Why USF was right fit for Jeff Scott, and how he’ll spend final Clemson moments
Jeff Scott has known since he was a kid spending time around the Florida State program that he wanted to be a college head coach one day, but Clemson’s co-offensive coordinator also knew that he had to find the right fit to leave.
Scott had several opportunities to leave and run his own program the past couple of years, but he always consulted with Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney before engaging in serious talks.
Up until this year, when South Florida came calling, Swinney discouraged Scott from moving on.
“Sometimes I could get frustrated by that, and I even told my dad one time, ‘Short of getting the head coaching job of the Dallas Cowboys, I don’t think Coach Swinney is ever going to let me leave,’ ” Scott recalled during Fiesta Bowl Media Day on Thursday. “There was a struggle with me inside about that knowing that one day I was gonna leave for a job, and if Coach Swinney wasn’t on board with that, that would be difficult because of my respect for him.”
Scott finally received Swinney’s blessing earlier this month when USF AD Michael Kelly called Swinney to inquire about Clemson’s receivers coach and co-offensive coordinator.
Swinney, who has a longstanding relationship with Kelly dating back to his days working with the ACC, thought Scott to USF was a perfect match. Swinney told Kelly he wouldn’t find a better candidate than Scott, then called Scott and explained why USF was the right fit for him.
“I was excited about two things — one thing was that they had called, but bigger than that was that Coach Swinney felt like this was a great opportunity for me,” Scott said. “So for the first time it lined up that I could go take a job that I thought I could benefit with the recruiting territory. I’m from Florida. The ceiling that South Florida has, the potential that it has, and also it being a job that Coach Swinney and the staff would fully support me doing.”
Scott was officially announced as USF’s head coach on Monday, Dec. 9, arrived in Tampa on Dec. 10 and stayed at USF through Signing Day on Dec. 19.
He’s back with Clemson and will remain with the Tigers through the conclusion of their season.
“My plan right now is to stay at Clemson all the way through for all the prep,” Scott said. “I think it was nice to have the opportunity to go down to Tampa for about eight days before we got back here, but I think now that I’ve really gotten a lot of that done, there will be a few things that I can do when we get back from Clemson off of the phone, some phone interviews and stuff. But my plan is to stay at Clemson and be in the same role that I’m in right now until the end of our season.”
Scott has hired five full-time assistants and a strength coach thus far and still has five full-time assistant positions available. It seems as though he has an idea of who he will bring in, and some Clemson staff members could join him.
“The biggest thing that we discussed is I just didn’t want to be a distraction to Clemson,” Scott said. “So any of those guys I may choose to hire, none of the full-time nine are looking to go, but anybody else, there may be one or two guys, I’m gonna wait until after this game to make any of those decisions.”
It seems fitting that Scott could take some members of Clemson’s staff with him as he tries to build a version of what Swinney has built at Clemson in Tampa.
The support Scott received from Clemson players, coaches and fans during this process only confirmed to him that he made the right decision.
Strength and conditioning coach Joey Batson and his wife sent Scott a picture of them wearing USF shirts after he was introduced, while Tigers fans have flocked to Scott’s Twitter account to wish him well. Scott has heard from several Clemson fans that have said they are going to try to attend a USF game next season.
“That’s a huge part that has given me a peace about it. My feelings towards Clemson are so very strong that I knew I wanted an opportunity like this one day. I was a little nervous how the transition would be,” Scott said. “And I wanted it to be one they supported me. I feel like Clemson feels like they’re giving one of their own down there to Tampa and down to USF. So that’s created a lot of peace and a great feeling for me.”
When is the Fiesta Bowl?
Who: Clemson (13-0) vs. Ohio State (13-0)
Where: PlayStation Fiesta Bowl in Phoenix
When: 8 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 28
TV: ESPN
Early line: Clemson by 2
This story was originally published December 26, 2019 at 7:01 PM.
