Clemson fired offensive coordinator Brandon Streeter, the school announced on Thursday, and will hire TCU offensive coordinator Garrett Riley, sources told ESPN’s Adam Rittenberg and Chris Low.
Streeter served just one season as the Tigers’ full-time playcaller, though he’d been with Clemson as an assistant coach since 2015, and he played quarterback at Clemson from 1995 to 1999.
Riley spent this past season at TCU as the Horned Frogs’ offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach. He was named the Broyles Award winner as the top assistant coach in the nation.
A board of trustees meeting has been scheduled for Friday at Clemson to approve Riley’s contract.
“As the leader of this program, I am accountable for our staff and accountable for our results, and though we took a step forward offensively in 2022,” Clemson coach Dabo Swinney said in a statement. “After evaluating our offense in-depth, I felt it was in the best interest of our program to seek new leadership at that position. These decisions are never easy, but it is my job to evaluate and assess every part of our program every year, and this was just the right time to make a change.”
TCU lost 65-7 to Georgia in the College Football Playoff national championship game. That’s after beating Michigan 51-45 in the semifinal game at the Vrbo Fiesta Bowl. The Horned Frogs finished ninth nationally in scoring offense (38.8 points per game).
Riley, the younger brother of USC coach Lincoln Riley, had been a hot commodity. He also talked to Texas A&M‘s Jimbo Fisher about the Aggies’ offensive coordinator job.
Streeter served as quarterbacks coach during both of Clemson’s most recent national championships, mentoring future first-round draft picks Deshaun Watson and Trevor Lawrence. He was promoted to offensive coordinator last year after Tony Elliott left to become head coach at Virginia.
This marks the first time Swinney has fired an assistant coach since defensive coordinator Kevin Steele was let go following a 70-33 loss to West Virginia in the Orange Bowl to end the 2011 season.
Swinney had to replace both coordinators after Elliott and longtime defensive coordinator Brent Venables left for head-coaching jobs. He made in-house hires for both jobs, promoting Streeter and defensive analyst Wes Goodwin. Swinney shrugged off questions about the internal hires — something he’s done with the overwhelming number of staff vacancies in recent years — by saying culture trumped experience.
“Hope is a big part of this program,” Streeter said last offseason. “Somebody had to believe in Coach Swinney to get where he is. They saw something in him, and that’s what he’s done with this staff. Give guys opportunities, and you’ll be surprised what they can do with it.”
Streeter actually made marked improvements on Clemson’s offense in 2022. The Tigers went from 5.2 yards per play, 26.3 points per game and 2.0 points per drive in 2021 to 5.6, 33.2 and 2.5, respectively, in 2022.
In both seasons, however, Clemson struggled with QB concerns, as former blue-chip recruit DJ Uiagalelei floundered for long stretches, a young receiving corps failed to develop quickly and the offensive line muddled through a number of shaky performances.
Perhaps the biggest knock on Streeter’s brief run was the lack of carries for star running back Will Shipley. Shipley had just three rushes in the first half of Clemson’s Orange Bowl loss to Tennessee in December.
Swinney almost certainly will look outside the program for Streeter’s replacement, something he did successfully when hiring Chad Morris to coach the offense in 2010 and Venables on defense in 2011. Of Clemson’s nine current on-field assistants, however, only two have worked for another FBS program in an on-field capacity — and none of Clemson’s offensive assistants have.
Chris Low and Adam Rittenberg contributed to this story.
