JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – 1-0. That is Bryan McClendon’s record as head coach at the University of Georgia. McClendon has spent spent the past month as the Bulldogs interim coach. He’s been part of this program since 2007. Georgia’s 24-17 TaxSlayer Bowl win over Penn State will also be the last time McClendon wears the black and red of Georgia.
He’s already accepted an offer to join Will Muschamp’s staff at South Carolina where he will be become the Gamecocks wide receivers’ coach and co-offensive coordinator.
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“Just like I told the team the very first time I had a meeting with them, I said there’s going to be a lot of stuff written about me,” said McClendon. “I said there’s going to be a lot written about who’s staying and whose going and who’s coming in. But not enough written about the individuals [players] that makes this team up. Because they’re what’s made this special. These guys have done a job that in my opinion is second to none.”
There is no step-by-step manual for running a football team. In the weeks leading up to this game McClendon admitted that he was very much learning on the fly.
Even if it was just for one game McClendon was excited about the opportunity to be the head coach of a program where he started off as a graduate assistant and then spent the next nine years.
“I think everybody who gets in this business has the goals and aspirations of one day becoming a head coach,” said McClendon. “It makes you appreciate head coaches. But more than that it makes you appreciate the people that you have to have around you. And everybody has to come together for these young men like we did today.”