Kirby Smart swipes staff member from SEC program after failing to land assistant coach from Tennessee
Georgia Bulldogs head coach Kirby Smart lost wide receivers coach Bryan McClendon to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers earlier this month which kicked off a search for a new wide receivers coach in Athens. Smart and the Bulldogs reportedly had some interest in Tennessee Vols wide receivers coach Kelsey Pope, who is entering his third season […]
Georgia Bulldogs head coach Kirby Smart lost wide receivers coach Bryan McClendon to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers earlier this month which kicked off a search for a new wide receivers coach in Athens.
Smart and the Bulldogs reportedly had some interest in Tennessee Vols wide receivers coach Kelsey Pope, who is entering his third season as Josh Heupel's wide receivers coach in Knoxville.
"Georgia certainly had some interest (in hiring Pope)," said VolQuest's Brent Hubbs on 104.5 The Zone's Ramon, Kayla, and Will last week. "I don't know if he was No. 1 on the board or No. 3 on the board or where he was, but they definitely had some interest in him and had reached out."
With Pope off the board, Smart turned his attention to South Carolina where one of his former Georgia assistants was recently hired by Gamecocks head coach Shane Beamer.
Last month, South Carolina hired James Coley to serve as the Gamecocks' new wide receivers coach.
But 36 days after getting introduced at South Carolina, Coley resigned to rejoin Smart's coaching staff at Georgia (Coley previously coached at Georgia from 2016 to 2019).
The move by Smart leaves South Carolina scrambling for a new wide receivers coach with spring practice set to start in Columbia in a few weeks.
It's been a wild offseason for coaching moves. And the changes are happening deep into the offseason.
With South Carolina now in the market for a new wide receivers coach, we should see the domino effect of coaching moves continue to play out this offseason — and who knows who could be affected.
