Joe Craddock's path to the SMU offensive coordinator/quarterbacks job is anything but conventional. The Chelsea, Ala., native played at Middle Tennessee from 2005-08, then spent the 2010-11 seasons as the offensive coordinator at Briarwood Christian School in Birmingham. From there he landed a job on Dabo Swinney's staff at Clemson as a player development assistant.
He moved on the field as a graduate assistant in 2014 under the watchful eye of Chad Morris, and then followed his boss to Dallas in the extremely rare GA-to-OC jump.
Considering his boss's path to big-time college football, the unconventional should be expected.
"They bring high-energy, and they bring a work ethic that is unbelievable," Morris said of Craddock and offensive line coach Dustin Fry, another graduate assistant brought from Morris' Clemson staff. "So much of the success we had at Clemson was a direct relation to them and the hard work they put in."