Clemson's Swinney names coordinators, promotes assistants

CLEMSON, S.C. (AP) - Clemson coach Dabo Swinney said his phone blew up with calls and text messages from interested, high-profile candidates for the Tigers' open coordinator jobs.

Swinney wasn't swayed by the onslaught, sticking to his plan and promoting assistants to replace Brent Venables on defense and Tony Elliott on offense.

Defensive assistant Wesley Goodwin and safeties coach Mickey Conn will share Venables' coordinator duties while quarterbacks coach Brandon Streeter will lead the offense.

'œIt took about 30 seconds,'ť Swinney said of the decisions.

Venables left after 10 seasons to become Oklahoma's head coach while Elliott, a former Tigers' receiver, was named the Virginia head coach after more than a decade on Swinney's staff.

Swinney announced the staff changes a short time after the school's board of trustees approved the contracts Tuesday.

'œIf you're going to be successful in anything, you'd better develop your staff,'ť Swinney said.

Swinney said he's had the transition plans for the past few seasons.

Streeter, like Elliott, is a former Clemson player who joined Swinney's staff in 2014. He worked with the teams' quarterbacks and served as recruiting coordinator from his hiring until 2019.

Streeter's salary was increased from $615,000 a year to $925,000.

Goodwin is in 10th season in two stints with the Tigers, where he started in 2009 as a graduate assistant. He served as a defensive analyst for Venables from 2012-14 before going to the Arizona Cardinals.

Goodwin return as a senior defense assistant from 2018 through this season. He will also coach linebackers, as Venables did. Goodwin will earn $850,000 in his new position, a hefty increase form his salary of $160,000.

Conn has been been with the Tigers for six seasons, where's directed safeties and special teams. His salary increased from $515,000 a year to $800,000.

Goodwin's contract was for three seasons through Jan. 31, 2025. Streeter and Conn had two years added to their contracts, which also end at the same time as Goodwin's.

Venables and Elliott made a combined $4.5 million this past season as Clemson was the only school with both coordinators earning at least $2 million.

Streeter, Goodwin and Conn will make a combined $2.575 million next season.

Other moves approved by the board included cornerbacks coach Mike Reed adding special teams coordinator; defensive tackles coach and recruiting coordinator Todd Bates adding assistant head coach to his title; and Kyle Richardson, who was the program's director of high school relations and special assistant to the offense, was named passing game coordinator and tight ends coach.

'œI'm just really, really excited about the people that we have in place,'ť Swinney said. 'œI've always taken a lot of pride in developing our players and developing our team, but I also take a lot of pride in developing our staff.'ť

The 19th-ranked Tigers (9-3) will play in the Cheez-It Bowl in Orlando, Florida against Iowa State (7-5) on Dec. 29.

___

More AP college football: https://apnews.com/hub/college-football and https://twitter.com/AP_Top25 Sign up for the AP's college football newsletter: https://apnews.com/cfbtop25