Staff turnover Kirby Smart’s latest challenge at Georgia

ATHENS — Nick Saban would prefer to not have to deal with constant coaching staff turnover. Still, Alabama has done remarkably well in the face of seemingly endless change.

The Crimson Tide has managed to win 88% of its games under Saban, including eight SEC titles and six national championships, despite enduring constant staff changes during that run. Between 2016-19, Alabama had four offensive coordinators, four wide receiver coaches, four special teams coordinators and three defensive coordinators, in addition to other changes.

“There are so many uncertainties,” Saban told reporters after the 2020 season. “(When you have) a bunch of new coaches, the players learn the system in the spring, so do new coaches. The coaches learn through the first year, how you do things, whether it’s in the summertime, fall camp, game week, whatever, game day.

“I think when you have continuity and people understand what the expectation is, it helps in a lot of areas. I think it helps in recruiting. I think it helps in relationships with players. I think it helps with knowledge of the system.”

Georgia and coach Kirby Smart are starting to get a taste of that, so far on a less intense level. When the Bulldogs open spring practice Tuesday, they’ll do so with four new coaches on the staff. That’s the most so far under Smart.

The new guys are replacing coaches who left for opportunities elsewhere in the wake of Georgia’s run to the 2021 national championship. Defensive coordinator/outside linebackers coach Dan Lanning became head coach at Oregon; passing game coordinator/receivers coach Cortez Hankton took the same position at LSU; defensive backfield coach Jahmile Addae is now at Miami; and associate head coach/offensive line coach Matt Luke retired.

In most cases, the moves were expected. In Luke’s case, it was not.

That’s the most change Smart, now entering his seventh season as Georgia’s coach, has absorbed. He’s had change every year, with a previous high of three coaches leaving after the 2019 season. Running backs coach Dell McGee is the only assistant who has been with Smart throughout.

Regardless, the Bulldogs have to deal with the cards they have been dealt. So far, Smart has done a good job of that.

Here’s a brief look at the new faces:

• DBs coach Fran Brown: Football insiders claim Brown was a home run hire. Considered a fast up-and-comer in the coaching ranks, Brown coached at Temple and Baylor before joining Greg Schiano’s Rutgers staff in 2020. The Scarlet Knights recorded their most takeaways since 2012 that first season and have produced four All-Big Ten DBs since then. His recruiting presence in the Northeast, where Georgia has increasingly done business, is expected to be significant.
• Passing game coordinator/WRs coach Bryan McClendon: If the exchange of Addae to Miami for McClendon to come to Georgia was viewed as a trade, then the Bulldogs got the best end of the deal, and considerably so. At this point in his career, McClendon’s acumen as an offensive coach has caught up with his reputation for being an elite recruiter. He was co-offensive coordinator under Mario Cristobal at Miami. Todd Monken will continue to call the offensive shots for the Dogs, but McClendon’s input – coupled with his expertise working with wideouts – is expected to benefit the Bulldogs greatly.
• Offensive line coach Stacy Searels: It will take some time to assess the effect of Luke’s sudden departure. The former Ole Miss head coach did a fantastic job guiding an injury-impacted offensive line to the national championship. But Smart could not have found a more experienced and successful replacement in short order as he did in Searels. A 30-year coaching veteran, Searels has produced 25 NFL offensive linemen, including 11 NFL draft picks. A former Auburn player whose previous coaching stops include Georgia, LSU, Texas, North Carolina, Miami and Virginia Tech, he’s a familiar face in Southern recruiting and knows his way around. With the Bulldogs, he inherits arguably the best group he has ever coached.
• Outside linebackers coach Chidera Uzo-Diribe: It’s unfair to compare Uzo-Diribe to the coach he’s replacing. Lanning’s seven-year rise from grad assistant to coordinator to Power Five head coach may by unprecedented. But Uzo-Diribe likewise has seemingly come from nowhere to the highest level of college football. Just four years ago, the former Colorado star pass rusher was a graduate assistant at Kansas. Since then, he has been a full-time assistant at SMU, TCU and now UGA. The youngest member of Georgia’s staff at 29 years old, Uzo-Diribe will bring a youthful enthusiasm and energy to the job that players certainly will identify with. Whether he’s an X-and-O genius on the level of Lanning remains to be seen.

Of course, the most profound change to the Georgia coaching staff will be the promotion of Will Muschamp to co-defensive coordinator. A two-time head coach and career coordinator, Muschamp’s considerable presence was felt last year as he moved from analyst to on-field assistant in a matter of months.