at Bama. But once they landed in Tuscaloosa, Locksley was “100% Maryland’s head coach,” he says. The next day he finished packing, said goodbye to influential people in the program, and left. Scott won’t return to Clemson for a while. Maybe sometime this spring he’ll take his staff there for a coaching clinic. But starting Tuesday, no matter what happens in Monday night’s game, he’ll be 100% South Florida’s head coach.