Georgia Bulldogs: RB Coach Bryan McClendon Gets A Hefty Raise

Photo Credit: David Manning

Chalk this one up to the 'he's one helluva recruiter' explanation because, otherwise, I'm scratching my head at how running backs coach, Bryan McClendon managed to get a raise which more than doubles what he made in 2010 ($90,000 to 200,000). Tony Ball, Georgia's wide receivers coach, will also see his paycheck get a bump from $165,000+ to $200,000.

But, back to McClendon.

The raise, according to Chip Towers, was McGarity's way of being proactive in keeping the football staff intact. Both Ball and McClendon were apparently pursued by other schools this past season and opted to stay at Georgia. As a result, they were given "competitive counter offers" that allowed them to stay at Georgia and not disrupt the continuity of the coaching staff.

While I can certainly get on board with maintaining continuity, particularly in a year already marked with a ton of questions about Mark Richt's future at Georgia, McClendon's pay raise seems too generous given what he's done as a coach.

That said, it's easy to see that McClendon's value as a recruiter has given him more rope than he might normally have had. Mark Richt said as much himself when he was forced to defend McClendon's sub-par performance at recent speaking engagement.

Said Richt of McClendon's worth, "...Bryan McClendon is a hell of a coach, he’s a hell of a recruiter. And I’m glad we got Bryan McClendon."

Last season, McClendon was key in the recruitment of Isaiah Crowell, Zach DeBell, Quintavious Harrow, and Nick Marshall—all of whom are expected to be impact players at Georgia in the near future and a good recruiter is something that most any head coach will covet.

Bobo has a similar talent and has elicited as much loyalty from Richt as both McClendon and Garner.  By way of mention, however, all three men have had their fair share of criticism from both pundits and fans, about their ability as coaches—none of them appear to be in danger of losing their jobs anytime soon.

I suppose you can't blame Richt for wanting some of the best recruiters in the nation peppering his staff but, at some point, you would hope their coaching talents would be every bit as worthy of the praise.

McClendon is still young, only 27 years old, so he's still growing into his role as running backs coach (much like Bobo), but he is clearly a star on the rise, particularly as a recruiter, and if he's able to bring it all together this season, then Georgia will have made one very good deal.

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