Jeff Scott may very well one day leave Clemson for a head coaching job. When news surrounding the firing of Willie Taggart broke, Scott's name was inserted into the list of potential candidates based on his connection to Tallahassee and the Florida State program.
Scott's dad is a former offensive coordinator for the Seminoles during their great run with Bobby Bowden. Brad Scott left to take over the South Carolina program after the 1993 season and spent five seasons in Columbia.
So, Jeff has seen up close and personal the thrill of landing that first head coaching job and what can happen when it goes downhill. The elder Scott led the Gamecocks to their first bowl win in the 1995 Carquest Bowl. Four seasons later, he was fired and on his way to join Tommy Bowden's staff at Clemson as offensive line coach.
"Probably more than anything, I think about my dad’s experience of going from an assistant coach to a head coach and how, fortunately for me, I was able to watch that and witness that firsthand," Scott said Monday.
"There are a lot of decisions. It is kind of an inexact science."
When his father joined the Clemson staff, that led to Jeff landing a spot on the roster as a receiver and holder on extra points and field goals. After his coaching career kicked off at Blythewood High School and then Presbyterian College, he eventually returned to Clemson as a graduate assistant. When Dabo Swinney was named the head coach, Scott's coaching career would take off when he was named a full-time assistant coach. That led to jobs as recruiting coordinator and now co-offensive coordinator with two national championships on his resume. As you would expect, Scott is not in any hurry to leave what he feels is an ideal situation.
“To be honest, and for some people it might come as a surprise, but I really love being at Clemson right now," Scott said
"With a 4-year old daughter and a wife that went to Clemson. I really just kind of want to pause this moment in time that we have right now. How long can we kind of keep it right here? It is very special.
"There is no doubt, if you have success in your profession there is a desire to move up if it is the right move and all of that. That is going to come at some point if you continue to do well, but really there is a feeling that we have something really, really special that is very rare,” Scott said. “I really look at this situation at Clemson very similar to my dad’s situation at Florida State where there was a great continuity among that coaching staff and the success that they had. But to be able to come here every day and be able to be around Coach Swinney and be around this coaching staff and these players … we have like 80 coaches’ kids and staff kids between 1 and 18. So, to have a daughter in this atmosphere, you could not ask for anything better.”