Former Northwestern coach soaking up, learning from Clemson’s national title chase

If you watched Clemson football coach Dabo Swinney get showered with Gatorade near the end of the Tigers’ 31-0 Fiesta Bowl win over Ohio State last weekend, you might have noticed Kyle Richardson ducking out of the way just before the splash hit.

Richardson, the former Northwestern coach who led the Trojans to two South Carolina high school football titles, wasn’t exactly dodging the orange sports drink bath.

“I got hit on top of the head with the handle as they were coming up,” he said, laughing. “I grabbed my head and started dipping off to the side, not to really get away from the Gatorade bath but to get away from the hurt that was taking over my head. But it was fun.”

Just 13 months after guiding the Trojans to the 4A Division II championship in 2015, Richardson is chasing another one with the Tigers. A little bit bigger one, the college football national title.

“It’s been wild, because I jumped right into spring ball and that went into summer and fall camps,” he said Saturday morning. “It’s been crazy. You really don’t get caught up in it, but I won’t lie, there’s been times that I’ve just stopped, we’re in the middle of something, and I’m like, ‘how did I get here?’”

Richardson called from Saturday’s media day down in Tampa, a veritable circus and junior version of the Super Bowl’s similar shindig. It underscored how far he has come in a whirlwind year.

“I’ve never seen so many media people in one spot,” he said.

Swinney plucked Richardson from the Northwestern staff last spring, along with another high school coach from Georgia, Mickey Conn, who does the defensive version of Richardson’s job. They are part of a 31-person football staff that includes Swinney and coordinators Brent Venables, Tony Elliott and Jeff Scott, but also a slew of support personnel behind the scenes. Richardson is prevented from actually coaching Clemson players, but his other obligations keep him plenty busy.

During the week, his and Conn’s focus is hours of film study. They pore over opposing team’s clips, hunting for weaknesses, tendencies, anything Clemson’s coordinators could seize upon.

Richardson spelled out his typical work week: “We go in the office at 7, 7:30 and get done about 10’o’clock at night, minus about two hours of practice. I’d say about 12 hours a day, six days a week. It’s a lot.”

Richardson is trying to glean everything he can from Elliott and Scott, as well as Swinney. That means learning about everything from program organization to how and when Swinney chooses to motivate his team, to football-specific intricacies from the coordinators. The endless hours studying Clemson’s opponents has helped too, as Richardson picks up bits and pieces from a variety of opposing coaches.

On game days, Richardson shadows Swinney on the sidelines. He tells him down and distance and keeps him abreast of situational information needed to make quick decisions, like whether to take or decline penalties. Richardson is one of 10 to 15 people that could be talking in Swinney’s headset at one time - Swinney can switch radio signals to listen to defensive or offensive coaches - so part of Richardson’s duties are to cut through the clutter.

“It can get pretty wild at times with a lot of voices,” he said. “It’s kind of that organized chaos. We hear what we need to hear and kind of zone out who’s not talking to us.”

Richardson also helps Swinney decide whether to challenge referees’ calls during the game. Richardson had no experience in that field of decision-making, but it’s been another part of the overall learning process. Young and ambitious, Richardson wants to coach again soon and the Clemson experience has been invaluable toward that end.

“It’s been great to get the experience of watching them work, seeing how things go behind the scenes,” he said. “They’ve all just been great and welcomed me in. But just learning the ins and outs of this level and picking up some tidbits that I know are gonna help me one day when I get my shot.”

This story was originally published January 7, 2017 at 1:32 PM with the headline "Former Northwestern coach soaking up, learning from Clemson’s national title chase."