By Jeff White (jwhite@virginia.edu)
VirginiaSports.com
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. — Tony Elliott spent many of his formative years at Clemson—first as an engineering student and football player, later as an assistant coach—and so it’s understandable that his trip return to his alma mater is a major storyline in the ACC this week.
Elliott is doing his best, however, to block out external noise and prepare Virginia for its game at Clemson. At noon Saturday, the Cavaliers (4-2 overall, 2-1 ACC) meet the No. 10 Tigers (5-1, 4-0) at 81,500-seat Memorial Stadium.
“I need to apologize to some family members, some folks that have reached out,” Elliott said with a smile Tuesday during his weekly press conference at the Hardie Center.
“They’ve called me, I have not answered, I have not called back. I eventually will get back to you. [There have] been some requests and people wanting to talk, but I have a responsibility to this football team, this football program, to be laser-focused. And that’s one of the things that I learned where I came from, just how to block out the noise. So this is one of those weeks where some people are mad at me right now, but I promise you, I love you. I just need to focus.”
Elliott, who’s in his third year as head coach, came to UVA from Clemson, where he spent 11 seasons on Dabo Swinney’s staff, and the two remain close. Elliott played wide receiver at Clemson, and his position coach in his final season was Swinney.
“In terms of the relationship,” Elliott said, “he’s gone from being a father figure when he was coaching me as a player to being a mentor as a young coach in the business and then a colleague. So it’s kind of had all three phases tied in.”
Before the game, Elliott said, he and Swinney will no doubt share some smiles and laughs, “and all of that will be good. But once they blow the whistle and kick the ball off, it’s like any other game. To be honest with you, you really don’t pay attention much to what’s on the other sideline.”
Elliott said he hasn’t “had a ton of emotion going into it. There’s so much that goes into preparing for a game. That’s really all I’ve been focused on. And then I’ve also been mindful, too, that I did not want this game to be about me. And I told the players, ‘This ain’t about me. This is about you guys going down there and playing your best game. And my job is to help prepare you.’ ”
“This isn’t about me. This is about you…