Dabo Swinney Addresses Staff Changes

Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney addressed his thought process on hiring replacements for Brent Venables and Tony Elliott Tuesday evening.

Dabo Swinney has been a busy man. In the course of 8 days he lost his offensive and defensive coordinators, Tony Elliott (Virginia) and Brent Venables (Oklahoma), meaning he had a lot of thinking and planning for what his staff will look like moving forward.

Tuesday afternoon we learned Swinney’s plan as the compensation committee met virtually to approve his assistant coaches.

Defensively, Clemson promoted Wes Goodwin from Senior Defensive Assistant to Defensive Coordinator/Linebackers Coach and added the role of Co-Defensive Coordinator for Safeties Coach Mickey Conn. Cornerbacks Coach Mike Reed added the role of Special Teams Coordinator previously held by Conn, while Recruiting Coordinator/Defensive Tackles Coach Todd Bates has added the title of Assistant Head Coach.

Offensively, Clemson promoted Brandon Streeter to Offensive Coordinator/Quarterbacks Coach. Clemson named Kyle Richardson, who had served as Director of High School Relations and Special Assistant to the Offense, as Passing Game Coordinator/Tight Ends Coach.

“I’m just really, really excited about the people that we have in place,” Swinney said. “I’ve always taken a lot of pride in developing our players and developing our team, but I also take a lot of pride in developing our staff.”

Tuesday evening, following the Tigers’ practice for their upcoming bowl game against Iowa State, Swinney met with the media for the first time since the departure of his two coordinators and explained his thought process.

"You know in what we're doing and moving forward so it's gonna be awesome. And as far as I know, we put out a little press release but man, Brandon Streeter, that's a no-brainer. You know, actually he's been a coordinator for multiple years but prior to coming here and he left being a coordinator to come in and coach the quarterbacks and then passing game coordinator, and, man what a great job he's done. I mean, a great job coaching, teaching, evaluating.

"Unbelievable job Deshaun Watson's last two years and then recruiting Trevor, developing Trevor. He's just done an amazing job. So he's, he's over-prepared for this opportunity and deserves it. He's turned down. You know, so many things that people don't know but he's turned down multiple NFL jobs. He had an opportunity to coordinate and NFL last year. He said multiple SEC coordinator jobs occur all over. But he stayed right here and he stayed patient. And this is his time and his opportunity. I'm excited for him."

Swinney also tried to lay to rest any questions the fans may have about defensive coordinator Wes Goodwin, because Swinney has everything to lose.

"You know, everybody's heard the news by now but Wes will be our defensive coordinator. And all I can tell y'all is there's nobody that has more at stake than Coach Swinney. I mean, this is my livelihood. There's nobody that's got more. 

You know, just like when I hired Tony, and everybody was questioning me and you know, all I can tell you is Wes Goodwin special and everybody's ever worked with him. Everybody that knows him, these players, they know who he is and what his capabilities are. And it's a blessing that I've been able to hang on to him. He's turned down to he's turned down three or four linebacker jobs in the NFL for the last three years."