Elliott says he’s laser-focused for his return to Clemson

By Jerry Ratcliffe

For more than a decade, Tony Elliott loyally coached alongside his father figure, Dabo Swinney, at Clemson, rubbing Howard’s Rock before running down the Hill into a sea of orange Tiger fans.

Elliott was there for all the ACC championships, the College Football Playoff appearances and two national championships. It was only natural that when Clemson popped up on Virginia’s football schedule, Elliott became a little sentimental. But only to a degree.

When UVA faces the 10th-ranked Tigers today in Death Valley (noon, ACC Network), Elliott knows what’s at stake. His Cavaliers, 4-2, are hoping to prove the oddsmakers wrong about the 21-point spread. Swinney’s 5-1 Tigers are focused on getting back to the CFP, especially now that the field has been expanded from four to 12.

Some have tried to make this game all about Elliott’s homecoming, but he has done his best to deflect any attention toward his return.

“One thing I know is,” Elliott said, laughing, “when it’s go-time, [Swinney] is going to be trying to put it on us, right? They’re going to be competitive, they’re going to want to win the game, and he’s not going to be thinking about ‘That’s Coach Elliott over there.’ No, they’re coming, right?”

Most assuredly. Clemson has scored 40 or more points in half its games this year, and has held its last three opponents to 14 points or less. The 81,000 fans in Memorial Stadium will be expecting another lopsided score, and just because Swinney was once the position coach for a young Tiger wide receiver named Elliott, then hired him on his staff, then promoted him to offensive coordinator, well, that all goes out the window at game time.

Elliott said this trip is not about him, it’s about his team trying to win in a hostile environment, a chance to measure where his program stacks up against one of the top teams in the ACC and the nation.

“I’m laser-focused” on Virginia’s mission, Elliott said. He has ignored family members and members of the Clemson community all week, purposely paying attention to detail in preparing his team for the challenge.

“This is one of those weeks where some people are mad at me right now, but I promise you, I love you,” Elliott said to those who he has blocked out during game week. “I just need to focus.”

Swinney, 54, said this week that he must be growing up because he’s experiencing a couple of “firsts” in his career this weekend. Former player C.J. Spiller will be Swinney’s first player going into Clemson’s Ring of Honor, and it will also be the first time he has coached against one from his own coaching tree in Elliott.

Elliott will never forget Swinney taking a chance on him on more than one occasion, and has a life-long bond with his former coach. He still goes to Swinney for advice, and even their wives, Kathleen Swinney and Tamika Whitner, are still close.

Swinney even makes it a point to sit beside Elliott at the ACC coaches meetings, something Swinney joked about this week, noting that Elliott might not like it because other coaches in the room give them grief about the relationship.

Elliott said he didn’t care about that. He’s loyal to Swinney.

“It’s always an opportunity for me to pick his brain and gain a little bit of wisdom,” Elliott said. “Another thing is just his competitive nature. He’s going to be locked in, he’s going to be taking notes, so man, I’m over there also locked in, taking notes the same way he is.”

Swinney also joked during the week that Elliott knows how Swinney thinks, but that Swinney knows how Elliott thinks.

“We’ll see which one knows,” Elliott chuckled. “But no, I think one of the things that I Iearned there was as an assistant — because [Swinney] would always talk about him and (Alabama) Coach Gene Stallings, and the job of the assistant is to make the head coach look good.

“And in order to do that, you have to understand how the head coach looks, so that you can sell his vision. You can push his vision to the players.”

It’s always uncomfortable when coaching friends have to play one another, but as close as these two are, the pregame chat and handshake will vanish once toe meets leather. It will be football warfare in a stadium where Virginia has only tasted victory three times in series history (twice by George Welsh, once by Al Groh).

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Clemson Offensive Stats