After 16 years in the college football coaching profession, including the past seven as offensive coordinator for one of the nation’s top programs in Clemson, Tony Elliott is stepping into the role as head football coach for the first time. University of Virginia President Jim Ryan and Director of Athletics Carla Williams introduced the 42-year-old as UVA football’s newest head coach during an outdoor press conference held on the Virginia football practice field, behind the McCue Center.
“We’re actually off to a pretty good start,” Elliott joked. “I was walking in with Brennan (Armstrong) and I was telling him that we’re already breaking records. I believe this is the first outdoor press conference, right?”
Former Virginia players (Shawn Moore, Chris Long and Chris Slade, among others), current players (Brennan Armstrong, Olu Oluwatimi, Anthony Johnson and Nick Jackson), and current Cavalier coaches (Marques Hagans, Clint Sintim and Garett Tujague) were among the many in attendance to welcome Elliott as Virginia football’s 41st head coach.
“It’s with great humility that I sit before you today,” Elliott said in his opening statement. “I must begin by thanking the good Lord above for directing my path and ordering my steps along this awesome journey of life. To the Board of Visitors, President Ryan, the entire administration, I’m extremely grateful for the trust and belief that you all have in me to lead the football program at the University of Virginia. To Carla, words can’t express how excited I am to partner with you as we take Virginia football into the future. Also I’ve got to thank you for seeing something in me that compelled you to take a chance. To the faculty, staff, student body and alumni of this world-class university, I’m extremely grateful to become a part of the UVA family.”
“I have patiently waited for this opportunity, and I’m ready,” Elliott said. “Over the past 11 years, I’ve seen the establishment of a championship culture, what it looks like, and I’m prepared for this moment. I chose UVA because I wanted to lead a program that was partnered with a university that had world-class academics. I wanted to be able to recruit the best and the brightest student-athletes. I wanted to compete in the best conference in college athletics. I wanted to be a part of an alignment with Ms. Carla and President Ryan that shared a vision that was similar to mine, which is centered around the holistic development of the student-athlete. And lastly, I wanted to be part of a university and athletic department that would not compromise its values to win.”
Elliott, who has turned down head coaching opportunities in recent years, proclaimed, “There is no better place for me than UVA.”
His wife, Tamika, and sons AJ and Ace agreed.
“Happy wife, happy life,” a smiling Elliott answered when asked about the importance of his family seeing UVA before he accepted the job. The Elliott family traveled to Charlottesville last Wednesday, December 8, before returning to Clemson on December 9. Elliott accepted the offer last Friday, December 10.
“But for us, it’s about family, and for me, growing up in the circumstances that I did, football was where I found a lot of my solace in terms of a family,” Elliott continued. “Now that I’m a father and a husband, that’s the most important thing to me. Yes, I sit here as a head coach, but I’m dad, and that’s my biggest job is to be dad and to be husband. If they didn’t give me the thumbs up, it’s not happening. Just general impressions, obviously coming from Clemson, very similar feel. You can just feel the passion for the place, and I think that was important to me.
“But we’ve got three Chick-Fil-As, I believe, in Charlottesville, right? There’s three of them and a Target,” Elliott joked. “Target was important. Target was almost a deal-breaker. Ain’t that right, Ace?”
The man Elliott describes as “like a father to me,” Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney, saw a match as well. If all goes well, the two friends will meet in the ACC Championship game on a yearly basis.
“There are jobs that he would give me his blessing on, and there were jobs that he wouldn’t give me his blessing on, and when I heard him say that he felt like Virginia was the perfect fit for Tony Elliott, then that’s all I needed to hear,” Elliott said.
Bronco Mendenhall’s resignation as Virginia football head coach, which occurred only 11 days ago, was “shocking” in the words of Williams. Fortunately, Elliott emerged quickly as a potential replacement for Mendenhall, who will lead the Hoos one last time in the December 29 Fenway Bowl.
