Georgia football: How Georgia Southern coaching search could impact Bulldogs

Georgia Southern football is now looking for a brand new head coach. Will this coaching search affect Georgia football and the camaraderie they’ve developed as a staff?

On Sunday, Georgia Southern football made a surprising move by announcing they would be parting ways with fifth-year head coach Chad Lunsford after a 1-3 start for the Eagles in 2021.

Although this year’s record doesn’t look great, Southern has been to a bowl game three straight years under Coach Lunsford and won 10 games in 2018.

He seemed to have the Eagles rolling along, but issues with their offense likely prompted the change.

So far, the Eagles rank 95th in total offense in the country. As you know, Georgia Southern is well known for its use of the triple-option offense.

Of course, UGA and Georgia Southern have a history of connections. Former Georgia defensive coordinator Erk Russell went to be the head man of the Eagles in the 80s and quite literally had to build the program from the ground up.

Coach Russell went 83-22 in Statesboro and won three Division 1-AA National Championships while becoming a folk hero to Eagle and Dawg fans alike.

How will their coaching search impact Georgia football?

One name that will likely be high of the potential coaching candidates is current Georgia running backs coach Dell McGee. McGee has been with Georgia since 2016 and has helped develop running backs such as Nick Chubb, Sony Michel, D’Andre Swift, Elijah Holyfield, Brian Herrien, Zamir White, James Cook, and others.

He has a connection to the Eagles, as he served as the running backs coach for Southern from 2014-15, and McGee was the interim head coach for their 2015 bowl game — their first-ever since becoming an FBS school.

McGee is a native of the peach state and coached at Carver-Columbus High School in Columbus, GA, where he went 88-19 with six region championships and one state championship.

Kirby Smart has always had high praise for Coach McGee and had this to say at the 2018 SEC Media days:

"“I think Dell’s proven himself as a leader of young men…He’s done it throughout his career. This guy did it in the Columbus area for a long time, and I had the great fortune of recruiting his high school for a long time and signed some of his players. I’ve always had a tremendous amount of respect for Dell because he knows how to lead young men.”"

Though Dawg Nation would hate to lose Coach McGee, going to Georgia Southern makes a lot of sense.

He is a great coach, recruiter, and perhaps most importantly, a great leader of men, and he can help bring the Georgia Southern football program to new heights.