Clemson entered 2018 as the only program with two Broyles Award winners among its 10 current assistant coaches.
Elliott is just the second African-American to win the Broyles Award, joining former Miami (Fla.) defensive coordinator Randy Shannon in 2001. He joined Venables, Bud Foster (Virginia Tech, 2006), Ralph Friedgen (Georgia Tech, 1999) and Mickey Andrews (Florida State, 1996), who was the first winner of the award, as the only ACC coaches to win the honor. Twelve of the previous 21 winners have gone on to become head coaches, including six of the last eight dating to Kirby Smart in 2009, now the head coach at Georgia.
Elliott came to Clemson in 2000 as a wide receiver. Prior to his senior year, Jon Solomon of Anderson’s Independent Mail did a survey of the team. One of the questions he asked the players was, “Who is the most respected player on the team?” Elliott was by far the top answer to that question and was voted one of the permanent team co-captains at the end of the year.
During that 2003 campaign, Elliott played all 13 games and had 23 receptions for 286 yards and a touchdown under Swinney, then a first-year wide receivers coach.
“I could see that Tony had great leadership qualities and had a future in coaching if he wanted to pursue it.”“If he wanted to pursue it,” was an important qualifier, because Elliott had opportunities in the engineering world. After graduation, he accepted a job with Michelin.
“I really enjoyed Michelin and the people there,” said Elliott. “I had a great boss, a good-paying job and Michelin was a great company to work for.”
But after a few years, something was missing for Elliott.
“I was having an impact on the people at Michelin, but I had a desire to work with young people and decided I wanted to go into coaching.”
Elliott returned to the gridiron in 2006 as a wide receivers coach at SC State. After two years, he moved back to the upstate of South Carolina as wide receivers coach at Furman.
After the 2010 season, Swinney had an opening on his staff for the running backs coach and offered the position to Elliott. The offer in itself had significant meaning to Elliott.
In 1989 at the age of nine, Elliott was a witness to his mother’s death in a traffic accident on Sycamore Street in California. At a convention in 2010, Elliott took Swinney to the exact intersection of the accident, because he wanted to show him where the event that changed his life took place.
When Swinney decided to hire Elliott for the position, he invited him to dinner at his home in Clemson…on Sycamore Drive.
“I told Tony I wanted him to accept it right here,” stated Swinney. “It was the same street name where he had such a traumatic experience as a kid, and I wanted him to have a great experience now. I think God winks at you and gives you confirmation from time to time. I think God winked to me. I was contemplating things, and that was the confirmation I needed.”
It didn’t take long for Swinney to see confirmation of his ability as a coach. While he never coached running backs, he studied, sought advice and helped Clemson to its first ACC title in 20 years in 2011.
“One of the reasons there is great pride in him winning the award is that he had never coached the position before he came to Clemson,” added Swinney. “He hadn’t played the position, either. But he worked and worked, and our running backs flourished under him.”
Andre Ellington had over 1,000 rushing yards under Elliott’s direction in that first year, and he duplicated the feat in 2012. Roderick McDowell joined the 1,000-yard club in 2013, and Wayne Gallman followed with consecutive 1,000-yard seasons in 2015 and 2016. Gallman’s 1,527 rushing yards in 2015 set the school record, and the current New York Giant running back is fifth in school history with 3,429 rushing yards even though he played just three years.
It is no coincidence that Clemson’s run of seasons with at least 10 victories started when Elliott joined the staff in 2011. In his first seven seasons on staff, Clemson won four ACC championships, posted an 82-15 record, had seven top-25 finishes, including five top-10 rankings, advanced to the College Football Playoffs three of four possible seasons and won the 2016 national title.
