Bryan McClendon ‘expected’ to remain on Gamecocks staff

South Carolina football appears to be holding onto assistant coach Bryan McClendon, who is in the running for the full-time offensive coordinator position.

On Wednesday, a source told The State that Gamecocks head coach Will Muschamp is leaning in that direction and a report from FootballScoop.com, which tracks coaching moves in the industry, stated “McClendon is expected to remain with Will Muschamp’s staff,” and Tennessee radio host and longtime reporter Jimmy Hyams tweeted, “It doesn’t appear as though South Carolina assistant Bryan McClendon, who called SC plays during bowl game, will join UT as WR coach, according to a source.”

Promoting McClendon to offensive coordinator would likely be the most surefire way to keep him in Columbia.

There was no official word from South Carolina as of 5 p.m. Wednesday on McClendon’s status. He has served as interim offensive coordinator since the Dec. 6 firing of Kurt Roper, and he called plays in the Gamecocks 26-19 Outback Bowl victory over Michigan on Monday.

“I am not going to address anything else about the offensive coordinator position at this time, but really impressed with Bryan and the job he did,” head coach Will Muschamp said after that game. “I thought Bryan McClendon did an outstanding job of preparing our football team offensively. Made a lot of adjustments at halftime on some things we felt like we could take advantage of.”

McClendon’s offense struggled in the first half against Michigan, but rallied to produce 211 yards and 6 yards per play in the second half. Big plays helped power a 23-point surge that erased a 19-3 deficit.

McClendon played for Mark Richt at Georgia and after a cup of coffee in the NFL, returned to Athens for most of his coaching career. There he held a variety of roles, including graduate assistant, running backs coach, wide receivers coach, assistant head coach and passing game coordinator and recruiting coordinator.

McClendon was hired by Muschamp when he came to Columbia after Richt was let go by Georgia.

McClendon was primarily known as a recruiter, having secured the commitment of six five-star players, including five tailbacks, in Athens, and building a stable of blue chip wide receivers with the Gamecocks. He’s also had a hand in developing Deebo Samuel, Bryan Edwards, Shi Smith and OrTre Smith, rebuilding a wide receiver room that was decimated by the end of the Steve Spurrier era.

This story was originally published January 3, 2018 at 5:24 PM with the headline "Bryan McClendon ‘expected’ to remain on Gamecocks staff."