Florida State Firing Shows Clemson Truly is Special
CLEMSON — When Florida State announced that they were parting ways with head coach Willie Taggart after less than two seasons in Tallahassee, names began popping up as to who would be the favorite to take over the once storied program.
Names like Auburn head coach Gus Malzahn, former Ohio State head coach Urban Meyer have been floated by pie-in-the-sky fans. While more realistic options include Washington State head coach Mike Leach, Minnesota head coach P.J. Fleck, Wake Forest's Dave Clawson and even Clemson defensive coordinator Brent Venables and co-offensive coordinators Tony Elliott and Jeff Scott found their name among the list of rumored candidates.
But when people ask Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney how he has been able to keep his staff together — especially in a day and age where turnover within other programs happens at an astonishing rate — his answer is simple: It is all about family.
"We have a great environment to live in, a great environment to come and work in. We have great relationships," Swinney said. "Our staff is very close. We're very — you hear about Clemson family all the time, but it's a very real thing for us, and I think that — I mean, we have guys that have opportunities to leave every year, and we've had change, I mean, since I've been the head coach. I've had different coordinators and different position coaches, but when we've had change, we've been able to make good decisions on who gets the opportunity to come in and be a part of our program."
The decision about who to hire, however, does not start with finding the coach with the perfect resume.
Instead, for Swinney, the hiring process begins with finding people that he believes fit the program from a personal standpoint.
"Got a bunch of great, committed people and go people, and I always say, I hire good people first, coaches second," Swinney said. "And again, we're just fortunate that we're at a place like Clemson where our families enjoy living. We have the opportunity to compete at the highest level, live in an incredible place, recruit at the highest level, and when this is your profession, that's pretty special."
Swinney, and the Tigers as a program, have not been immune to having staff turnover when former offensive coordinator Chad Morris left to take a head coaching position, Marion Hobby moved on to the NFL and former defensive line coach Dan Brooks retired Swinney was left searching for adequate replacements.
However, he had a plan in place.
His plan involved promoting from within and hiring people that fit the culture.
You know, when guys have had opportunities to leave, back in '14, my offensive coordinator Chad Morris had an opportunity to go be a head coach, and it was great opportunity for him and created an opportunity to promote some guys on my staff that I felt like were ready and had done a good job and earned it," Swinney said. "I had a change at defensive coordinator back in '12 and Brent (Venables) has been with me ever since, Dan Brooks and Marion Hobby retired in — Marion went to the Jags after we won it in '16 and Dan retired. I was able to hire Todd Bates and Lemanski Hall and Mickey Conn, as well."
With the Tigers becoming perennial powers, and staples in the College Football Playoff, there is sure to come a day when the Tigers will find themselves once again looking to replace an assistant coach that has an opportunity to advance in their profession.
But Swinney believes that the next great coach may be on his staff already.
"So we've had some change, but I've had a lot of continuity from our support staff and guys that I felt like had opportunities to move up," Swinney said.
Even though Swinney believes that a great coach may be on his staff, the fact remains that for co-offensive coordinator Jeff Scott and defensive coordinator Brent Venables, the allure of becoming a head coach pales in comparison to what they are experiencing as assistant coaches at Clemson.
"To be honest, for some people this might come as a surprise, but I really love being at Clemson right now," Scott said. "With a four-year-old daughter and a wife that went to Clemson, I mean I really want to pause this moment in time that we have. Tony (Elliott) and I talk about it all the time, is how long can we keep what we have right now. There's no doubt that what we have is special. And there's no doubt that if you have success in your profession that there's a desire to move up, but that's going to come at some point down the road if you continue to do well. But really there's a feeling that we have something really, really special that's rare.
"I really look at this situation similar to my dad's situation at Florida State where there was great continuity among that coaching staff and the success that they had."
Venables was not having any of the questions surrounding his future with the Tigers.
"I just don't. Just getting ready for N.C. State, so there's nothing to handle, to be honest with you," Venables said.
