Clemson Football: Offensive coordinator decision shows how far Dabo is willing to go to win

Clemson Football created a tsunami Thursday evening when the news broke that there would be a change at the offensive coordinator position.

I don’t think the decision to target TCU offensive coordinator Garrett Riley was a difficult decision for Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney. The Horned Frogs were a completely different team in 2022 than they had been in the previous few seasons. Per teamrankings.com, TCU improved from 65th in points per game in 2021 to 9th in 2022.

The hire of Sonny Dykes to replace Gary Patterson as the Frogs’ head coach certainly had a lot to do with that improvement – Dykes is considered one of the better offensive-minded head coaches in the country. It was Riley that was calling the plays for the offense in 2022 that was putting the ball in the end zone.

Deciding to hire Riley was a good call, but not a difficult call. I don’t think it was quite as easy for Swinney to decide to dismiss Brandon Streeter from his position as offensive coordinator after one season.

Clemson is Streeter’s alma mater. He played for the Tigers from 1996 to 1999. He started for most of two seasons and had 3,504 yards. Fun fact: he was passed in career yards this season by DJ Uiagalelei.

2022 was Streeter’s 15th season with the Clemson program as either a player or coach. He returned to Clemson to join Swinney’s staff in 2015. He was a part of all six of Clemson’s appearances in the College Football Playoffs, including two national championships.

Streeter is a Clemson man. He is family. Swinney decided to fire him.

Swinney has shown he is willing to make hard decisions to improve Clemson Football

I don’t think Swinney ever wants to dismiss a coach. I think deciding to fire a man who has been a Clemson Tiger for a total of a decade and a half would be one of the most difficult decisions Swinney could have to make.

I did not think Swinney was ready to make this move. I was wrong, but from what I have been reading, it doesn’t sound like there were very many people who had any clue this was happening.

It appears that this happened very quickly, and few had any knowledge. Per Tiger Illustrated, Streeter was still recruiting on Clemson’s behalf as late as Wednesday.

I underestimated how much resolve Swinney still has to win. I thought that he had shifted his focus to promoting from within to protect the culture he had built in the program, and would only resort to hiring from outside the staff if he thought he was in a desperate situation. I stated that I didn’t think he considered the current situation to be desperate.

Clearly, I was wrong.