Elliott says there wasn't a ton of emotion, but he is thankful for Swinney and Spiller

Elliott hugs David Saville during pregame (Photo by Merrell Mann).

by Nikki Hood - Staff Writer - Sun Oct 20 07:00:02 GMT-04:00 2024

CLEMSON – Tony Elliott played at Clemson, coached at Clemson and raised his family in Clemson, so everyone would understand if his return to Death Valley was an emotional one.

However, the third-year Virginia head coach said he was focused on one goal: coaching his current team to victory.

“Truthfully, there wasn't a ton of just emotion. To me, it's another game,” Tony Elliott said after Virginia’s 48-31 loss to Clemson. “It's great to see people before the game, but as I told the guys last night, my job is to stay focused, to focus on being the best person on myself so I could help this football team. Unfortunately, I have to do a better job and have them ready to go execute at a high level of the day. So nice to see people, but for me, the objective is to come down here and try to find a way to win a football game.”

While Elliott says emotions weren’t flowing, he stood at midfield and watched running backs coach and College Football Hall of Famer C.J. Spiller’s name being unveiled in Clemson’s Ring of Honor, and you could see the appreciation he felt for the moment.

“That was the highlight to see that because really, truth be told, CJ's the reason many of us had an opportunity,” he said. “I was here when Swinney first got here and went through the transition, but Coach (Dabo Swinney) is probably not where he is at without CJ. And if Coach is not where he is at, then I'm not a part of the organization in the capacity that I was. So that was probably the coolest moment to highlight, just to see him, because he's such a humble, quiet guy. He wants no credit as great of a player. I mean, they're talking about a College Football Hall of Famer. You would never know it if you just met him, and you didn't know who he was. He's just so humble, such a deserving guy. Doesn't want the recognition but has done everything the right way and recognition. Good to see him have his name up there forever.”

Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney spent time with Elliott and his sons Ace and AJ pregame, and Elliott said that while their relationship has evolved, Swinney still mentors him even today.

“Oh, it's going from kind of like father/son still. I mean, it's a great relationship and just super happy for him and the direction that they're headed and grateful for all that he's taught me and helping me be prepared to kind of step into this role and still mentoring me to this day,” Elliott said. “And I love Mrs. Kath(leen Swinney), and she's the real rock star. It was great to see Clay, Will and Drew (the Swinney's sons). Those guys were little when I first met Coach, so it's a long-lasting relationship, and he's gone through different periods in different shapes, but he's one of the best in the business as a coach, but also one of the best human beings. And I'm just very fortunate to have had a chance to learn a lot from him and had a chance to go compete and thought he wasn't, go take it easy on he go, take it easy on us, and he's going to do what he does and as he prepares his football teams to go finish and to go win, and to not only win but to try and dominate.”

The lessons he learned from the coaches standing on the opposite sidelines are ones he’s trying to instill in his own program that he’s building from the ground up, especially when backup quarterback Tony Muskett came in the game and led his team to two fourth-quarter touchdowns.

“Guys still battling. That's what I was taught by the group on the other side here, man, you never stop playing. It doesn't matter what the score is. So, we talk about competitive standard, we talk about finishing the fourth quarter, so it doesn't matter what the circumstances are and you just continue to play. So that'll be a positive that we can build off of. So you saw bits and pieces of the DNA that we're trying to establish and create a program, but you also saw some areas where we're just not quite there yet, and it's my job as a head coach to figure out what to do in order to get us over that hump.”