Elliott raise shows continued investment in football by Clemson

Elliott is now one of three assistant coaches making $2 million annually.

by David Hood - Senior Writer - Thu Feb 04 16:33:46 GMT-04:00 2021

Clemson offensive coordinator Tony Elliott has one of the hottest names in the coaching business, and opportunities to take over his own program have started to roll in. For now, however, head coach Dabo Swinney and athletic director Dan Radakovich wanted to make sure Elliott stays home.

Elliott will now make $2 million per year after receiving a contract extension and raise Thursday, giving the Tigers two of the three highest-paid assistants in the country.

The Clemson board of trustees approved the three-year extension through Jan. 31, 2026, and a $300,000 raise for Elliott, which will go into effect July 1. Both he and defensive coordinator Brent Venables will be in the $2 million club. Venables is the highest-paid assistant in the country at $2.4 million per year.

Elliott’s name has been linked to openings at Auburn, South Carolina, and Tennessee in recent weeks, and it’s just a matter of time before he accepts a job as a head coach. For now, however, he is a Tiger.

“We were so happy to retain Coach Elliott. He had opportunities, but we wanted to make sure that he stayed here,” Radakovich said. “We’re glad to have him, and I know he’s happy to be here as well.”

Radakovich said he knows Elliott has had to make tough decisions recently.

“Certainly, it was a difficult decision for Tony and his family, but once that decision was made, and Dabo and I had talked prior to if he stayed what he would like to do, and when he did stay, we kind of had it mapped out what we wanted to do. You saw the result of that,” Radakovich said.

Clemson now has two of three assistant coaches making at least $2 million annually – Elliott is now the third-highest paid assistant coach in college football. Defensive coordinator Brent had a year added to his contract Thursday and will receive $2.4 million this season, currently the highest-paid assistant coach in college football.

Radakovich said it was important that Elliott’s salary come close to Venables’ salary.

“I think Dabo looks at those two guys as the chiefs of their particular side of the ball,” Radakovich said. “Brent certainly has (been the best) over a long period of time. Tony, certainly as well, has shown he can command an incredible offense. It was important for Dabo to see that those two people were first among equals.”

Clemson continues to invest in the football program -- its 10 on-field coaches will make $8.325 million in 2021.

“There is a great commitment. Football does an awful lot for Clemson, as a university, and certainly for us as an athletic program,” Radakovich said. “If you go back a couple of years when Jeff (Scott) and Tony were here and you added up the offensive staff, we are really only at 3.9 percent increases from 2019 to ’20 and ’20 to ’21,” he continued. “Some of the folks will look at that as inflationary or CPI, but we are changing some of the people within the program, and that allows us to stay within a pretty good budget range.

"But it also rewards those folks that have had opportunities to go elsewhere but chose to stay here at Clemson. The consistency of the staff that Coach Swinney has been able to have, I think, very much has shown that is a pretty big lever as it relates to success.”