University of Georgia running backs coach Bryan McClendon
will move to coach wide receivers, the position he played, according to
an announcement Monday by UGA head coach Mark Richt. Richt also
announced former UGA running back Thomas Brown, who coached Heisman Trophy
runnerup Melvin Gordon at Wisconsin this past season, has been
named the new
running backs coach. Richt also said McClendon would assume the role of
passing game coordinator. Brown and McClendon were teammates on the 2005 Georgia
SEC championship
team.
“These moves with two former Georgia teammates
will add a great dimension to our offensive coaching staff,” said Richt.
"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.”
At Wisconsin in 2014, Gordon posted the second-best
season ever by a running
back with 2,587 rushing yards and 32 total touchdowns. He and sophomore
Corey Clement combined to run for 3,536 yards to break the single-season
Football Bowl Subdivision record for rushing yards by teammates
that had been set the year before by Gordon and James White (3,053 yards).
The Badgers posted the two most prolific rushing
performances in the country
in 2014 with a school-record 644 rushing yards vs. Bowling Green and 581 vs.
Nebraska, and their average of 6.91 yards per rushing attempt ranks as the
fourth-best mark in FBS history. Prior to joining the Wisconsin staff, Brown served as the running backs
coach at Marshall in 2013 and at UT Chattanooga in 2012. He spent the
2011 season as an assistant strength and conditioning coach at UGA.
At Marshall, he helped direct Conference USA's
second-ranked rushing
offense which averaged 205.9 rushing yards per game (ranked 24th nationally). The Herd won the C-USA East Division title with a 7-1
record and defeated
Maryland, 31-20, in the Military Bowl. Brown guided RB Essray Taliaferro to
a 1,000-yard season that saw him average 5.2 yards per carry and score 10
touchdowns while amassing 1,140 rushing yards. Marshall was one of just seven
FBS teams to boast three running backs that rushed for at least 500
yards in 2013 -- along with Wisconsin -- and was the lone program outside the
Power Five conferences to accomplish the feat.
A
native of Tucker, Ga., Brown starred at Tucker High School before
enrolling at Georgia and helping the Bulldogs to the 2005 Southeastern
Conference championship. He finished his career as the fifth-leading
rushing in Georgia history with 2,646 career yards and led the Bulldogs in
rushing in 2005 and 2005. For his career, Brown averaged 5.0 yards per
carry and scored 25 touchdowns. He was elected by his teammates
as the
permanent offensive team captain in 2007. He was selected in the sixth round of the 2008 NFL Draft
by the Atlanta
Falcons and spent the 2009 season with the Cleveland Browns before retiring to
pursue coaching opportunities.
Brown earned his bachelor¹s degree in speech
communications from UGA. He and
his wife, Jessica, have two children, Orlando and Tyson.
McClendon lettered as a wide receiver at Georgia
in 2002-03-04-05. He played on two SEC championship teams (2002,
¹05). As a senior he
caught 35 passes including six for touchdowns. He caught the game-winning
TD pass in the closing minutes against Georgia Tech and then blocked a
punt in the SEC championship game which led to the Bulldogs¹ third TD of the
game. He was part of a senior class that won 44 games‹the most by any class in
Georgia history. Following the 2005 season, he signed a free agent
contract with the Chicago Bears. He served as a graduate assistant coach with the Bulldogs
in 2007-08 and
joined the full time coaching staff in 2009 as running backs coach. He
has coached a number of elite running backs during his tenure at UGA including
Isaiah Crowell, Todd Gurley, and Keith Marshall as well as current backs
Nick Chub and Sony Michel.
He is married to the former Amber Arnold of
Atlanta. They have two children,
Bryan and Brooke.
