Garrett Riley explains decision to leave TCU for Clemson

It was going to take something special for Garrett Riley to leave his situation at TCU. The rising star in the college football world believes he found that with Clemson.

Riley, who was named the Tigers offensive coordinator last month, spoke about his decision to come to Clemson on Wednesday.

The 33-year-old was a guest on Clemson’s National Signing Day show, which was broadcast on Clemson Plus. He detailed what led to the move, and it’s safe to say Dabo Swinney played a big role.

“There’s just no question the amount of consistency that’s been here that coach Swinney’s developed and built. Kind of in totality of where they’re at as a program, where it can still go, and then just being able to experience this deal with him and see how he operates and just how this whole organization and the program and the town and the community, just the whole package. Just really made sense,” Riley said. “That’s what was important to me, was important to our family, that we were going to come into a situation that was like this with as stable as it is and consistent as it has been on and off the field. That’s certainly a draw to players and certainly a big draw to coaches, as well.”

Riley won the Broyles Award last season, which is presented to the top assistant coach in college football. He helped TCU reach the national title game, before they struggled against Georgia in a blowout loss.

Riley is the younger brother of Southern Cal head coach Lincoln Riley, and there’s plenty of speculation that Garrett Riley will join him as a head coach at some point.

Getting to learn from an incredibly successful head coach in Swinney made sense for him.

“I love that he built it his own way. I really respect that he’s stayed the course with how he sees it. He has a lot of conviction about what he does. That was a big draw for me throughout the years as I’ve watched coach Swinney and I’ve watched Clemson. I really respect that. And then just how he operates. He does things the right way,” Riley said. “He’s always going to try to do it by the players first – everything he does on a daily basis is because of them. He puts them at the forefront. I just really respect the way, outside looking in, that he’s operated throughout all these years as I’ve been able to follow Clemson and their success. What a fortunate situation to be around him and learn from him.”

TCU played Georgia in the national title game on Jan. 9, and Garrett Riley was hired as the offensive coordinator at Clemson on Jan. 12.

Riley said that the process moved quickly and he did not talk with Swinney until after the national title game.

“When things like this come along I’m very thoughtful. I’m gonna think things through, not just make an impulsive decision or anything like that. We were in a great situation. My family is all Texas and all those kind of things. But you just couldn’t pass up the opportunity to do this. It was going to have to be something truly, truly special to get me to leave that place,” Riley said.

“It all happened pretty quickly. All this happened after our national championship game. I’m sure he was thinking about this for a little bit. I’m glad it all happened after that. You don’t want to cloud your mind with any of that stuff going on or anything like that. So yea, all of this happened after the championship game and kind of took a couple of days to really think it through. Able to talk with my wife and see what we thought. So yea, took a couple of days and then it moved very, very quickly from there.”