The coaching staff at Texas Christian University will likely draw plenty of attention after guiding the team to a 12-1 record and a national championship appearance. Offensive coordinator Garrett Riley is the first to be tied to another campus.
ESPN’s Adam Rittenberg shared on Twitter late Thursday that Clemson will be bringing Riley on board to replace Brandon Streeter, who was released earlier in the day. The Clemson Board of Directors is meeting Friday with one lone action item on the agenda: assistant football coach contract.
Riley was named the 2022 Broyles Award as the nation’s top assistant coach. It seems to run in the family; he is the younger brother of Lincoln Riley, the current head coach at USC. Lincoln and Garrett also coached together at East Carolina.
Riley was one of several coaches and players for TCU that earned national recognition after a record-setting season. He had followed Sonny Dykes from SMU last season where he served in the same role.
Riley deserves ample credit for helping first-year head coach Dykes institute a new offensive scheme built around a fast-paced offensive playing style within the air raid system. Riley served as TCU’s offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach, where he was responsible for turning Max Duggan into a Heisman Trophy runner-up in 2022.
The Horned Frogs’ offense was an explosive reason the team managed to defeat five ranked opponents and get a colossal postseason win over Michigan to send the squad to its first-ever national championship appearance. The Frogs’ offense finished ranked third in the nation in scoring just behind Tennessee and national champion Georgia.
Riley will join a Clemson Tigers program that has struggled offensively for the past year under Streeter. The team’s quarterback Cade Klubnik, a freshman who assumed starting duties late in the season, will be the first major project for Riley.
Clemson ranked No.30 in the nation in scoring last season and had difficulty moving the ball on the ground and through the air.
Clemson finished the season with a record of 11-3 and was the top team in the American Athletic Conference. But Clemson suffered a blowout defeat at the hands of Tennessee in the Rose Bowl, losing 31-14, to conclude the season.
With Riley’s future with Clemson in the works, Dykes and the TCU staff will now need to replace both the offensive coordinator and the quarterbacks coaching gig ahead of 2023. Rumors have yet to begin swirling around who the most likely candidates for the job might be.
TCU also lost analyst and recruiting coordinator Bryan Carrington who departed for Arizona State earlier this month.
Ultimately, Dykes should have little difficulty attracting top-quality candidates to fill the opening spots.
The air raid style of offense run by Dykes both at SMU and at TCU is a popular offensive scheme in college football and the promise of building on 2022 may help attract excellent options.
On the players’ side, TCU will lose a number of key starters this offseason including quarterback Max Duggan, running back Kendre Miller, and receiver Quentin Johnston. All three have declared for the NFL Draft.
