Clemson hiring Nick Eason as new defensive tackles coach

CLEMSON — Dabo Swinney has his replacement for former Clemson defensive tackles coach Todd Bates.

Nick Eason is expected to join Clemson’s staff to replace Bates, a source told On3 Monday morning.

Eason is currently the defensive line coach at Auburn. He was making $700,000 per year at Auburn and is expected to get a pay increase to come to Clemson, according to a source.

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Eason played at Clemson in the early 2000s and was twice named a team captain. He had 30 tackles for loss and 15 sacks during his time as a Tiger.

After completing his college career, Eason was drafted by the Denver Broncos in the fourth round of the 2003 NFL draft.

He was cut by the Broncos before signing with the Browns and playing in Cleveland from 2004-06. Eason and also spent time playing for the Steelers and Cardinals.

After retiring from the NFL, Eason got into coaching and was the assistant defensive line coach for the Browns in 2013.

He then went to Tennessee and was the assistant defensive line coach for the Titans in 2014-15.

Eason was promoted to Titans defensive line coach in 2016-17, coached the Bengals defensive line in 2019-20, before being named Auburn’s defensive line coach for the 2021 season.

Clemson had an opening on its staff after Bates left to join Brent Venables at Oklahoma earlier this week.

Bates accepted a raise and promotion from Clemson last month, adding assistant head coach to his title and going from making $515,000 annually to $715,000.

However, a few weeks later he left to join Venables at OU, becoming the fourth on-field assistant coach to leave this offseason.

In addition to Venables and Bates, offensive coordinator Tony Elliott accepted the head coaching job at Virginia, while offensive line coach Robbie Caldwell is moving to an off-field role.