Garrett Riley reveals his initial thoughts on Clemson job offer

After failing to reach the College Football Playoff for the second straight season, Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney made the decision to hire a new offensive coordinator. He then hired Garrett Riley, brother of Lincoln Riley, who just led the TCU offense to the CFP National Championship Game.

Now, Riley explained his thoughts after getting the Clemson job and just what he knew about the program.

“Did not have a ton of background or a whole lot of knowledge of Clemson and just kind of how Coach Swinney operates,” Riley said.

“I mean I tried to investigate a little bit, as much as I could, with people that know coach a lot better than I do. So, that was important as all this unfolded to try and gauge that a little bit, but it’s been, man, it’s been awesome since we started. We hit the ground running, like he said, recruiting and getting to travel with the other coaches and getting to know them. I didn’t know any of these guys. I had heard of a lot of these assistants here at Clemson but it’s been awesome to really get around them.”

Last season, under Riley, TCU was 9th in scoring offense, with 38.8 points per game. That’s about five points more than Clemson scored, finishing 30th.

“So, yeah, I didn’t know a ton about it coming into it other than following kind of his [Swinney] path and his career and what he’s done here,” Riley said. “So, that’s been very neat for me to kind of just see that, not coming in blindly, but just coming in not truly knowing until you get here.”

Dabo Swinney is excited about Garrett Riley

After announcing Riley would be Clemson’s next offensive coordinator, Swinney spoke about the hire, saying he is really excited about the addition.

“Obviously I know his pedigree, his background, and all that stuff. But this was something that kind of happened in short order. And the best part about it is nobody knew about it until they needed to know about it. We’re really, really excited. Again, we’re just very impressed with what he did at SMU by taking the reins there. And then walking into TCU and they went from five wins to playing in the national championship,” Swinney said.

“He’s a great fit for us. I think that he is one of the bright offensive minds in the game. I think he’s a great fit for Clemson, a great fit for me, a great fit for our personnel. Philosophy wise? We really match up. I have no doubt he’s going to make us better offensively. And I think we can help him grow continue to mature and get better as well as he navigates his career. It’s a great fit, great opportunity, and, again, great timing to bring him on board.”