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ESPN staff
After a second straight season of three losses, Dabo Swinney revamps the Clemson program. Last year, the Tigers head coach was promoted from within when former coordinators Brent Venables (Oklahoma) and Tony Elliott (Virginia) landed head coaching jobs.
But following Thursday’s firing of offensive coordinator Brandon Streeter, ESPN sources say TCU’s Swinney Garrett will appoint Riley to the same position. It’s a shock to a program known for continuity — Swinney hadn’t fired an assistant coach since 2011 prior to the move.
Riley just won the Broyles Award for the nation’s best assistant and helped lead the Horned Frogs to the national title shot in his first season in Fort Worth.
What kind of playcaller do the Tigers get? What does it say about Clemson’s condition? And what’s next for TCU? David M. Hale and Dave Wilson break it all down.
What prompted Clemson to take this step?
It’s hard to say Streeter was to blame for Clemson’s offensive troubles in 2022. The truth is that Streeter actually steered the offense to significantly better numbers than 2021 in his first year as coordinator. But Streeter was also largely a continuation of Clemson’s past. He might not have been responsible for the downturn, but it seemed clear that he would not take things in a new — and needed — direction. Instead, Swinney seems to have found someone in Riley who can add some serious spice to an offense that was pretty vanilla from an X and O’s point of view. Vanilla has worked with Trevor Lawrence and Deshaun Watson and a variety of NFL backs and receivers. Without them, vanilla just looked… bland.
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But perhaps the other big problem here is QB Cade Klubnik. After the failed experience with DJ Uiagalelei, Clemson can’t afford to see another blue-chip QB underperform. That Klubnik failed to win the job throughout the regular season despite Uiagalelele’s hiccups, and that his performance in the bowl game also featured some serious freshman missteps, one has to consider that a change had to be made to secure Klubnik’s talents in Arena It is not wasted, and he may look more like Lawrence than Uiagalelei in 2023. Given Riley’s success in turning a solid if unspectacular QB in Max Duggan into a Heisman finalist, it’s a “no excuses” move for Klubnik, too. – Healthy
What does that say about where Swinney thinks the program is?
It’s hard to know exactly what Swinney’s mindset is. He balked at even the slightest criticism last offseason, when outsiders suggested his promotion from two internal candidates to playcaller jobs — Streeter and Wes Goodwin — may have been short-sighted. He spent most of 2022 praising Uiagalelei and even berating the media for doubting the QB — then he benched Uiagalelei three times during the season and admitted he hoped for weeks after the ACC championship game had, Klubnik would take over. Now he’s finally backed down on his claim that Streeter is the right man for the OC’s job, and he’s set out to land as big a fish as there is in the ranks of the coordinators. Perhaps the real benefit here is that Swinney has a formula that he believes in, but he’s also smart enough to know when something doesn’t work. However, it remains to be seen if this will be the final change in personnel and, perhaps more importantly, if he will change his perspective on the transfer portal to also address some roster constraints. – Healthy
What kind of coordinator does Clemson get in Garrett Riley?
Riley was a quarterback under Mike Leach at Texas Tech, like his brother Lincoln, and then began his coaching career humbly as a QB coach at a West Texas high school, then in places like Augustana, East Carolina, Kansas and Appalachian State, where he Running backs coach was. TCU coach Sonny Dykes believed he complemented his own passing philosophies with a detailed running game plan, so he made him the OC/QB coach and SMU’s primary playcaller. In his first season in 2020 with Shane Buechele in QB, the Mustangs averaged 38.6 points per game, 15th nationally. The next year, when Oklahoma’s Tanner Mordecai switched to QB, the offense ranked 10th, leading the AAC in passing and averaging 38.4 ppg. Then, in his freshman year at TCU, he helped turn Duggan, a four-year starter who never threw for more than 2,100 yards or 16 TDs in a season, into a Heisman runner-up with 3,698 yards and 32 TDs. Riley is a patient playcaller who doesn’t just flash, but instead pairs a power-running attack — Kendre Miller ran for more than 1,200 yards between tackles this season — with a simplified Air Raid passing scheme to wear down defenses and go big to pop plays. Riley has already worked wonders in just three seasons as a coordinator. -Wilson
What is Riley’s first order of business at Clemson?
Riley has to evaluate everything. All five offensive assistants on the field had no FBS coaching experience other than their time at Clemson prior to Streeter’s dismissal. Will Riley want to keep this staff intact? Clemson’s receiving corps has failed to develop young talent in recent years, and in each of the last two seasons the offense has relied heavily on true freshmen. Could there be options in the portal to help add a veteran presence? Will Shipley is a rising star, but his use among Streeter has always been a bit odd. Riley must figure out how to maximize such a valuable weapon. The offensive line showed some improvement last season under first-year coach Thomas Austin, but also gave up 26 pressure points in the Capital One Orange Bowl against Tennessee. But again, there’s no bigger problem for Riley than turning Klubnik from a newcomer with potential into another Heisman candidate. The fate of the Clemson offensive will relate to this relationship as much as it does to changes in the offensive plan. – Healthy
Where does TCU go from here?
Dykes has an idea of what he needs in a coordinator. In his first five years as head coach, he had Tony Franklin, a longtime Air Raid assistant, lead the offense. Since then he has mentored young coaches like Jake Spavital at Cal and Rhett Lashlee at SMU, both of whom became head coaches. Despite Dykes’ own background as a playcaller, his assistants have freedom in game planning and playcalling, making the job an attractive one. In nine of the last 11 seasons, Dykes’ offenses have finished no lower than 22nd, with three top-10 performances. He has a network of options as the airstrike has spread through college football. He can handle this position with confidence. -Wilson