Contract details, salary for new Clemson special teams coordinator Rich Bisaccia
Clemson football’s newest special teams coordinator is officially in the fold.
Rich Bisaccia, who spent the past four seasons as the NFL Green Bay Packers’ special teams coordinator, has joined Clemson and Dabo Swinney in the same role after having his contract approved by the university Monday.
The Clemson University Board of Trustees compensation committee unanimously approved Bisaccia’s contract in a meeting. Bisaccia, 65, will make $900,000 in 2026-27 on a one-year deal with a standard bonus structure.
A signing bonus of $100,000 will take Bisaccia’s annual salary to $1 million.
It’s a return to Clemson for the veteran coach, who has worked almost exclusively in the NFL since 2002 but had a five-year stint as Clemson’s running backs coach, special teams coordinator and recruiting coordinator under Tommy West in 1994-98.
Bisaccia will make significantly more money than Clemson’s previous director of special teams, Will Gilchrist, made ($170,000). His hiring also represents a notable shift in how Swinney and Clemson will handle special teams.
The field goal, punt, return and return coverage units have rarely been an elite part of Swinney’s Clemson teams, even when they were winning national titles.
When college teams were limited to 10 coaches who could provide on-field instruction, Swinney didn’t have an exclusive special teams coordinator and usually divided those coaching tasks up among an analyst (former Clemson Bill Spiers held that role for years) and defensive assistant coaches.
After the NCAA changed its rule and allowed for any coach to provide on-field instruction in games and practices, Swinney expanded his staff and added Gilchrist to oversee special teams. Still, the unit struggled.
During a record-setting freshman season for kicker Nolan Hauser in 2024, the Tigers still had a stunning eight field goals/extra points blocked, tied for worst in the country. There were some notable gaffes in 2025, too.
Clemson hasn’t had a player return a kickoff for a touchdown since receiver Sammy Watkins in 2010 and hasn’t had a punt return touchdown since receiver Adam Humphries in 2018.
Gilchrist left Clemson in the offseason for a similar role at Samford, an FCS school in Alabama where former Clemson analyst John Grass was hired as coach. That was reportedly because Swinney decided to make a change and encouraged Gilchrist (who had college minimal experience) to look for a job elsewhere.
Swinney said in a news release he and Bisaccia were friends and had talked about Bisaccia joining Clemson’s staff “a couple of different times.” He described Bisaccia as a “leader of men” with impressive football experience and “expertise.”
“I’m super excited it worked out for us ... because this is as good a special teams coach as there has been in the NFL for a long, long time,” Swinney said.
Rich’s Bisaccia NFL career, departure from Packers
Bisaccia (pronounced bih-SAHTCH-ee-uh) brings 40-plus years of coaching experience to Clemson. He’s been a special teams coordinator at the highest level for the NFL’s Buccaneers, Chargers, Cowboys, Raiders and Packers.
He also had a nice run as the Raiders’ interim coach, going 7-5 and leading the team to a playoff appearance after replacing the fired Jon Gruden in Week 6. He was the first interim coach to lead an NFL team to the playoffs since 2012.
After four years with the Packers, which featured some special teams highs and lows, Bisaccia stepped down from his role in mid-February. The news came as a surprise to the organization and coach Matt LaFleur, who said in a statement he was “disappointed to lose a person and coach as valuable as Rich.”
Bisaccia, who will earn more money than three Clemson position coaches, can earn additional money at Clemson if his unit finishes in the top 20 of any major special teams statistic at the end of the season (kickoff return, punt return, net punting, blocked kicks and so on).
The fact he’s on a one-year contract isn’t too odd, considering Clemson didn’t extend the contract of roughly a dozen football coaches and support staffers in February and appears to be taking a more year-to-year approach there.
Swinney said Bisaccia wants to “finish” his career at Clemson. Clemson athletic director Graham Neff said he was “very excited” for the football program to bring Bisaccia back to Clemson and praised the coach’s NFL experience.
“After I made the decision to move in a new direction, Coach Swinney approached me with the opportunity to come back to a place that holds special meaning for me and my family,” Bisaccia said in a news release. “I’m thrilled to be able to return to the Clemson community and serve this program in any way I can.”
This story was originally published March 4, 2026 at 8:55 AM.
