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CLEMSON -- When Tony Elliott and Jeff Scott came along as co-offensive coordinators, there were no previous instances of first-time coordinators -- on either side of the ball -- sniffing 50 victories over their first four full seasons.

These two have collected 55 wins since Dabo Swinney promoted from within to replace Chad Morris in December of 2014. And it's a smooth 56-4 record if you include the bludgeoning of Oklahoma in the Russell Athletic Bowl a few weeks after Morris' departure.

Clemson's trustees approved raises Friday morning that make Elliott and Scott million-dollar men. They both received $150,000 raises to give Clemson three assistants making $1 million or more.

As of now, it appears Clemson is the only school in college football with three assistants topping seven-figure salaries.

Ohio State was the only school in college football who had three million-dollar assistants last season, but that changed when Ryan Day became head coach and defensive assistant Alex Grinch left for Oklahoma. Also, Greg Schiano is reportedly close to joining the New England Patriots' staff.

According to the most recent numbers available in the USA Today salary database, 21 assistants made $1 million or more in 2018.

But a tumultuous offseason will likely thin those ranks: We counted 10 of those 21 as having changed jobs since the end of the season.

As of last season, four programs had two or more million-dollar assistants: Ohio State with the aforementioned three, Auburn (Chip Lindsey, Kevin Steele), Alabama (Mike Locksley, Tosh Lupoi), and Michigan (Pep Hamilton, Don Brown).

Lindsey is now the head coach at Troy. Locksley left Alabama to become the head coach at Maryland, and Lopoi is now with the Cleveland Browns. Also, Hamilton is reportedly heading to the XFL.

In December, South Carolina bumped first-year offensive coordinator Bryan McClendon to $1 million, giving the Gamecocks two assistants who make seven figures (defensive coordinator Travaris Robinson is at $1.2 million).

These raises Clemson approved are the cost of doing business when you're at the top of the college football mountain.

But this is also a reflection of the remarkable stability of Swinney's staff. All five offensive coaches have been together for all seven of the Tigers' College Football Playoff games dating to 2015.

Elliott and Scott will be co-coordinators for a fifth season, and Venables will be in charge of the defense for an eighth year.

In December of 2017, Elliott received interest from Mississippi State and UCF for their head-coaching jobs but told them he still needed seasoning.

Scott has been approached for some lower-level FBS head-coaching jobs, and in the past two years he was pursued by Tennessee and Auburn for their offensive coordinator vacancies.

And after the offense carved up Alabama in the national championship game, it feels like the Tigers are just getting started: It's totally reasonable to think Clemson could have the top four vote-getters for the ACC's preseason Player of the Year award in Trevor Lawrence, Travis Etienne, Tee Higgins and Justyn Ross.

ADDITIONAL ASSISTANT COACH SALARY INCREASES

Robbie Caldwell to $570,000 from 540,000

Brandon Streeter to $500,000 from $455,000

Danny Pearman to $505,000 from $480,000

Mike Reed to $495,000 from $440,00

Mickey Conn to $400,000 from $370,000

Todd Bates to $375,000 from $300,000

Lemanski Hall to $350,000 from $300,000

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