Booth or sideline? Which does Bryan McClendon prefer?

The view was pretty good for new South Carolina offensive coordinator Bryan McClendon as he sat in the booth for the first time during USC’s bowl game. As wide receivers coach, and going back to his Georgia tenure, he usually had coached from the sideline.

And it sounds as if he’ll make that a permanent spot as he goes forward.

McClendon said he was leaning on calling plays from up high when he takes over the Gamecocks offense. That could change based on how things work with new quarterbacks coach Dan Werner, but McClendon said there were advantages to what he did in Tampa against Michigan.

“It was different,” McClendon said. “You could definitely see everything a little bit. It’s kind of similar to watching it on TV. You just kind of know what’s going to happen or think or hoping is going too happen. Who’s up and who’s down and all that other stuff, it really goes into the dynamic of that staff at the time. You want someone that can always rally the troops down there and communicated effectively in a short period of time.”

Werner has been an offensive analyst the past few seasons at Alabama, but before that, he was offensive coordinator at Ole Miss under Hugh Freeze. He has extensive experience with quarterbacks, coaching the likes of Chad Kelly, Bo Wallace, Brock Berlin, Ken Dorsey, Gino Torretta, Steve Walsh and Craig Erickson.

This will mark the first time in Muschamp’s tenure USC will have a quarterback coach who isn’t also calling plays on game day. Kurt Roper had a graduate assistant who helped signal in plays and worked extensively with his passers on the sideline.

And Werner’s preference will factor in.

“I would like to talk to Dan a little bit more about where he feels most comfortable at, and then go from there,” McClendon said.

More often than not, offensive coordinators are in the booth, where the wider view allows them a more global perspective of what’s happening on a play. There are notable exceptions, including former Clemson coordinator Chad Morris, Lane Kiffin and Brian Daboll at Alabama and Florida Atlantic’s Kendall Briles.

One difference McClendon hinted at was during the bowl when he was on the headset reminding his fellow coaches to keep the team positive on the sideline as it was falling behind. There’s little doubt McClendon, an energetic persona, is used to doing that on the sideline during games.

He expects to experiment a little with where he calls plays from, especially with the way the team has scrimmages built to mimic games. But signs are pointing toward doing the same thing he did in the bowl.

“I did like it,” McClendon said. “With it being so different, it will take some getting used to. If that’s the best thing for our staff, the best thing for our players, that’s what we’re going to do.”

This story was originally published January 7, 2018 at 9:12 AM with the headline "Booth or sideline? Which does Bryan McClendon prefer?."