Antonio "Tony" Elliott (born November 26, 1979) is an

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...

coach who is currently the

head coach A head coach, senior coach or manager is a professional at training and developing athletes. They typically hold a more public profile and are paid more than other coaches. In some sports, the head coach is instead called the "manager", as in assoc ...

at the

University of Virginia The University of Virginia (UVA) is a Public university#United States, public research university in Charlottesville, Virginia. Founded in 1819 by Thomas Jefferson, the university is ranked among the top academic institutions in the United S ...

. He previously served as an assistant coach at

Clemson University Clemson University () is a public land-grant research university in Clemson, South Carolina. Founded in 1889, Clemson is the second-largest university in the student population in South Carolina. For the fall 2019 semester, the university enro ...

from 2011 to 2021, most recently as associate head coach, offensive coordinator, and tight ends coach, after serving most of those years as running backs coach and/or co-offensive coordinator. Elliott played

college football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States. Unlike most ...

at Clemson as a wide receiver from 2000 to 2003. Prior to his tenure at Virginia, he held various assistant coaching positions at

South Carolina State South Carolina State University (SCSU or SC State) is a public, historically black, land-grant university in Orangeburg, South Carolina, United States. It is the only public, historically black land-grant institution in South Carolina, is a me ...

, Furman and Clemson. While at Clemson, he won the 2017

Broyles Award The Broyles Award is an annual award given to honor the best assistant coach in college football. First awarded in 1996, it was named after former University of Arkansas men's athletic director Frank Broyles. The award is presented in Little R ...

, which goes to the college game's top assistant. He was one of the highest paid coordinators in the sport during his time at Clemson, and there he recruited, coached, and called plays for the ACC's all-time leader in yards and touchdowns,

Travis Etienne Travis Etienne Jr. (born January 26, 1999) is an American football running back for the Jacksonville Jaguars of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at Clemson and was selected by the Jaguars in the first round of the ...

, and co-coordinated the offenses of

Deshaun Watson Derrick Deshaun Watson (born September 14, 1995) is an American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players ...

and

Trevor Lawrence William Trevor Lawrence (born October 6, 1999) is an American football quarterback for the Jacksonville Jaguars of the National Football League (NFL). Considered among the highest-touted college football prospects, he won the 2019 National C ...

.Brad Senkiw and Zach Lentz.
Clemson's Tony Elliott Back in Play at UVA, Still Lead Man for Duke Job
. ''

Sports Illustrated ''Sports Illustrated'' (''SI'') is an American sports magazine first published in August 1954. Founded by Stuart Scheftel, it was the first magazine with circulation over one million to win the National Magazine Award for General Excellence twic ...

'', November 8, 2021. Accessed November 8, 2021. Elliott-coached offenses (in part) won two NCAA titles for Clemson, including a upset 44–16 victory over Alabama in January 2019.

Early life

Elliott spent portions of his early childhood homeless on the streets of

Los Angeles, California Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

with his mother and sister.David Teel.
Tony Elliott brings humility and perspective rooted in tragedy to UVa football
. ''

The Roanoke Times ''The Roanoke Times'' is the primary newspaper in Southwestern Virginia and is based in Roanoke, Virginia, United States. It is published by Lee Enterprises. In addition to its headquarters in Roanoke, it maintains a bureau in Christiansburg, ...

'', December 10, 2021. Accessed December 13, 2021. When he was 9 years old, his mother was killed in a car accident and he was sent to live with an aunt and uncle in South Carolina, where he began playing football and basketball.

Playing career

Elliott graduated from James Island High School in Charleston in 1997, where he was a football and basketball star for the Trojans.. After attending the

United States Air Force Academy The United States Air Force Academy (USAFA) is a United States service academy in El Paso County, Colorado, immediately north of Colorado Springs. It educates cadets for service in the officer corps of the United States Air Force and Uni ...

Preparatory School as a football recruit in 1997, Elliott played

under head coach

Tommy Bowden Tommy Pearce Bowden (; born July 10, 1954) is a former American football coach. He served as the head coach at Clemson University from 1999 until October 13, 2008. He is a son of Bobby Bowden, former head football coach of Florida State Universi ...

