BOGART — Sophomore Harrison Luke got the first start of his burgeoning high school football career at safety for the North Oconee Titans on Friday night. Among the hundreds to witness the Titans’ dramatic 20-10, come-from-behind victory over rival Oconee County High School in what is known locally as the “Hog Mountain Bowl” was Matt Luke, Harrison’s dad.
Matt Luke always was going to be there for that special moment. But the fact that he made it to Titans Stadium in the middle of preseason camp while coaching offensive line for No. 14 Clemson is a significant accomplishment. The Tigers open the season against No. 1 Georgia at Mercedes-Benz Stadium on Aug. 31.
Matt Luke hasn’t missed most of the meaningful moments for Harrison or 13-year-old Cooper in the nine months since joining coach Dabo Swinney’s staff at Clemson. Georgia fans certainly will recall that spending more time with his sons was Luke’s primary motivation for resigning as the Bulldogs’ offensive line coach only two and a half years ago.
That remained a major factor when Luke returned to coaching with the Tigers.
“I don’t know he could do what he’s doing with any coach besides coach Swinney,” said Tyler Aurandt, North Oconee’s head football coach. “Coach Swinney really wants you to be part of your kids’ lives, and I think that gives coach Luke some freedom to come home when he needs to or go watch his kids play. Obviously, he’s going to do what he needs to do to get his guys (at Clemson) prepared. But he was there for our game Friday, and you’ll see him now and then when coach Swinney has given him an afternoon or evening off.”
Such an arrangement requires some logistical coordination. Matt’s wife, Ashley, and the boys still live in Oconee County. Up in Pickens County, South Carolina, Matt bought a place on Lake Keowee, just outside Clemson. That’s where he stays while he’s working and where the family stays when they visit.
That was happening often before school started, but less often now. It probably will be even more infrequent as the college football and high school seasons intertwine. But the expectation is that Matt will be able to see his sons nearly as much this fall as he did while coaching offensive line from 2020-22 for the Bulldogs, with whom he earned national championship ring in 2021.
Luke abruptly resigned from UGA shortly after that season. The reason he offered was to spend more time with his family.
At the time, Luke was coming off a 10-year run in which he went from being the co-offensive coordinator and line coach at Ole Miss to being appointed the Rebels’ interim head coach, to full-time head coach. He was fired as head coach at the conclusion of the 2019 regular season. One week later, Luke took over Georgia’s offensive line after Sam Pittman was appointed Arkansas’ head coach. Luke immediately assumed his duties with the Bulldogs as they prepared for the Sugar Bowl.
Luke has not been available for interviews during Clemson’s preseason camp. But speaking to reporters earlier this summer and at the time of his hiring in December, Luke said being able to have time with his family was an important part of his decision to come out of retirement. He also emphasized that it should not be interpreted as a knock on the Bulldogs and coach Kirby Smart, who also earmarks designated family time during the season.
“I really like what Dabo is doing here, but Kirby does a great job, too,” Luke said at his Clemson introduction. “All the coaches I’ve worked with are unique in their own way. The pressure is internal to be good at what you do. But Dabo and the family atmosphere, sure, that’s something I’m excited about. My kids being able to be around, the more the better.”
At the time, Clemson was preparing for the Gator Bowl and a matchup against Kentucky. The Lukes had not yet worked out the details regarding the new setup. They weren’t sure if the family was going to relocate to Clemson or stay put in Greater Athens.
The decision they came to was made as a family, Luke said. So was the one to accept Swinney’s offer to return to coaching. Matt Luke said his sons especially missed being a college football family.
“Truth be known, this is something that we were looking at for a while,” said Luke, who accepted a contract from Clemson that will pay him $3.375 million over the next three years. “My family missed it, being in the locker room, being on the field, going to the bowl games, having the players over for dinner, my kids missed all those things. We were praying hard for the right opportunity, and the right opportunity came.”
Luke, 48, had other opportunities in the interim. There were reports that Louisiana-Monroe approached Luke about become its head coach. Notre Dame, for one, is known to have talked to Luke about coaching its offensive line. Auburn and coach Hugh Freeze may have approached.
But Clemson is the program that landed him, and about that, the Lukes couldn’t be happier.
“The time off I had, I wouldn’t change it for the world,” Matt Luke said. “But the beauty of it was it was all of us together. It wasn’t just my decision.”
Credit: DAWSON POWERS
Credit: DAWSON POWERS
With Clemson and UGA located only 90 miles apart and also aspiring for national championships, that immediately pitted Luke and Clemson against Georgia. First, that was on the recruiting trail. Now it’s in a top-15 matchup to open the season.
Obviously, the Tigers feel like having Luke on their sideline is going to improve their chances in that game and every game this season. But Luke said there’s no hard feelings between him and Georgia over the recent developments.
“Our relationship is good,” Luke said this summer. “(Playing Georgia) is just about the players on the field and going against a really, really good opponent. The positive thing about it is the motivation to prepare all summer. When you’re going against an opponent like that, it helps you prepare with that edge. You know what it takes, and you know you’re going to find out a lot about your football team.”
Seeing Luke dressed in bright orange might seem a little odd to his former charges at Georgia. Every starter on the Bulldogs’ offensive line this season was coached or recruited by Luke. Stacy Searels took over as line coach soon after Luke left.
“Of course, I have tremendous respect for coach Luke,” said Tate Ratledge, a senior guard and preseason All-American for the Bulldogs. “He coached me for two years, my freshman and sophomore years. So, I have tremendous respect for him. But I’m looking forward to that game same as I would any other one.”
Regardless of the outcome, seasons and careers will continue. Long term, the Luke family is not certain what the future will look like. Harrison will have to decide if he wants to remain at North Oconee, where he’s an integral part of the school’s annual championship pursuits.
Luke’s youngest son Cooper also is in middle school in Oconee County. Currently, baseball is his favorite sport – he’s a travel-ball teammate of Andrew Smart, Kirby’s youngest son – but he also plays football.
A lot will depend on how well Matt Luke’s first season at Clemson goes – logistically, not necessarily wins and losses.
“Look, we love the family,” said Aurandt, the North Oconee coach. “They’re so supportive. When Ccoach Luke called me and told me when this happened, they didn’t know what they were going to do family-wise. Ultimately, they figured it’d be best they’d be here. I don’t know what will happen in the future, but we feel blessed just to get to coach them and be around them now.”
In addition to defensive, Harrison also plays some quarterback at North Oconee. Matt wasn’t able to make it to the preseason exhibition game, and getting to this week’s game on the road Friday against Dalton will pose like challenges.
Fortunately for the Luke family, the Titans are off the next weekend when the Tigers and Bulldogs tee off in the Aflac Kickoff game. That means the Luke family will be together the whole weekend in Atlanta.
On Aug. 31, they’ll be sitting in the Clemson section dressed in all-orange and rooting for the Tigers. But there will be no animosity cast toward the team in red.
“I think all that kind of gets over-talked about,” Luke said of facing Georgia. “I think when you come in, everybody’s trying to get the same thing accomplished.”
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