CLEMSON — Dabo Swinney came out of the 2022 season with reasons to believe Clemson’s offense had improved. In the red-zone success rate, in third-down percentage, the Tigers were trending upward.
But after a 31-14 loss to Tennessee in the Orange Bowl, two numbers lingered in Swinney's mind.
“Thirty-four first downs and 101 plays,” Swinney said. “We gotta score.”
As he sat alongside new offensive coordinator Garrett Riley on Feb. 1, explaining why he veered from his fiercely loyal ways, Swinney reminded that he doesn’t make these kinds of decisions lightly.
He formed a list of names he could pursue. He prayed about it. He called others for guidance.
Swinney didn’t know Garrett Riley, but he’d crossed paths with his older brother, Southern Cal coach Lincoln Riley, many times. It just so happens, in a world where it seems like nobody can keep a secret, Lincoln was one of the few people Swinney trusted to speak in confidence.
“I wasn’t even really convinced I was gonna make a change just yet,” Swinney said. “I had three or four names that I wanted to kind of vet out a little bit, and I knew (Lincoln) would shoot me straight, if you will.
“Obviously, his brother was a guy that was kind of top of that list.”
The circumstances had to be right to dispense of a longtime colleague and friend, Brandon Streeter, who had just risen to the rank of offensive coordinator in 2022 after spending seven seasons as the Tigers’ quarterbacks coach. Streeter had coached Deshaun Watson. He had recruited and coached Trevor Lawrence.
But there was just something about Clemson’s offensive trajectory — namely, the Tigers’ inability to consistently throw the ball — and something about the younger Riley — who had just led the No. 9 scoring offense in college football at TCU — that made the timing right for a change.
Swinney talked to Garrett Riley on the Tuesday after TCU’s Monday loss to Georgia in the national championship game. Because the Rileys are discreet, few knew Clemson was about to make a change until Garrett was stepping off of a plane at the Pickens County Airport that Thursday.
“It had to be something special like this,” Riley said of his decision to leave TCU. ““It’s the consistency here, it’s the stability, the balance of life, and enjoying it, and being happy, and being in a small community like this. It’s very tight-knit.
“The people that know me know I’m a very thoughtful person and I’m gonna think through things, hopefully from all angles.”
The 33-year-old Riley, who has three years as a play-caller under his belt, has quickly created a reputation for himself in coaching circles. For him, a move to Clemson checked all of those boxes.
He takes over an offense that’s been able to recruit high-end talent, particularly at the quarterback position, including current rising sophomore Cade Klubnik. Riley, who is on a path to potentially being a head coach one day, also gets to learn under an uncommonly successful coach in Swinney.
“To be as consistent as they’ve been, they kind of do it his way, that’s what I respected from afar,” Riley said. “Just totally having a conviction about his beliefs and the way things are operated here.”
Swinney doesn’t make staff changes often. The last time he fired a coordinator was in 2012, when he replaced defensive coordinator Kevin Steele after West Virginia put up 70 points on Clemson in the Orange Bowl.
Steele’s replacement, Brent Venables, was in place until late 2021, when he became the head coach at Oklahoma. In expressing his best wishes for Streeter, he recalled the last offensive coordinator to be let go, Billy Napier in 2010, who is now the head coach at Florida.
"Brandon and (his wife) Ashley, they are Clemson people,” Swinney said. “He made us better."
But just like when Swinney moved on from Napier, hiring a replacement in Chad Morris, who was followed by a series of in-house promotions, it was time to shake things up. A young quarterback in Klubnik was taking the reins of the offense full-time, which added some urgency.
“We gotta get better passing the ball, period,” Swinney said.
Swinney sat down with both Klubnik and freshman Christopher Vizzina to discuss the change before anyone else knew.
The switch to Riley brings with it the possibility of more plays downfield, but Swinney didn’t want Riley’s background in the “Air Raid” overstated. TCU had a nearly 1,400-yard rusher in Kendre Miller last season. Duggan also ran for 423 yards, which indicates that Klubnik will use his legs.
Riley said his offense at Clemson won’t be exactly the same as it was at SMU and TCU, because coaches have to adjust to their personnel. But philosophically, he believes in being “violent and fast” on the offensive side of the ball. He believes “distribution” — how a coordinator spreads the ball around — matters more than anything.
And simplicity matters, too. The playbook won't be ultra-thick.
“I philosophically believe in making it easy for them and letting them be very confident in what they do and letting their God-given ability take over,” Riley said. “I think that’s been a pretty consistent and good recipe, not just for me but for lots of other people.”
In the coming weeks, Swinney, Riley, and the Tigers’ assistant coaches will get down to game-planning. It's been a whirlwind for Riley, from a national title game at TCU, to hopping on the road and recruiting for Clemson.
When recruits visited during a recent junior day, Riley had to be clear with them that he didn't know where anything was in Clemson's building.
It's early in the process. But from their earliest phone conversations, Swinney has just had a good feeling about Riley, beyond what the stats say.
“Stats are stats ... but successful people that fit me, that fit this program, that fit this staff, that fit the culture at Clemson, that’s different,” Swinney said. “It was easy, the first conversation and all the conversations. He’s just a great fit for us. He’s gonna do an amazing job.”
