247Sports names Clemson a winner of the 2023 coaching carousel

Clemson's addition of Garrett Riley is seen as a coup.

by TigerNet Staff - Thu Feb 23 13:10:00 GMT-04:00 2023

Clemson was a winner of the 2023 coaching carousel according to 247Sports.

Dabo Swinney waited until after the national championship game to fire longtime assistant and first-year offensive coordinator Brandon Streeter and hire Broyles Award top assistant winner Garrett Riley from TCU:

Dabo Swinney can still surprise us from time to time, going against the grain and bucking our perceptions of the good ol’ boy in orange and purple.

Swinney deftly and quietly replaced one of his own disciples, Brandon Streeter, after only one season as play-caller and replaced him with an outsider: TCU offensive coordinator Garrett Riley, the architect of the flash-and-power offense of the national runner-up Horned Frogs. Swinney had made it a habit of replacing staffers with internal hires, most notably replacing both departing coordinators Tony Elliott and Brent Venables (now head coaches) with Streeter and analyst Wes Goodwin in 2022. Was Swinney insulating himself as the college, NIL and ACC landscapes shift wildly amid the winds of change? Were the championship days of Clemson blending into the horizon? Swinney swung back at detractors at press conferences and then proved perceptions wrong when he fired his right-hand man and hired the hottest coordinator in the sport.

"We've won three national championships in 127 years; the problem is that we've won two in the last seven, and that can create a loss of perspective,” Swinney said at Clemson’s National Signing Day press conference. “When you lose perspective, you lose your joy. That's what has made Clemson unique and special is that this place has always had a lot of fun. It is not that we've been perfect every year, but we have enjoyed the journey. When we won the ACC championship in 2011, there were 5,000 people waiting for us to get off the bus. Now, nobody is there. It isn't a big deal anymore. I think that is sad. Our program has never been better, but sometimes people can lose perspective. We've raised the bar."

Way to go, Dabo.

Also on the winning side, per 247Sports, are 2023 opponents Miami and NC State, while '23 foes Notre Dame and Syracuse are seen on the losing side.

Clemson is set to begin spring practice on March 6.