. He came to Clemson in the fall of 1999 as a walk-on. He was selected team captain in 2003, a rare accomplishment for a walk-on. He finished his career at Clemson with 4 letters and 44 games with 4 starts. Elliott won All-ACC academic honors as a student athlete.

Coaching career

Early career

Elliott started his coaching career as the wide receivers' coach for the

South Carolina State Bulldogs The South Carolina State Bulldogs and Lady Bulldogs (also SC State) sponsors fourteen sports teams representing South Carolina State University in Orangeburg, South Carolina in intercollegiate athletics, including men’s and women's basketball, ...

in 2006. He then served in the same position for the

Furman Paladins The Furman Paladins are the varsity athletic teams representing Furman University in Greenville, South Carolina, in intercollegiate athletics. Furman competes in NCAA Division I athletics and is one of the smallest NCAA Division I schools in t ...

from 2008 to 2010.

Clemson

Elliott made his return to the

Clemson Tigers The Clemson Tigers are the athletic teams that represent Clemson University, located in Clemson, South Carolina. They compete as a member of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I level (Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) s ...

in early 2011 to fill the running back coach position. In December 2014, he was named co-offensive coordinator to replace outgoing offensive coordinator Chad Morris, who left to take over as head coach of the SMU football program. He shared coordinator duties with Clemson's wide receivers coach,

Jeff Scott Jeffrey Bradford Scott (born December 28, 1980) is an American football coach. He was the head coach at the University of South Florida from 2020 to 2022. Playing career Born in Arcadia, Florida, Scott later lived in Seneca, South Carolina and ...

. Swinney announced that Elliott would be the play-caller for the Russell Athletics Bowl versus the Oklahoma Sooners, in which the Tigers defeated the Sooners by a score of 37–17. Clemson's football team won the national championship in January 2017, beating

Alabama (We dare defend our rights) , anthem = "Alabama (state song), Alabama" , image_map = Alabama in United States.svg , seat = Montgomery, Alabama, Montgomery , LargestCity = Huntsville, Alabama, Huntsville , LargestCounty = Baldwin County, Al ...

, with Scott calling the offensive plays and serving as co-offensive coordinator for the game. In December 2017, Elliott was the recipient of the

, presented to the top assistant coach in college football. In 2019, Elliott again called plays as co-offensive coordinator for Clemson's 44–16 win, again over

Nick Saban Nicholas Lou Saban Jr. (; born October 31, 1951) is an American football coach who has been the head football coach at the University of Alabama since 2007. Saban previously served as head coach of the National Football League's Miami Dolphins ...

's Alabama, to secure a second national championship. Elliott was Clemson's primary offensive playcaller for seven seasons (2015–2021), including through both of Clemson's NCAA Championships and successful runs through the

College Football Playoff The College Football Playoff (CFP) is an annual postseason knockout invitational tournament to determine a national champion for the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS), the highest level ...

. Elliott also coached the running backs and tight ends at Clemson.Chris Low and Adam Rittenberg.
Virginia Cavaliers homing in on Clemson offensive coordinator Tony Elliott for head football coach, sources say
.

ESPN ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). The ...

, December 8, 2021. Accessed December 9, 2021. Elliott was the primary Clemson recruiter for these positions, including a "diamond in the rough" in four-star

, who under Elliott's position coaching and offensive playcalling became the ACC's all-time leader in rushing yards, rushing touchdowns, total touchdowns, total points scored, and total yards gained. Under Elliott, Etienne scored at least one touchdown in 46 of his 55 career games, setting the NCAA and FBS records. As a coordinator, Elliott was also the primary playcaller for

. Elliott gained the additional title of associate head coach for Clemson in 2021. During his seven years as sole or co-offensive coordinator for Clemson, the Tigers had a record of 88–10. After reportedly turning down

Tennessee Tennessee ( , ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked state in the Southeastern region of the United States. Tennessee is the 36th-largest by area and the 15th-most populous of the 50 states. It is bordered by Kentucky to th ...

