Virginia Cavaliers hire Clemson Tigers OC Tony Elliott as head football coach

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Mendenhall stepped down from UVa.

Bronco Mendenhall talked about the reasons he stepped down as Virginia's football coach. 1:45

3:13 PM

The school announced Friday that Tony Elliott, the offensive coordinator and a staple on the Tiger's championship teams, has been hired as the next head football coach at Virginia.

The UVa athletic director, school officials and his family met with him in Charlottesville on Wednesday, but he returned on Thursday without a deal in place. He was pursued by Duke for their head-coaching job. After spending Thursday night and much of Friday pondering his options, he told Virginia officials on Friday that he was taking the job. A source close to Elliott indicated that he was torn about what to do.

A plane from UVa arrived in Clemson on Friday to pick up the boy.

The Virginia Board of Visitors approved a request from the athletic department to transfer $10.3 million from the UVa endowment to help build a $65 million football facility.

Over the past few years, schools have pursued him. He turned down the Tennessee head-coaching job a year ago, and other schools showed interest in hiring him. He's been on the staff of the Tigers for seven years and has been the primary play caller on offense.

After college, he worked in the business world. He was a running backs coach at South Carolina State for two seasons before returning to his alma mater as a running backs coach. The country's top assistant coach was named the winner of the Frank Broyles Award.

Bronco Mendenhall was replaced at Virginia. Mendenhall will step down as the head coach after the bowl game.

Virginia becomes the fourth Power 5 school with a black athletic director and head football coach.

With both of his coordinators having to be replaced, that means that Swinney now has to find a new one. Venables left earlier this week to take the Oklahoma head-coaching job. The move to replace Venables is expected to be announced next week and Wes Goodwin is the favorite. Brandon Streeter is the quarterbacks coach at the school.