Clemson fires offensive coordinator Garrett Riley

The Clemson Tigers are moving on from offensive coordinator Garrett Riley, per Tigers Illustrated. The school shortly confirmed after the report. This comes after he spent the previous three seasons with the program.

In addition, safeties coach Mickey Conn will also not be brought back. Head coach Dabo Swinney released a statement on the decision.

“I have made the decision to make a change at offensive coordinator,” Swinney said. “This was a very difficult decision. These decisions are never easy, especially when you really love and care for the people that are involved, and I deeply love and care for Garrett Riley and his family. At the end of the day, we just did not get the production and the results that we needed, and I just feel like it is time for a change, and so we will be moving in a different direction with a new offensive coordinator.

“I just want to thank Garrett for all that he did for us here at Clemson and leading us and helping us secure another ACC championship in 2024 and get us back to the College Football Playoff that year. I appreciate all of his efforts on behalf of our players and our program. Garrett is smart, he’s got great work ethic and he’s a great coach, but it just didn’t work like we both wanted. He’s got an amazing career ahead and he’ll be a great head coach in the future.

“We will also have a change with the leadership of our safeties with the departure of Mickey Conn. Coach Conn is someone that I’ve known since 1990 and he truly is family to me. He has done an amazing job here at Clemson. He’s been with us since 2016 — 10 years — and he’s been coaching the safeties since 2017 and coached a bunch of great safeties for us, including R.J. Mickens, who is a starting safety in the NFL as a rookie this year.

“I’m just so appreciative of Mickey and the great contribution that he’s made at Clemson over the last decade. I’m thankful for his family as well. I’m excited for upcoming opportunities he may have to go and call a defense and take the next step in his career. I’m forever grateful for Mickey and all the outstanding players he’s coached and all the memorable wins and championships we’ve earned together in the last decade.

“I am excited about the plan we have in place for our secondary and our defensive staff, and I am looking forward to identifying the right leader for our offense to help achieve our goals for 2026 and beyond.”

Riley came to Clemson in 2023 and has been serving as both the team’s offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach during that time. This has coincided with the Cade Klubnik era of Tigers’ offense. However, on the field, there have been some mixed results. That includes going to the College Football Playoff a season ago before finishing 7-5 this season.

The 2025 season proved to be a frustrating one for Clemson. In the Preseason AP Top 25 Poll, Clemson was the No. 4 team in the country. After missing out on the CFP this year, head coach Dabo Swinney clearly decided that some changes needed to be made on his staff.

This also comes after Swinney had, seemingly, been critical of Riley throughout the season. Back in October, Tiger Illustrated even wrote that their relationship was at a rocky point. That was even to the point that Tiger Illustrated noted that Swinney seemed to be publicly critical of Riley to a degree he had never been of another assistant coach. All of that pointed to a potential change coming on his staff once the season wrapped up.

This season, Clemson was 50th nationally in total offense, while averaging 405.3 yards per game. That was seventh in the ACC. Then, the Tigers were 61st in scoring offense, putting up 28.7 points per game. That mark would be 10th in the ACC.

Clemson just concluded the postseason with a 22-10 loss to Penn State in the Pinstripe Bowl. Klubnik had 193 passing yards and no passing touchdowns. The Tigers ran for 43 yards as a team.

Garrett Riley is the brother of USC head coach Lincoln Riley. A Texas native, he began his coaching career in the high school ranks and made the jump to college as a GA at ECU when Lincoln was the offensive coordinator on the staff there. From there, Riley would work his way up as an assistant coach and in 2020, he got his first chance to be an offensive coordinator. That was at SMU. He would later move to TCU and it was from the Horned Frogs that Clemson poached him following the 2022 season.