Dabo Swinney coaching tree: Ranking every coach to come from Swinney’s management
By John Buhler
Tony Elliott dealt with tragedy during his first struggle-filled season at Virginia
For Tony Elliott to be third on this list after having only gone 3-7 in his first season leading the Virginia Cavaliers speaks volumes about the status of Swinney’s coaching tree. While I may be in the minority that Elliott will at least be respectable in Charlottesville, it became very apparent that he is not Bronco Mendenhall in Year 1 leading the Hoos. Sadly, tragedy struck the UVA program.
Three of Elliott’s players were murdered by another former player back in November. Absolutely devastated by the tragedy, Virginia canceled its final two games of the season vs. Coastal Carolina and Virginia Tech. Nobody associated with the Chanticleers or the Hokies had any issues with this whatsoever. It is still so heartbreaking this even happened. UVA’s next game should be powerful.
Frankly, I think this could serve as a turning point for Elliott at Virginia. How he, his team and his staff respond to this will show us what they are really made of. I don’t know how good of a team the Cavaliers will be next year, but if they play together as one, they have an outside shot at going to a bowl game. Even if they come up short of that goal, Virginia has to show some real progress.
Elliott comes in at No. 3 on this list because he hasn’t been fired yet, so he could turn this around.