What the loss of Jeff Scott means for Clemson’s program
Clemson coach Dabo Swinney did everything he could to help Jeff Scott land the head coaching job at South Florida. Swinney has a relationship with USF AD Michael Kelly and pushed for Scott to be Charlie Strong’s replacement during the past couple of weeks.
“He called me early (in the process). I talked to him early about Jeff. Really felt like it was a great opportunity for him,” Swinney said before the College Football Awards show Thursday night in Atlanta. “We did everything we could to help him. I just think it was a great fit for Jeff and a great fit for South Florida.”
But when Swinney found out Sunday that Scott was set to be named the new South Florida head coach, he admittedly had mixed emotions. On one hand he was happy for Scott. On the other he hated to lose him.
“He’s been with me 12 years. It’s like sending a son off to college,” Swinney said. “Kind of sad, but you know he’s very well prepared.”
The loss of Scott is a big one for the Tigers program. The 38-year-old receivers coach and co-offensive coordinator (for about the next month) has been instrumental to Clemson’s success under Swinney.
Scott was the recruiting coordinator at Clemson from 2008-14 as the Tigers went from a mediocre program to one that consistently competed for ACC titles. And he served as the co-offensive coordinator and receivers coach from 2014 until now as the Tigers won five consecutive ACC titles and a pair of national titles.
Scott played a big role in helping the Tigers game plan and is also one of the best recruiters in the country.
The Tigers currently have the No. 2 recruiting class for 2020 and Scott helped recruit several of the stars of the class, including 5-star running back DeMarkcus Bowman and four-star receiver E.J. Williams.
“Jeff is a huge loss for us,” Swinney said. “He’s awesome. He was a great ambassador, representative of our program, Clemson University. Unbelievable recruiter, too. Just did a great job, recruited a lot of great young men to Clemson. He’s well-prepared.’”
Scott has been in Tampa since Tuesday and will remain in Florida through next Wednesday. He will rejoin the Tigers on Dec. 19 before Clemson heads to Arizona in Dec. 22 for the Fiesta Bowl against Ohio State. Once Scott rejoins the Tigers next Thursday he will stay with Clemson throughout the rest of the College Football Playoff, before moving on for good.
“I don’t really have a big coaching tree, but I got like a twig now and a leaf growing. He’ll do awesome. He’s so well-prepared. Got off to a good start (Wednesday),” Swinney said. “He’s been very patient, well prepared for this opportunity. He and I will handle the wideouts until we break, then once we get back from our break, Jeff will be back with us full-time to finish out.”
Next
Who: Clemson (13-0) vs. Ohio State (13-0)
Where: PlayStation Fiesta Bowl in Phoenix
When: 8 pm Saturday, Dec. 28
TV: ESPN
Early line: Clemson by 2
This story was originally published December 13, 2019 at 5:22 AM.
