Clemson coaching staff changes could have Tigers back in playoff

Dabo Swinney completely reshaped the mood of the Clemson offense by making a few massive coaching staff changes on Thursday.

After the sweeping changes Dabo Swinney made to his offensive coaching staff on Thursday, do not be shocked if Clemson is back in the College Football Playoff after a rare two-year absence.

The reigning ACC champions have been the gold standard in their Power Five conference throughout the playoff era. Clemson made the four-team field six times consecutively from 2015 to 2020, but after missing out on the last two postseason tournaments, big changes needed to happen to fix this broken offense. Fortunately, Swinney has made three terrific moves thus far.

Clemson has fired offensive coordinator Brandon Streeter after a very rough go of it last season.

Not only was Swinney able to pry Frank Broyles winner Garrett Riley off Sonny Dykes’ TCU staff, but former Clemson offensive coordinator Jeff Scott is coming back as an analyst after the unmitigated disaster that was his run at South Florida.

Riley appears to be the next hot-shot coordinator in college football, while Scott “bleeds orange”.

Dabo Swinney completely reshaped his Clemson coaching staff for the better

Even though five-star quarterback D.J. Uiagalelei has taken his talents to Oregon State, the Tigers still have Cade Klubnik under center. While he showed flashes of brilliance during his true freshman season, Klubnik is far from a polished product. By moving on from Streeter, poaching Riley away from TCU and getting Scott back in town from off the street, good job by you, Clemson!

Even if it was a down year for the ACC across the board, it could be getting a team back into the playoff after a two-year absence next fall. Outside of Clemson, keep an eye on the incredible job Mike Norvell is doing in Tallahassee. That rivalry game between the Seminoles and Tigers in Death Valley could be an all-timer. For now, Swinney and his new staff will need to put in the work stat.

Regardless of how this series of moves shakes out, you have to applaud Swinney for taking big home-run cuts here. He may be an offensive-minded head coach, but he is more of a CEO-type more than anything. Swinney is a strong face of the program, but losing one star coordinator after another was too much for his team to overcome the last few years. Good for him to try to fix this.

Expect for Clemson to be part of College Football Playoff conversations throughout next season.

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