For many years, Nick Saban was the national football football guru, with a coaching lineage spanning the entire nation. Now that Saban is comfortably retired, Kirby Smart seems to be the logical choice to take his place. As Kirby prepares to go on his ninth season as Georgia’s head coach, he will be chasing his third national championship. Colleges and even the NFL are attempting to capture a little piece of Kirby’s magic for themselves.
Just this month, two employees of Georgia were taken advantage of for promotions, shortly after all the big names secured seats in the yearly game of musical chairs. Former Georgia wide receivers coach and passing game coordinator Bryan McClendon was hired by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers to coach their receiver room, while Georgia State selected Dell McGee to take over as head coach following Shawn Elliott’s departure to join Shane Beamer’s staff at South Carolina.
Kirby now has two new branches growing throughout the football world, and he has to find candidates to fill two important positions on his offensive staff. This occurs just a year after he was compelled to appoint Mike Bobo as his offensive coordinator in lieu of Todd Monken, and only a few months after Fran Brown assumed leadership of Syracuse. McGee, who was Kirby’s assistant coach at Georgia, joins Brown, Sam Pittman, and Dan Lanning as current FBS head coaches. That list included Mel Tucker until the previous season.
In order to prevent the inevitable brain drain that comes with major success, Saban always made the correct selections. Kirby will need excellent people surrounding him if he hopes to maintain his status as college football’s new alpha. These are a few of the best applicants who could assist compete for a national championship in Athens in 2024.
Hines Ward is the wide receivers coach.
Hines Ward may be the ideal addition to the coaching staff because he is one of the first names that springs to mind when considering Georgia wide receivers. In addition to his two seasons as an NFL wide receivers coach for the New York Jets, Ward also spent a season as the head coach of an XFL team.
Reuniting with a former player carries a risk since nostalgia may obscure their record and ability to make decisions, but in Kirby’s case, it worked out, and Ward has established himself as a good assistant coach at both the collegiate and professional levels.
Joe Cox
For Joe Cox, the narrative is the same. Not only does the former Georgia quarterback have ties to the institution, but he also has a relationship with the offensive coordinator, which makes him a strong contender for the position.
