With the transfer portal opening on Friday, January 2nd, Clemson is now racing to find an offensive coordinator. I would expect a coordinator to be announced by then or shortly thereafter. It would have
been ideal to begin this process sooner, and there have likely been some feelers put out to candidates, but it seems Coach Swinney have needed the Pinstripe Bowl data point to solidify his decision. If that’s the case, the loss may have been a blessing in disguise.
Several names have surfaced logical options as well as others rumored to be in the mix. I discussed them in the video below and break them down further below.
Last updated 9:00am 12/30/2025
Jonathan Brewer: Brewer comes from the Rhett Lashlee coaching tree but is now at Duke where he calls the plays for Manny Diaz and the ACC Champion Blue Devils. They didn’t have a great running game, but their passing game was fantastic. He is already having success in the ACC at a school with less overall, but a much better QB than any Clemson has had since Trevor Lawrence. This generally feels like a safe hire with home run potential if he can bring Mensah with him for one year before Mensah jumps to the NFL. This seems like the most likely and safest hire. If Mensah comes the upside is immense, if not, it is still a solid move. This was the first name that came to mind when the proposition of firing Riley became real.
Joey Halzle: Halzle (pronounced HALLS-lee) is the offensive coordinator at Tennessee. He replaced Alex Golesh when Golesh got the head coaching job at USF (and has since become the head man at Auburn). Not all Tennessee fans are thrilled with the transition and Josh Heupel handles a notable share of the playcalling if not all of it. Halzle played at OU for Heupel when he was the QB coach. He coached with him at UCF and Tennessee and for the past two years has been the OC at UT. The only reason Clemson could perhaps pull him from a high-end SEC school is to give him full playcalling duties to prove he can thrive without Heupel. That’s a risk, but the upside of brining the Heupel/Briles run-and-shoot style offense to Clemson is exciting. The upside in unlimited.
Andy Kotelnicki: Kotelnicki’s Penn State squad run the ball down Clemson’s throat and while this was a failed season for Penn State, a run to the final four of the playoff last year behind a dominant running game proved Kotelnicki can do this at a high-level. He was much ballyhooed at Buffalo and highly successful at Kansas before Penn State poached him. He has a track record that shows you shouldn’t put too much stock in one down year. He was a Center, not a QB, but Tajh Boyd could be the official QB coach if needed.
Kade Bell: Bell has gotten a lot of credit for modernizing Pitt’s offense. They only ran the ball for 3.6 YPC as a team but were able to use Desmond Reid effectively in space. Bell is only 32 years old with brief OC experience at Western Carolina and most recently two years at Pitt. He has done it two years in the ACC so it isn’t a tremendous risk, but it is certainly there. He worked wonders with freshman QB Mason Heintschel and perhaps could be a QB whisperer at Clemson. The Panthers averaged 33.7 points per game including dropping 53 on NC State and 45 on Georgia Tech. Unfortunately, in their final four games that GT win was their only positive one. They scored 15 in a loss to Notre Dame, 7 in a loss to Miami, and 17 in a loss to ECU.
Todd Monken: Monken won two National Championship at Georgia as the OC before going to the NFL. The Ravens are middle-of-the-pack offensively at 16th in yards per game and 11th in points per game. With Lamar Jackson (when healthy) and Derrick Henry that’s disappointing, but I’m not sure I care. He was able to open up the offense under the notoriously boring, slog, pull you into the mud coach that is Kirby Smart. This on the surface doesn’t seem the most realistic as Clemson is behind both the Georgia Bulldogs and the Balitmore Ravens in the general pecking order, but if he is on the hot seat or tired of the NFL, this would be a coup for Coach Swinney and an A++ hire.
Gordon Sammis: Sammis was on the top of my board at the end of the regular season, but when Coach Jim Mora Jr. left to go to Colorado State, I figured UConn would hire Sammis for the Head Coaching role. Instead, they hired Jason Candle from Toledo and Sammis replaced Kendall Briles as the OC at TCU. I assume that means it is too late to bring him to Clemson, but if he hasn’t bought a house and settled down in Fort Worth, maybe there’s still time.
Tim Cramsey: Memphis ran the ball extremely well under Cramsey. He is a veteran coach likely not looking for a head coaching position. Unfortunately, he followed Ryan Silverfield to Arkansas. This is another one where it may be too late. Plus, he is all but guaranteed three years at Arkansas with the new staff just beginning. I don’t believe this one is viable any longer.
Jeff Scott: Clemson fans are quick to harken back to Chad Morris and Jeff Scott, but neither would be a strong hire. Chad Morris hasn’t called plays since 2020 while Jeff Scott has been out of the game since being fired from USF in 2022. He doesn’t need the money and has infinitely more family time working in real estate. He’s been out of the game for three seasons so it is somewhat of a now or never if he wants back in, but he’d be rejoining a Clemson team that doesn’t have near the talent he worked with before and let’s not forget, he wasn’t the play caller, it was Tony Elliott.