“Well, I was impressed the very first time that we spoke, and I think I sent a text to my staff or even called my staff and just said, wow, just super impressive,” Williams recalled, referring to Elliott. “Coach talks about alignment, and I think that’s so important. We’re aligned together. We’re aligned with President Ryan. You have to have that in order to do something special, and that’s our intent. Our intent is to do something special.
“We are very similar in that we come from humble beginnings, and we’re very appreciative of everything, every opportunity, access to higher education through sports, very, very similar,” Williams said. “We also believe that scholar athletes can compete for championships, that our football student-athletes could and should compete for championships. We don’t have to compromise one for the other. That’s important to Coach Elliott and that’s really important to me. A lot of the same things that drew him to Virginia also drew me to Virginia. I’m looking forward to just getting to work and getting started.”
President Ryan said, “The reason I believe Tony is a perfect fit for UVA is because of his values, because of his track record, and because of his life experience. His life story is one of resilience and of overcoming obstacles. It’s a life guided by faith and by a sense of purpose. It’s a life story of success, and it’s a life story that is a powerful testament to the ability of education to transform lives. More than this, I believe deeply that Tony is a coach for the right reasons. I had an opportunity and the great good fortune to spend time with Tony and his terrific family before he had made his decision to accept our offer, and I asked him what motivated him to be a head coach. He said he saw it as an opportunity to develop young men and to prepare them to be leaders for the rest of their lives. Coach Elliott, welcome to UVA. We are incredibly fortunate to have you. Thank you.”
Elliott, his humble nature evident throughout the press conference, thanked his former players and colleagues at South Carolina State, where he spent two seasons as wide receivers coach, at Furman, where he coached receivers for three seasons, and Clemson, where he has served the past 11 seasons. He began as the Tigers’ running backs coach in 2011, was promoted to running backs coach and co-offensive coordinator before the 2014 bowl game, and served as assistant head coach, offensive coordinator and tight ends coach this past season. Clemson has compiled an 130-21 record with Elliott on staff, capturing its two national titles with him as co-offensive coordinator.
On-field success “at the highest level” is just part of the vision Elliott has for the Virginia football program.
“My vision for the UVA football program is to become the model in college football, the model program in college football,” he said. “My goal is to contribute to changing the narrative in college football and demonstrate that you can win at the highest-level and you can do so while achieving excellence in education, leadership and service.”
Coaching Staff
Now that Virginia has its head coaching situation resolved, the focus turns to who will be on Elliott’s first coaching staff. UVA’s new head man stressed patience at this point, noting the main goal is to “get the right people” in place. Elliott stated that he has not yet made an official hire.
“So, this is a very unique transition,” Elliott said. “Had a chance to address the current staff, and I appreciate their time and opportunity to speak with them. I also get an opportunity to watch the team prepare for the bowl, so it’s very unique, and it gives me time to make sure that I get a really good lay of the land and an understanding of where the program is under Coach Mendenhall and the direction that we need to go.
“I’m going to be very patient and make sure first and foremost that I get the right people. That’s going to be the approach. It’s not about the Xs and the Os to start, it’s about the people, because at the end of the day this program is going to be about developing young men, and in order to develop young men you’ve got to have good people in place to pour into their lives and plant the proper seeds. So I’m going to take my time, and as I told the staff, they’ll have an opportunity to be evaluated as we go forward. I’m going to get feedback from the players, and I’ve already talked to some, and they’ve given me their impressions of the coaches on the staff. I’m going to continue to meet with Coach Bronco and just get a full understanding of the structure and the challenges and some of the things that he’s faced as I build the staff. But it’s going to start with quality people that align with my vision. I’ve been in conversation with a couple, but I haven’t made those decisions yet because I want to be fair to the staff and I want to take my time and do it right.”
Excellent hire
I think that it is a good omen that we hired a coach whose first name is Tony. That worked out fairly well in bball when we got a future member of the Hall of Fame. Now we should recruit some defensive ends with the first name of Chris (like Long, Slade, and Canty). Seriously, this looks like a great choice.