's head coaching job the previous year, Elliott decided he was ready for such a role after the 2021 season, being named as the leading candidate at

Duke Duke is a male title either of a monarch ruling over a duchy, or of a member of royalty, or nobility. As rulers, dukes are ranked below emperors, kings, grand princes, grand dukes, and sovereign princes. As royalty or nobility, they are ran ...

before interviewing twice in Charlottesville after Bronco Mendenhall had stepped down for personal reasons at Virginia... a program that was briefly rumored to favor one of its own (Penn State co-defensive coordinator Anthony Poindexter) for the spot. Elliott had been the primary offensive playcaller and co-coordinator on the opposite side of the field from his new team in the 2019 ACC Championship Game, a game his Tigers had won, 62–17, over the Cavaliers.

Virginia

On December 10, 2021, Elliott was named the 41st head coach at the

, replacing Bronco Mendenhall.Grey Papke.
Clemson OC Tony Elliott reportedly is top choice for Virginia HC job
.

MSN Sports MSN (meaning Microsoft Network) is a web portal and related collection of Internet services and apps for Windows and mobile devices, provided by Microsoft and launched on August 24, 1995, alongside the release of Windows 95. The Microsoft Net ...

, December 8, 2021. Accessed December 8, 2021. Elliott set to work by hiring

John Rudzinski John Rudzinski is an American football coach and former player. He currently serves as the defensive coordinator at Virginia. He had spent his previous coaching career with Air Force, dating back to 2005. Upon graduation from the United States Air ...

from the

as his

defensive coordinator A defensive coordinator is a coach responsible for a gridiron football (American football) team's defense. Generally, the defensive coordinator, the offensive coordinator and the special teams coordinator represent the second level of a team's c ...

, and Desmond Kitchings from the

Atlanta Falcons The Atlanta Falcons are a professional American football team based in Atlanta. The Falcons compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) South division. The Falcons joined th ...

as his

offensive coordinator An offensive coordinator is a member of the coaching staff of an American football or Canadian football team who is in charge of the team's offense. Generally, along with the defensive coordinator and the special teams coordinator, this coach re ...

. Rudzinski's 2020 defense had ranked in the top 5 nationally for scoring defense and his 2021 defense had ranked in the national top 5 for total defense.Adam Rittenberg.
John Rudzinski leaving Air Force football to be defensive coordinator at Virginia, sources confirm
.

, January 13, 2021. Accessed January 15, 2021.Greg Madia.
Virginia names John Rudzinski defensive coordinator
. ''

The Daily Progress ''The Daily Progress'' is the sole daily newspaper in the vicinity of Charlottesville, Virginia, United States. It has been published daily, since September 14, 1892. The paper was founded by James Hubert Lindsay and his brother Frank Lindsay. T ...

'', January 13, 2022. Accessed January 15, 2022. Kitchings had previously been co-offensive coordinator at both NC State and Vanderbilt before most recently being a running backs coach in the NFL.

Personal life

Elliott graduated with a bachelor's degree in

industrial engineering Industrial engineering is an engineering profession that is concerned with the optimization of complex process (engineering), processes, systems, or organizations by developing, improving and implementing integrated systems of people, money, kno ...

from

in 2002 with a team-high 3.55 GPA. Upon graduation, he worked as an

engineer Engineers, as practitioners of engineering, are professionals who invent, design, analyze, build and test machines, complex systems, structures, gadgets and materials to fulfill functional objectives and requirements while considering the l ...

for

Michelin Michelin (; ; full name: ) is a French multinational tyre manufacturing company based in Clermont-Ferrand in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes ''région'' of France. It is the second largest tyre manufacturer in the world behind Bridgestone and la ...

North America for two years. He is married to the former Tamika Whitner of

Spartanburg, South Carolina Spartanburg is a city in and the county seat, seat of Spartanburg County, South Carolina, United States. The city of Spartanburg has a municipal population of 38,732 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, making it the 11th-largest c ...

Head coaching record

References

Notes

External links

Virginia profile

Clemson profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Elliott, Tony 1979 births Living people American football wide receivers Clemson Tigers football coaches Clemson Tigers football players Furman Paladins football coaches South Carolina State Bulldogs football coaches Virginia Cavaliers football coaches People from Watsonville, California Players of American football from California African-American coaches of American football African-American players of American football 20th-century African-American sportspeople 21st-century African-American sportspeople