Virginia football has named Clemson offensive coordinator Tony Elliott the program’s next head coach in a move that was first reported by Pete Thamel and confirmed by Carl Reed of 247Sports. UVA finishes its coaching search after the surprising resignation of Bronco Mendenhall. The Cavaliers reportedly honed in on the former Broyles Award winner and one of the nation’s top recruiters late last week, with Penn State’s Anthony Poindexter and Michigan’s Josh Gattis also viewed as prime candidates.
Elliott’s exit from Clemson leaves two-time national champion Dabo Swinney with vacancies at both coordinator positions after Brent Venables left for the Oklahoma job. Duke also targeted Elliott, and interviewed him earlier this cycle.
Elliott surfaced in the early portions of several recent coaching searches, but none materialized to a point where leaving Clemson offered maximum opportunity.Elliott played at Clemson as a wide receiver from 2000-03 before his first coaching job at South Carolina State as an offensive assistant in 2006. He later moved on to nearby Furman, before landing with Swinney and the Tigers in 2011 as their running backs coach. Ahead of the 2015 season, Elliott rose to co-offensive coordinator, in addition to his running backs coach job, before Clemson dropped the co-title in 2019 once Jeff Scott left for USF.
