After some conflicting reports surfaced Monday morning, Georgia cleared everything up as the day unfolded. Mark Richt announced the addition of running back coach Thomas Brown and a new assignment for Bryan McClendon for his assistant coaching staff.
Brown, a former Georgia Bulldog and assistant coach under Richt, returns to Athens after one season at Wisconsin. After graduating from Georgia in 2007, Brown joined the coaching staff in 2011 as an assistant strength and conditioning coach. He then moved to Chattanooga to take on duties as a running backs coach and then moved to Marshall to hold the same role the following season. Following one year at Marshall, Brown joined the Wisconsin coaching staff, where he coached Heisman Trophy finalist running back Melvin Gordon during a record-breaking season. Now he takes on the responsibility of coaching one of the nation’s top young running backs in 2015, Nick Chubb.
To make room for Brown on the staff, Richt has moved McClendon from coaching the running backs to coaching the wide receivers. McClendon played wide receiver at Georgia and has been a part of the coaching staff since 2009. He si also a former teammate of Brown’s, which seems to have Richt pretty happy.
“These moves with two former Georgia teammates will add a great dimension to our offensive coaching staff,” Richt said in a statement released by the school Monday afternoon. “It brings back a great Bulldog running back in Thomas who has NFL playing experience and has had success as a college coach at multiple schools. He also inherits a position that has been built to an elite level by Bryan. And it gives Bryan the opportunity to return to coaching the position he played and the one where he cut his teeth serving as a graduate assistant under wide receiver coach John Eason here at UGA. It also provides him with a new experience as passing game coordinator.”
It had previously been reported Georgia was set to add Stanford running back coach Lance Taylor. It was later reported Taylor is staying at Stanford.
