Nick Saban has one. Urban Meyer does, too. Now, the third head of the hydra that is college football's top-three coaches is building a coaching tree of his own.

Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney's second former assistant accepted a head coaching job Friday when Arizona State offensive coordinator Billy Napier was announced as the new head football coach at Louisiana-Lafayette.

Napier became Clemson's youngest-ever offensive coordinator when Swinney promoted him after taking over the team in October 2008. In his first full season, the 29-year-old Napier's offense averaged north of 360 yards and 31 points per game.

He was fired after the following season when the Tigers' offense struggled to what's been Swinney's only losing season. He took a job as an offensive analyst at Alabama shortly after, before serving as the quarterbacks coach and associate head coach for a season at Colorado State and returning to Alabama as its wide receivers coach from 2013-16.

More: Fired from Clemson, Billy Napier took new route at Bama

Napier left Alabama for Arizona State in 2017 to run the Sun Devils' offense and leaves roughly one week after the school introduced Herm Edwards as its new head coach.

"I’m proud of Billy, man, he did a great job for us and he’s a bright young coach," Swinney said Friday. "I’m just proud of what he’s gone out and done and to get that opportunity is a big step for him. I’m sure he’s excited to put a staff together and go to work.”

Napier is now Swinney's second former coordinator to accept a head coaching position this season. Former offensive coordinator Chad Morris, who left Clemson in 2015 to become SMU's head coach, accepted the same job at Arkansas earlier this month.

Morris took over a 1-11 SMU team and went 2-10 in his first season at the helm. The Mustangs improved to 5-7 in his second year and 7-5 in 2017, and will face Louisiana Tech in the Frisco Bowl.

"Just tickled to death for him. I think it’s a good fit for him because I think if you’re going to be successful at Arkansas you probably need to have some Texas ties," Swinney said of Morris, who was a successful high school football coach in Texas. "I think that’s a good transition for him there. And I think he’s at a place that’s going to have the resources and the commitment to go try to compete at the highest level. I’m sure they’ve got probably a ways to go, but if they’ll hang in there with him he’ll get them going. He’ll put a good staff together and they’ll go recruit."

Swinney's tree may not be as extensive as Meyer's, which features Tom Herman, Charlie Strong and Dan Mullen, or Saban's, which features Jimbo Fisher, Kirby Smart, Mike Dantonio and Will Muschamp, but that's not to say it won't get there.

Swinney's current offensive coordinators Jeff Scott and Tony Elliott and defensive coordinator Brent Venables each received head coaching interest over the past few weeks, although each will remain at Clemson for at least one more season.

More:Clemson football: Interest in Tigers' coordinators a byproduct of being an elite program

Venables and Elliott have each won the Broyles Trophy as the nation's top assistant coach in 2016 and 2017, respectively, making Clemson the first-ever school to employ back-to-back award winners.