Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney said last week that he was “pulling hard” for former Tiger coordinators Tony Elliott and Brent Venables to both make the 2025 College Football Playoff.
Elliott, now in his fourth season as Virginia’s head coach, was pulling for Swinney on Saturday, too.
Of course, Elliott spent 11 years at Clemson. He was promoted to assistant head coach and offensive coordinator in January 2021 after seven seasons as co-offensive coordinator (2014–20) and a decade as running backs coach (2011–20).
Before his championship-filled tenure with the Tigers, Elliott was a wide receiver at Clemson from 1999-2003 and was a team captain of the 2003 squad for which Swinney served as Elliott’s position coach in Swinney’s first year at Clemson.
“I was pulling for Coach to get that win [vs. South Carolina], too, because obviously that rivalry still runs deep in my blood, in my family,” Elliott said on Sunday.
Things turned out well for both coaches Saturday, as Swinney’s Tigers (7-5) beat the Gamecocks, 28-14, in Columbia, while Elliott’s 18th-ranked Cavaliers (10-2) defeated Virginia Tech, 27-7, in Charlottesville to clinch a spot in the ACC Championship Game.
Virginia is set to face Duke in the conference title game on Saturday in Charlotte (8 p.m., ABC).
Elliott said he “can’t put into words” how much he’s learned from Swinney, and that he planned to reach out to Swinney on Sunday for advice heading into the ACC title game.
“Just being around Coach, man, I learned so much,” Elliott said. “I can’t put into words how much I’ve learned, how much I’m still using today. When we get done, I’m going to call him and ask him if he has any tips as a head coach about this game.”
During his time at Clemson, Elliott helped the Tigers win seven ACC Championships and win two national titles in 2016 and 2018.
Virginia returns to the ACC Championship Game for the first time since 2019 after closing the regular season 10-2 overall and 7-1 in conference play. The Cavaliers recorded their second 10-win season in program history — the first since 1989 — and matched the 1995 team with a program-record seven conference victories.
“I took a lot of notes as a coordinator, as an assistant coach, in terms of all the things that I saw and heard throughout the course of each season and then each trip to Charlotte that I’m leaning on,” Elliott added. “But I will need a few more tips, just in terms of actually being a head coach in this game.”
With a victory over Duke in the ACC title game, the Cavaliers would almost certainly secure a spot in the 12-team College Football Playoff.