Clemson AD pressed about lack of experience on football staff. How he responded
As the Clemson football team struggles in 2025, the number of former players and coaches without outside experience on Dabo Swinney’s staff has drawn criticism.
In a recent public appearance, Clemson athletic director Graham Neff did not take a firm stance on whether that’s the best way to run a college football program in 2025 — but he did acknowledge there’s “probably a better balance” for Clemson football to strike going forward.
Neff rarely offers public opinions on the inner workings of Clemson football, other than throwing his and the athletic department’s full support behind whatever decisions Swinney makes. But he gave an interesting answer to a question about staff structure during an on-campus event.
On Oct. 29, Neff participated in a panel hosted by Clemson’s Snow Institute for the Study of Capitalism called “Will Capitalism Save College Sports?” During the Q&A portion of the lecture, a Clemson student pressed Neff on the lack of outside experience on the football coaching staff.
“You guys touched on loyalty and how Clemson is — I think we could all agree — a pretty loyal program,” the student said to Neff. “In fact, 21 of Clemson’s 33 football coaches are former Tigers with zero outside FBS experience. How do you think Clemson stays loyal in a disloyal environment? And can they, or is that going to be the cause of the downfall of our athletics?”
Those numbers are a little off but generally correct. Out of the 33 coaches Clemson football lists as primary assistants or “coaching support staff” on its team website, 14 of 33 (42%) are former Clemson players (13 played under Swinney) and 20 of 33 (61%) have no outside coaching experience at another Division I FBS school.
Of Clemson’s 12 primary assistants, half of them (six) haven’t coached at another FBS school: running backs coach C.J. Spiller, wide receivers coach Tyler Grisham, tight ends coach Kyle Richardson, linebackers coach Ben Boulware, safeties coach Mickey Conn and nickelbacks coach DeAndre McDaniel.
Three of the team’s five offensive assistants have no outside FBS coaching experience (Spiller, Grisham and Richardson).
It’s worth noting having former players on staff, especially in support roles, isn’t unique to Clemson and most top college football programs do the same thing.
Swinney has been intentional about making a number of external assistant coaching hires in recent cycles, including outside hires at offensive coordinator (Garrett Riley) and defensive coordinator (Tom Allen).
But with preseason No. 4 Clemson sitting at 4-5 overall and 3-4 in the ACC, Swinney’s staffing philosophies have come under additional scrutiny.
The general gist of the concern: Although having former players around contributes to the “Clemson family” image that has helped fuel the program’s success, is a lack of outside coaching experience hurting on-field results?
Here’s how Neff, in his fourth year as Clemson AD, responded to the student’s question, according to a recording of the panel posted online on Nov. 7:
“Listen, there’s a balance, no question,” Neff said. “... I would say this, though: There’s often recruits interviewed, articles, whatever, where they cite that. So it has appeal, meaning just the continuity of our staff to certain recruits. Not all (recruits), certainly, but it has benefits. Now, again, the notion of mixing in outside perspectives and experience and diversity of that skill set is important.”
“… Again, I probably view a balance there, and we likely operate on one end of the extreme. And what does the evolution of college football you referenced continue to suggest? That there’s probably a better balance there.”
Dabo promises return to ‘instincts’
Swinney, trying to avoid only the second losing season of his career, recently said that he’s gotten away from the “instincts” that helped him build Clemson into a national powerhouse that reached six straight College Football Playoffs and won two national titles from 2015-20. Clemson has only made one playoff since.
Swinney promised to return to those instincts going forward and hinted at staff changes that could stretch into recruiting and other off-field departments.
“This house right here is built on rock,” Swinney said Nov. 4. “There’s no cracks in the foundation. Now, we’ve got some people that ain’t put their best stuff in it. ... I’ve gotta make sure we get the right people in the house, in all aspects of it.”
Clemson plays at No. 20 Louisville on Friday night (7:30 p.m., ESPN). The Tigers are a 3.5-point betting underdog and need to win two of their last three games against Louisville, FCS Furman and South Carolina in order to be bowl-eligible.
This story was originally published November 12, 2025 at 11:40 AM.
