Seven possible names to replace Tony Elliott as Clemson’s offensive coordinator

For much of Dabo Swinney’s tenure as Clemson’s head football coach, there has been little to no movement among the coaching staff.

Now, he’s presented with the unique challenge of having to replace defensive coordinator Brent Venables and offensive coordinator Tony Elliott at the same time. They both took their first head coaching jobs with the University of Oklahoma and the University of Virginia, respectively, last week.

Despite having a down year offensively, Elliott has engineered some of the top offenses in the country during his time with the Tigers. The 2018 and 2019 campaigns were only two of 22 650-point seasons in major college football history and the first to occur back to back since Yale in 1888-89, which predates the start of the NCAA’s official recordkeeping in 1937.

Elliott, a former Clemson walk-on, had just signed a contract extension with the program and took over as the tight ends coach in February after spending the previous nine years as the running backs coach.

Much like Venables, finding a replacement for Elliott will be a tall but necessary task in order to maintain the Tigers’ success. Here are possible replacements:

Joe Brady, former Carolina Panthers offensive coordinator

Joe Brady’s availability freed up after Carolina Panthers head coach Matt Rhule fired him.

While his time in the NFL lasted less than two seasons, Brady’s collegiate tenure was plentiful. The 32-year-old coached LSU quarterback Joe Burrow when he won a Heisman and helped the program win a national championship in 2019. The Clemson Tigers would have to move quickly, though. Reports indicate that Brady and Miami have mutual interest after the Hurricanes hired Mario Cristobal as the program’s head football coach.

Clemson has the resources and talent to make a splash, and Brady would be a splash. There are some rumblings he’s not the most enthusiastic about recruiting, but he has been pretty good at it.

Willy Korn, Coastal Carolina offensive coordinator

Korn is a familiar name to Clemson fans, having been one of the all-time quarterback recruits to go to the school before an uneven paying career. The 32-year-old has spent his whole career working under Jamey Chadwell, helping with a potent attack at two stops. Chadwell’s scheme is the cutting edge of the sport, a fusion of the spread passing game and triple-option run principles with plenty of bells and whistles. If Clemson wants to augment its offensive philosophies, Korn could be an answer there. The biggest worry would be a little potential that he could be the guy that worked for the guy.

Brandon Streeter, Clemson QBs coach

Clemson is no stranger to internal hires with prior connections to the program, especially offensively. Elliott was a walk-on at Clemson before being brought in as the co-offensive coordinator and running backs coach. Tyler Grisham played for the Tigers and worked his way up from an offensive analyst to the wide receivers coach with the program. Most recently, C.J. Spiller went from an unpaid intern to the running backs coach.

All things considered, it would fit for Streeter to get promoted. He also was the playcaller during the Sugar Bowl last season after Elliott tested positive for COVID-19.

Chad Morris, Allen High School head coach

Would the Tigers want to go back for Round 2? Chad Morris brought his high-powered spread up from the high school ranks and Tulsa, helping set the Tigers on their path to being a superpower and revolutionizing the sport. He did some good things at SMU, but bombed out in Arkansas and failed in his attempt to breathe life into Gus Malzahn’s Auburn attack. He’s working in the high school ranks now, but he would have to recapture some of his old magic to work out.

Dan Mullen, former Florida head coach

If a program wants to add the top play-caller it can, there might not be any better in the college game than Mullen. His brand of QB-run-game-centric offense and pure creativity is excellent for maximizing talent, whether it was what Mississippi State could get or gobs of NFL talent and a Heisman winner at Florida. That said, Mullen hasn’t been an assistant since 2008, and he only worked with Urban Meyer between being a grad assistant and getting a head coach job. He’s known as a bit of a prickly personality, and fit is going to be a question wherever he lands.

Robert Anae, Virginia offensive coordinator

A longtime resident of the western half of the country, his only east-of-the-Mississippi work has been the past six years at Virginia. That said, his BYU and Virginia offenses, at least after the first few years in Charlottesville, have been interesting, diverse and high-scoring. This year’s outfit ran up big numbers despite a QB injury. It would be quite the move as he and Elliott would do a school swap.

Graham Harrell, Southern California offensive coordinator

Graham Harrell might end up a head coach with how well regarded he’s been the past few years. His offenses were usually good before this past season, as things fell apart in Los Angeles. He has no ties east of Texas, but he’s a name with play-calling talent, and Clemson has the resources to make a splash if it wanted to give him a landing spot.

The State’s Alexis Cubit contributed to this story

This story was originally published December 10, 2021 at 4:26 PM.