CLEMSON, S.C. — When Clemson holds its first official practice in the spring, Camden native Thomas Austin will be in charge of the offensive line.
After Clemson defeated Iowa State in the Cheez-It Bowl, head coach Dabo Swinney announced that Austin was being promoted from offensive assistant to full-time offensive line coach. He replaces Robbie Caldwell who is retiring from coaching but will stay with the program in an off-the-field capacity.
Austin won a state championship as a freshman at Camden in 2001. He played on Clemson’s offensive line from 2006-’09, and was on the Clemson team when Swinney took over as the interim head coach in the middle of the 2008 season. He played for Swinney in 2009 as well, helping the Tigers to their appearance in the ACC Championship.
After a brief career in the NFL, Austin came back to Clemson where he worked as a graduate assistant from 2015-2018. He was hired by fellow Camden native Shaun Elliott to be the offensive line coach at Georgia State in 2019. After two seasons in Atlanta, Austin returned to Clemson in 2021 as an offensive assistant and will begin 2022 as one of 10 full-time assistant coaches on Swinney’s staff.