Clemson OC Tony Elliott Named Virginia Football Head Coach

The UVA football coaching search saga has come to an end

Matt Newton | Dec 10, 2021

Photo courtesy of Adam Hagy/USA TODAY Sports

It appears that the Virginia Cavaliers football program (finally) has its next head coach.

After an exhausting week of rumors, speculation, and close calls, Clemson offensive coordinator Tony Elliott has accepted the position of UVA head football coach, as reported by ESPN’s Chris Low and Yahoo Sports’ Pete Thamel.

Update: The hiring of Tony Elliott as Virginia's head football coach has been confirmed by UVA athletic director Carla Williams. You can find more information on Virginia's official press release here: Official: Virginia Names Tony Elliott Next Football Head Coach

After a day of deep thought, Tony Elliott has agreed to become @UVAFootball’s next head football coach, sources tell ESPN. Elliott visited the UVa campus with his family earlier this week. He takes the Cavs’ job after spending the last 11 seasons on @ClemsonFB’s staff.
— Chris Low (@ClowESPN) December 10, 2021

Sources: Tony Elliott is expected to be the next coach at Virginia. A deal should be finalized in the near future.
— Pete Thamel (@PeteThamel) December 10, 2021

Elliott, who won the Broyles Award for the best assistant coach in college football in 2017, interviewed with Virginia Athletic Director Carla Williams virtually this past weekend and then flew to Charlottesville with his family on Wednesday afternoon for an in-person interview. Elliott returned to Clemson on Thursday without having agreed to terms to become Virginia’s next head coach, but Elliott reportedly indicated that it was his decision to make at that point.

Multiple reports say that the decision has been made and Elliott is returning to Charlottesville on Friday to sign a deal to become Virginia’s next head coach.

Tony Elliott began his coaching career in 2006 as a wide receivers coach at South Carolina State. After two seasons at South Carolina State and three seasons at Furman as the wide receivers coach, Elliott was hired at Clemson as the running backs coach in 2011. Elliott was promoted to co-offensive coordinator in 2015.

In his seven seasons as offensive coordinator and primary play-caller at Clemson, the Tiger offense has had the following statistical rankings:

2015: 16th in scoring offense, 11th in total offense

2016: 14th in scoring offense, 12th in total offense

2017: 32nd in scoring offense, 38th in total offense

2018: 4th in scoring offense, 3rd in total offense

2019: 4th in scoring offense, 5th in total offense

2020: 4th in scoring offense, 10th in total offense

2021: 78th in scoring offense, 95th in total offense

From 2015-2020, Clemson went to the College Football Playoff in each season and made an appearance in the National Championship Game in four of those seasons. The Tigers won six ACC Championships and two National Championships in that period.

Perhaps the most impressive accomplishment of Tony Elliott’s time in Clemson was when his offense put up 44 points on No. 1 Alabama in a crushing 44-16 victory in the 2019 National Championship Game.

Last Thursday, Bronco Mendenhall announced he would be stepping down from his position as head coach following Virginia’s bowl game against SMU on December 29th after six seasons as UVA’s head coach. Mendenhall currently has a record of 36-38 as head coach at Virginia and the Cavaliers are bowl eligible for the fifth consecutive season.

Following Mendenhall’s announcement, Tony Elliott emerged as one of the top candidates for the UVA job, but the frontrunner appeared to be Penn State co-defensive coordinator and safeties coach Anthony Poindexter, who is well-respected in the UVA community for his legendary Virginia playing career as well as 11 seasons spent on the Virginia football coaching staff.

Carla Williams flew to Las Vegas on Sunday to interview Poindexter, who was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame on Tuesday night. Initial reports seemed to indicate that things were progressing smoothly towards Poindexter being named the next Virginia football coach. It appeared that Poindexter would be the fan-favorite hire at Virginia and Tony Elliott would be the head coach at Duke, as the Blue Devils had Elliott as their top choice to succeed David Cutcliffe in Durham.

Negotiations between Anthony Poindexter and Virginia stalled, however, and on Wednesday, it was reported that Poindexter would be remaining on the Penn State coaching staff. UVA pivoted and immediately reopened negotiations with Elliott on Wednesday. Elliott and his family boarded a plane in South Carolina and flew to Charlottesville on Wednesday afternoon, expectedly for an in-person interview with Carla Williams for the Virginia head coaching job. Elliott returned to Clemson on Thursday still needing to make a decision between accepting the head coaching position at either Virginia or Duke or returning to the Clemson coaching staff.

Elliott made his decision on Friday morning and he will be Bronco Mendenhall’s successor as head football coach at the University of Virginia.

Elliott will have to get to work right away to stabilize things in the UVA football program. Several players have already entered the transfer portal since Mendenhall’s resignation last Thursday. Some of those players still have the option to return to Virginia, but Elliott will need to make some important decisions in short order, especially regarding who among the current UVA coaching staff will be retained. Additionally, the early signing period is right around the corner (Dec. 15-17) and Elliott will need to work to make sure that Virginia does not lose any more of its incoming recruits in the class of 2022.

While there is still much uncertainty surrounding the state of the Virginia football program, it seems that, at the very least, the UVA coaching search saga has come to an end.

Welcome to Charlottesville, Tony Elliott.

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