The coaching turnover continues to happen for Georgia Football. Bryan McClendon has left the Georgia Football program to go to the NFL. McClendon will now be the wide receiver's coach for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
Another college defection: Buccaneers hired Georgia’s well-regarded wide receivers coach and pass game coordinator Bryan McClendon as their wide receivers coach, per source. https://t.co/rtwqARXHjE
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) February 17, 2024
McClendon spent the past two years being the wideout coach for the Dawgs. McClendon took over after the 2021 season when Cortez Hankton left for LSU after the 2021 National Championship season. This was McClendon’s second stint at Georgia, as he coached the Dawgs from 2007 through 2015. McClendon played at Georgia from 2002 through 2005. McClendon has also coached at South Carolina, Oregon, and Miami. This will be his first NFL job.
Interestingly, the Buccaneers' head coach is Todd Bowles, whose son, Troy, is a redshirt freshman linebacker for the Dawgs. The former Kentucky Offensive Coordinator, Liam Coen, is now the Bucs' OC. The Buccaneers are revamping their offense, and McClendon came highly regarded to Coen and Bowels.
This makes the third on-field coaching change that Kirby Smart and Georgia Football have faced this offseason. This could be the biggest loss out of all three, given that McClendon is a great coach and one of the better recruiters in college football. Losing some of the best coaches in college football has been a theme lately.
In 2022, right after beating Alabama for his first National title, Kirby Smart said he worried about the game of college football and losing some of its better coaches to the NFL. Smart went on to say that the demands of coaches in college football have gotten so out of whack that coaches are leaving completely or going to the NFL. He then added that something had to be done.
Well, nothing has been done, and the demands have only increased. This is why we are seeing coaches leave for the NFL, leaving a head coaching gig at a G5 school to become a position coach in the SEC or a head coach leaving a school to become an offensive coordinator at another school in the same conference. The calendar in the college football world has become year-round, and the coaches have to deal with N.I.L and the transfer portal on top of all their other obligations as coaches.
I don't think that is why McClendon left Georgia, but I am confident it is the case. Georgia has a ton of depth and talent in the wideout room, and whoever Smart hires, his job will be alot easier given the depth and talent at that position.