CLEMSON — Letting Thomas Austin go was one of the more difficult decisions of Dabo Swinney’s head coaching career.

Austin, who Swinney hired two years ago as his offensive line coach, played for Swinney and was a captain on his first Clemson team. Austin also served as a graduate assistant coach during the Tigers’ national championship runs.

“Honestly, I was not anticipating making a change there. I really did not make that decision until probably Wednesday,” Swinney said.

Following the Tigers’ end of the regular season win over South Carolina, Swinney said he spent three days evaluating every aspect of his program. That is when he came to the realization he had to make a change on the offensive line.

Clemson’s veteran head coach was able to evaluate his program at this time of the year because NCAA rules changed when coaches could hit the recruiting trail, which was a week later than in years past.

“Three days in the office there, and really evaluating everything, I just felt like a change was needed in the leadership of the OL room,” Swinney said. “It was not an easy decision. These are very difficult decisions.”

Swinney had already spoken with defensive ends coach Lemanski Hall, and both agreed there needed to be a change for Clemson and Hall. Chris Rumph, who coached at Clemson from 2006-’10, has since been hired as the Tigers’ new defensive ends coach.

However, letting Austin go was a different story, as explained above. So, Swinney reached out to former Ole Miss head coach Matt Luke, who has been a longtime friend of Swinney.

Luke had recently coached the offensive line at Georgia and helped the Bulldogs win the 2021 National Championship before stepping away to spend more time with his family.

“I just reached out to Coach Luke and just kind of kicked his tires to see if he was interested in getting back in [coaching] and he was ready. So, it was good timing for him.”

Luke and Rump were officially hired by the Clemson Board of Trustees’ Compensation Committee this past Tuesday.

To honor Clemson’s special senior class Dear Old Clemson is selling footballs signed by 7 of Clemson’s Avengers for only $100.  These limited edition footballs are signed by Thomas, Orhorhoro, Davis, Mascoll, Henry, Murphy and Williams.  Get one while supplies last.