With Dabo Swinney officially parting ways with offensive coordinator Garrett Riley on Monday, attention now turns towards who will be running Clemson’s offense moving forward.
After the news broke late Monday afternoon, The Clemson Insider put out some information on candidates to replace Riley.
Here is one excerpt from that story.
We can tell you, from what we heard, another name of interest to be the Tigers’ new OC is an ACC offensive coordinator, one who has a very talented quarterback. Keep in mind, in some cases, these coordinator candidates could have ties to a portal quarterback.
TCI can now state the candidate being referenced is Pitt offensive coordinator Kade Bell, who rejuvenated the Panthers’ passing attack in 2025. Bell is a name we were made aware of back in November as being on Swinney’s radar, indicating that the Tigers’ head coach has been considering potential replacements for Riley for weeks.
Bell is just finishing up his second season leading the Pitt offense. Before that, he spent three seasons as the offensive coordinator at Western Carolina. The Catamounts were a Top 10 scoring offense in his final season there, averaging 37.6 points per game.
If Bell were to be the next offensive coordinator, the question becomes whether his quarterback, Mason Heintschel, would consider making the move with him. To be clear, Heintschel has not announced any plans to enter the transfer portal when it opens on Friday.
However, Bell played a key role in identifying Heintschel as a high school recruit, as well as his accelerated development as a freshman this season. Heintschel took over as the starter in October, guiding a Panthers attack that ranks Top 20 nationally in passing offense.
With Cade Klubnik having wrapped up his Clemson career, the Tigers very well might be in the market for a transfer at quarterback, and Heintschel would be an ideal fit, seeing as he has multiple years of eligibility remaining. He wouldn’t be a one-year stopgap, similar to what Clemson is getting with defensive end Will Heldt, who transferred in from Purdue and has already announced plans to return in 2026.
Photo by Bart Boatwright