Garrett Riley reveals why he prefers to coach from the field

Clemson’s new offensive coordinator Garrett Riley plans to coach from the field this season, unlike many counterparts who sit up in the coaches booth. For Riley, it’s all about keeping the feel of the game close.

He dove into the ins and outs of his thinking for where he places himself on gameday ahead of Clemson’s opener against Duke on Monday in Durham. There are trade offs, but they’re worth making for Riley.

“Usually field. Just kind of always believed in that,” Riley said. “To be able to look at your quarterback, more than anything. But, just to have that presence down there.”

Along with his desire to be up close and personal with Cade Klubnik and the rest of the quarterbacks, Riley thinks he gets a better feel for how the game is going. He thinks that’s worth the trade off of maybe not seeing the whole field and defense quite as well.

“Certainly you can see some things up top a little bit better than you can on the field at times. But I just think being down there and having that presence and really looking at your quarterback and looking at the offense as a whole, just kind of more of the feel of the game, too. Sometimes up top, that’s something you do lose, is you’re so remote almost that sometimes those things can be a little tougher,” Riley said.

Riley and Clemson’s other coordinators will have limited media availability going forward

Swinney has typically made coordinators available twice a week during football season. However, in 2023, coordinators are only speaking with the media four times the entire season.

Swinney explained the decision during his press conference on Tuesday.

“Just, you know, one of those things I hadn’t looked at in a long time. I think the last time we had any type of media change was maybe 2010 or ’11,” Swinney said. “And just one of those things in the offseason you’re looking at, and it was kind of eye-opening to me that we were very different from most of our peers, if you will. Maybe a way to take a little bit off our staff and help them a little bit – not take some time away here and there. So that’s really it.”

The four days Clemson coordinators will be available during this season are — Aug. 28 to preview Duke, Sept. 18 to preview Florida State, the open week Oct. 9 and Nov. 6 to preview Georgia Tech.

“I think we’re still, even with the little tweak we made, I think we’re still probably more accessible than most,” Swinney said. “But it was just something I felt like looking at our competitors, from a national standpoint all across the board, just felt like it was a good change.”