Since Clemson first met Alabama in the 2016 College Football Playoff National Championship Game, the continuity on both coaching staffs are night and day.
Of the Tigers’ on-field coaches, Dabo Swinney has lost just two assistant coaches since that first encounter.
Those two assistants were defensive ends coach Marion Hobby and defensive tackles coach Dan Brooks. Both left after Clemson won the 2016 National Championship. Hobby went back to the NFL to coach, Brooks retired after a 40-year career.
At Alabama, all but two of the coaches on the field that night at the University of Phoenix Stadium in 2016 are gone. In all 13 assistant coaches have left the Tide’s program, including two defensive coordinators and three offensive coordinators, since the January 11, 2016 meeting in Glendale, Ariz.
During that same span, Clemson had the same defensive coordinator (Brent Venables) and co-offensive coordinators (Tony Elliott and Jeff Scott) calling plays.
No wonder, Clemson outcoached the Tide in the national championship game three weeks ago.
Eventually, losing that many coaches can catch up with a team. In the 2019 title game at least, especially considering who they were playing, it bit Alabama in the rear end.
How has Swinney been able to keep his assistant coaches? There are a number of reasons why.
A lot of people will point to the family atmosphere Swinney has developed at Clemson. An atmosphere that allows the coaches’ kids to come to practice every night and “Family Night” every Wednesday, even during the season.
Swinney gives his coaches Sunday mornings off, too, so they can spend a little time with their families, go to church and have Sunday lunch.
“We have a great environment to live in, a great environment to come and work in. We have great relationships,” Swinney said. “Our staff is very close. You hear about Clemson family all the time, but it’s a very real thing for us.
“We have guys that have opportunities to leave every year, and we’ve had change.”
But not like Alabama or most other schools have.
Venables has been Clemson’s defensive coordinator since 2012. Elliott has been on the staff since 2011, while Scott has been with Swinney since the very beginning, when he was still the interim head coach in 2008.
The last time Swinney had to replace one of his coordinators was in 2014, when Chad Morris left to become the head coach at SMU. He is now the head coach at Arkansas.
“You know, when guys have had opportunities to leave, back in ’14, my offensive coordinator Chad Morris had an opportunity to go be a head coach,” Swinney said. “It was great opportunity for him and created an opportunity to promote some guys on my staff that I felt like were ready and had done a good job and earned it.
“I had a change at defensive coordinator back in ’12 and Brent has been with me ever since. Dan Brooks and Marion Hobby – Marion went to the Jags after we won it in ’16 and Dan retired. I was able to hire Todd Bates and Lemanski Hall and Mickey Conn, as well. So, we’ve had some change, but I’ve had a lot of continuity from our support staff and guys that I felt like had opportunities to move up.”
It’s not just the family atmosphere that keeps Swinney’s staff on board. He also takes care of his coaches.
Swinney’s 10 assistant coaches made almost $6.8 million last year, led by Venables’ $2.2 million. He was the second highest paid assistant coach in college football in 2018.
Then there are the bonuses.
Besides the $200,000 retention bonus he received 15 days after the national championship game, defensive coordinator Brent Venables’ contract details that if Clemson is a Top-10 scoring defense, Venables will receive a $50,000 bonus or a $100,000 for a Top-5 finish. In addition, he will receive a $50,000 bonus for a defense ranking in the Top-10 for total defense or $100,000 for a Top-5 total defense.
Venables will make up to $315,000 in incentive bonuses from this past season, according to the terms of his contract, which he signed last August.
The rest of the staff will also receive incentive bonuses after the Tigers’ win over Bama in the national title game. Those bonuses will be announced in February at the next Board of Trustees meeting.
Also expected to be announced will be new contracts for Swinney’s 10 on-field coaches.
Clemson athletic director Dan Radakovich told the Clemson Insider prior to the national championship game, he and Swinney will sit down before the next BOT meeting and discuss raises and more in regard to his coaching staff.
“Continuity has been a great thing, and I’m thankful for that,” Swinney said. “We’ve got a bunch of great, committed people and good people, and I always say, ‘I hire good people first, coaches second.’ And again, we’re just fortunate that we’re at a place like Clemson where our families enjoy living.
“We have the opportunity to compete at the highest level, live in an incredible place, recruit at the highest level, and when this is your profession, that’s pretty special.”
Move over Alabama, Clemson is the new King of College Football. In our new magazine “Little Ole Clemson”: The Best “Little” Dynasty Ever, we examine not just the 2018 team’s run to being “the best ever” but examine the last four seasons and how Dabo Swinney turned Clemson into the new dynasty of college football. We also take a look at the role former athletic director Terry Don Phillips played. We go behind the scenes at the Tigers’ run to a second national championship in three seasons and the previous three national championship runs. It also features stories on the Power Rangers, the 2018 senior class, high quality photos and much, much more.
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