Steve Wiltfong: The real impact of Clemson's offseason hiring of Matt Luke

For the first time since 2010, the Clemson Tigers finished a season without double-digit wins. Ending the year 9-4 following a Gator Bowl win over Kentucky to close out last season.

The standards are sky-high for the Tigers year in and year out under head coach Dabo Swinney after helping deliver the program two national titles and a multitude of College Football Playoff appearances. But following a three-year hiatus from the CFP, On3’s Steve Wiltfong believes that Swinney made a key hire this offseason that could be the difference in the Tigers returning to the playoff picture.

“They made one of the best offseason assistant coach hires in the country in my opinion by going out and getting Matt Luke,” Wiltfong said Thursday on Andy Staples On3. “That was a tremendous hire for them, it was a position room where they have not had much success getting players drafted in spite of winning national championships and stuff, their offensive line was not full of NFL players. You bring in Matt Luke, he has a track record of NFL player development. He knows how it was done at Georgia, he was very integral in that, they are a major factor on the recruiting trail this cycle with some of the best offensive linemen in the country.”

The offensive line at large is one of the more under-appreciated aspects of a football team, and an under-achieving piece for Clemson as of late. But Luke’s extensive experience and pedigree coaching at the position could be what elevates the Tigers up front and Clemson’s staff at large.

“And I also think most importantly, he can coach to the standard that’s necessary of winning the national championship. And I think that Clemson lost a lot of national championship caliber assistant coaches, and every coach does that, and so it’s hard to continue to measure up to that,” Wiltfong explained. “And so you see, it’s hard to win 13-14 games, that’s the expectation at Clemson every year because of what they built and they’re going to try and do that again this year, and the next year. But it’s the perfect storm of having great coaching and great players.”

Fingers can be pointed in several different directions as to why Clemson has taken a slight step back the past few seasons. But according to Wiltfong, the attrition of their coaching staff following consecutive seasons of great success is a large factor. An area he compared to teams that have had recent success.

“When you look at this Michigan staff that just won the national championship Jesse Minter is as hot of a defensive coordinator as there is in the country. He’s now in the NFL, he’ll probably be an NFL [head] coach in the next couple years. You look at Mike Macdonald was the defensive coordinator before that he’s now an NFL head coach, you just look at the Saban staffs and all of that, the Clemson staff was the same thing,” Wiltfong said.

“A lot of those guys went on to become head coaches, they were some of the best assistant coaches in the country. So we’re talking about recruiting and player evaluating, but it was a whole combination of things for Clemson that has seen them go from a 14-win team to good gosh, a 12-win team,” Wiltfong added sarcastically.

The Tigers are 30-10 in the last three seasons despite not making the College Football Playoff. But the playoff expanding to 12 teams this upcoming season paired with their talent on the field increasing alongside their coaching staff with additions like Luke could poise Clemson for a breakout year in 2024.