Clemson Coaching Carousel Continues as Staffer Heads to Syracuse

The Clemson Tigers are seeing another member of its coaching staff move on from the program this offseason, as volunteer defensive assistant John Scott Jr. is headed north to join Syracuse, ending Scott’s two-season run with the team.

Scott will join Fran Brown as the Orange’s assistant head coach, defensive run game coordinator and defensive line coach, according to ESPN’s Pete Thamel.

Sources: Syracuse is set to hire John Scott Jr. to be the asst head coach, defensive run game coordinator and defensive line coach. Scott is a veteran coach who has coached at Penn State (2020-22), South Carolina (2019) and Arkansas (2017-18), among others, in college football. pic.twitter.com/U0ygONHIVr
— Pete Thamel (@PeteThamel) December 23, 2025

Scott has spent nearly his entire life involved in the game of football, as he began his playing career an hour north of Tiger town at Greer High School, winning a state championship in 1994.

Following graduation in 1995, he spent the next four years at Western Carolina — the same alma mater as Brown — where he played defensive end and earned a second-team All-Southern Conference selection as a junior.

After brief professional stints in arena football and the Canadian Football League, he transitioned into coaching in 2001.

He began at the high school level, working with the defensive line at West Davidson High School in Lexington, North Carolina, before earning his first collegiate opportunity in 2002 as a graduate assistant at Louisiana-Lafayette.

From there, his career took him across college football, with stops at Western Carolina, Georgia Southern, Texas Tech, Arkansas, South Carolina, and Penn State, among others. He also spent time in the NFL, including a two-year stint with the New York Jets and a one-year stop with the Detroit Lions in 2023.

The move by Scott is part of a broader wave of offseason turnover for Clemson, with several familiar faces departing the program for new opportunities elsewhere.

At the beginning of this month, offensive analyst and assistant quarterbacks coach John Grass accepted the head coaching position at Samford after spending the past two seasons with the Tigers. Grass joined Clemson in 2022 following a successful seven-year run as head coach at Jacksonville State.

Samford Names John Grass Head Football Coach

📰:https://t.co/bpA1nzo6re #AllForSAMford
— Samford Football (@SamfordFootball) December 3, 2025

Grass will be joined at Samford by Mickey Conn, who left Clemson to become the Bulldogs’ defensive coordinator and safeties coach, bringing an end to his nearly decade-long tenure with the program.

During his time in upstate South Carolina, Conn served in multiple roles, including defensive assistant, special teams coach, safeties coach and co-defensive coordinator. He also played alongside Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney at Alabama in the early 1990s.

But Grass didn’t stop there, as he brought over former Clemson quarterback Paul Tyson to serve as Samford’s quarterbacks coach after spending the 2023 season with the Tigers as a player. Tyson transitioned into a player-coach role in 2024 and also served as the emergency quarterback behind starter Cade Klubnik.

Another departure includes Andrew Zow, Clemson’s offensive analyst and assistant running backs coach, who is also joining Samford, marking the end of his five-year tenure with the Tigers.

One of the more recognizable names in the group is Drew Swinney — the middle son of Coach Swinney — who will join Samford’s staff as wide receivers coach. Drew played for the Tigers from 2018-22 primarily as a placeholder and spent the 2024 season as Clemson’s offensive player development and assistant wide receivers coach.

As the Tigers head into an eventful offseason, the program will need to devote significant attention to reshaping portions of its support staff to avoid lingering ripple effects from a busy coaching carousel.