Bryan McClendon leaving Gamecocks for Pac-12 job, reports say
After the Pittsburgh Steelers went in another direction with a wide receiver coach position, it appeared former South Carolina offensive coordinator Bryan McClendon was set to stay with the Gamecocks for another season.
But now, it looks like he’s headed west to join the Oregon Ducks.
FootballScoop and The Athletic’s Bruce Feldman reported Friday that the former Georgia coach and player is headed to join Mario Cristobal’s staff. McClendon was one of Will Muschamp’s first hires when he arrived in Columbia, working with receivers for two seasons before getting promoted to replace Kurt Roper as offensive coordinator.
Feldman reported McClendon would be the Ducks’ passing game coordinator under new coordinator and former Mississippi State coach Joe Moorhead.
No move was confirmed by USC or Oregon as of Saturday afternoon, but McClendon changed his Twitter profile to an Oregon theme and followed Ducks coaches on the social media platform.
In December, McClendon was demoted back to wide receivers coach after two seasons. His first offense put up 30.1 points and 426.2 yards per game. But last season, with a freshman quarterback and no Deebo Samuel, the team fell out of the top 90 nationally in most offensive categories.
He had been linked to an opening at Tennessee after his first year as OC.
McClendon built a receiving corps around Shi Smith, Bryan Edwards and Deebo Samuel, but the development of the receivers behind them had not come around. Samuel left after the 2019 season for the NFL and Edwards has since graduated.
McClendon was set to make $1 million this year and next. The listed buyout to get out of his contract is $200,000. Oregon’s former wide receivers coach, Jovon Bouknight, was paid $310,000 last season.
The University of Oregon is in the midst of a hiring freeze in response to the coronavirus pandemic.
The departure could mean another shakeup for a South Carolina staff that saw two waves of changes, the first one right after the season and the second after the February signing day. Current tight ends coach Joe Cox has some experience working with wide receivers, if Muschamp wanted to move him over.
In February, when McClendon was linked to the Steelers job, one name that had been floated as a possible target was former North Carolina State running backs coach Des Kitchings, who played his college ball at Furman.
South Carolina staff changes this offseason:
Departures
RB coach Thomas Brown — Left for same job with LA Rams
DL coach John Scott — Left for same job with Penn State
LB Coach Coleman Hutzler — Left for job at Texas
QB coach Dan Werner — Let go
Strength coach Jeff Dillman — Let go
WR coach Bryan McClendon (reportedly) — Same job with Oregon
Director of Player Personnel Matt Lindsey — Took a job at Ole Miss
Additions
OC/QB coach Mike Bobo
TE coach Joe Cox
LB coach Rod Wilson
DL coach Tracy Rocker
Strength coach Paul Jackson
Director of Player Personnel Drew Hughes
This story was originally published April 17, 2020 at 10:30 AM.
