Shane Beamer denies report saying he wanted to hire Garrett Riley at South Carolina

Clemson made quite a splash Friday by announcing it’s hiring TCU offensive coordinator Garrett Riley to the same role. However, a report surfaced saying South Carolina coach Shane Beamer wanted to hire Riley — and he took to Twitter to say it wasn’t true.

The report came from 97.7 The Fan Upstate, which said Beamer “really wanted” Riley to become its new offensive coordinator and replace Marcus Satterfield. South Carolina hired former Arkansas tight ends coach Dowell Loggains to the role last month, and Beamer made it clear that’s who he wanted.

He also called out the station in a big way in his response.

“I normally don’t respond to second-rate /J.V. radio programs I’ve never heard of (and apparently no one else has either considering you’re in the Upstate & have 8,000 followers),” Beamer tweeted. “Do you have a good source? Other than, oh I don’t know….ME? Happy for Garrett. We got OUR guy.”

Clemson announced Riley’s hiring Friday one day after On3’s Matt Zenitz confirmed Dabo Swinney was hiring him to replace Brandon Streeter, who was fired Thursday after one year as the Tigers’ offensive coordinator. The 2022 Broyles Award winner, Riley played a key role in helping TCU make it to the national championship game and turning Max Duggan into a Heisman Trophy finalist.

Now, Riley is heading to Clemson, where he inherits an interesting situation. DJ Uiagalelei is now at Oregon State after entering the transfer portal and Cade Klubnik is the apparent heir at quarterback. The Tigers ranked fourth in the ACC in scoring offense in 2022, sixth in passing offense and fifth in total offense as they went 11-3 overall, including a loss to Tennessee in the Orange Bowl.

Clemson officially announces Garrett Riley as new offensive coordinator

One of the splashiest moves of the offseason shook out this week with Clemson reportedly hiring Broyles Award winner Garrett Riley away from TCU to be the offensive coordinator for the Tigers. On Friday, Clemson made the move official.

Riley, who is the younger brother of USC head coach Lincoln Riley, comes to Clemson after a wildly successful lone season coordinating the offense for the Horned Frogs. Quarterback Max Duggan put up Heisman-caliber stats and the TCU offense carried them to an appearance in the national title game.

“Garrett has an incredible track record. His body of work — including this past season when his ninth-ranked scoring offense helped TCU transform from a five-win team into a 13-win national championship game finalist in their coaching staff’s first season — speaks for itself,” Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney said in a press release.