Georgia assistants show promise as potential head coaches

It’s a common discussion this time of year. “Which assistant coaches are bound to be head coaches before too long?” On3’s Matt Zenitz released his list of coaches that came up in a survey as ones deserving strong consideration as a head coach before too long, and included were Georgia’s Dell McGee and Glenn Schumann. Media got to speak with both of them this week, and both were asked about that idea.

“Like I’ve said previously, I really don’t control that part of the process. I’m just very, very happy with being the running backs coach at Georgia,” McGee, who came in as one of the top 25 names from the survey, said. “Coach Smart has been a blessing to me. I really want to thank him for affording me the opportunity to be the running backs coach here. Also the opportunities that he allows me to be in front of our football team, and in front of our offensive staff as well … But my main job is being the best running backs coach I can here. I feel like I am a head coach every single day, because I am in charge of the running backs and the special teams areas I’m in charge of, and I take all my jobs seriously, just like a head coach.”

Before his time at Georgia, McGee previously served as the head coach at Carver-Columbus (Ga.) High School for seven seasons from 2005 to 2012. A native of the Columbus area, McGee said he felt it was important to give back. And from that experience, he learned a lot about what it looks like to be a good coach.

“Being a high school coach really taught me a lot, how to communicate with the kids, I constantly had parents that weren’t involved and that I had to try to get involved. We definitely had a very, very low socioeconomic status of kids when I was at Carver, so resources weren’t necessarily there. So just being connected to my players, communicating to my players and parents, saying the right things at the right time, really, really mattered,” McGee said. “At the end of the day it’s how you treat people, relationships that you develop and have with your players and parents. I still have continued relationships with guys I’ve coached in high school as well as here at Georgia, I think that is just as important. You get more than a coach when you get me, you are getting someone that is going to be, what I call, part of your lifeline forever. I get invited to weddings, ex-players tell me when they are having kids and things they are going through, they for advice, in the professional or even outside the professional circle. As a coach, you wear a lot of different hats, and being a high school coach, the only thing I do now is cut grass and line the field and fertilize grass and loads of things have kind of stopped. I love being around people, I have been part of the locker room since I was basically 10 years old, so being part of that team component, that camaraderie, celebrating after wins in the locker room, that’s part of my job.”

Meanwhile, Schumann was in the category of “Others mentioned as names to know moving forward.” He’s coming at coaching from a different trajectory than some of his coworkers, including McGee. The Georgia job was his first full-time opportunity in coaching, previously having served as a graduate assistant at Alabama. Now he seems to be on the come up in the coaching ranks as demonstrated by his promotion to co-defensive coordinator this offseason.

“The thing I tried to do when I was a GA was always think about how I could be the best GA and whatever that was. It ended up being something where I became a slightly higher role, still support staff, and I just tried to do that job the best I could. So I’ve done that since I’ve been here,” Schumann said earlier this week about his aspirations to one day become a head coach. “I really try not to be too forward thinking, there’s times and places for that. That quote that Coach Smart had last year before training camp about success coming to those being too busy to be looking for it, that’s a very real quote. It’s not coach speak, it’s a real thing so I try to live that. First-year players, be where your feet are and that’s what it’s all about.”

If McGee or Schumann were to move on to another position as a head coach, they’d be the next in what’s becoming a coaching tree under Kirby Smart. Mel Tucker served as Georgia’s defensive coordinator for three seasons before going to Colorado and now Michigan State as the head coach. Sam Pittman spent four seasons as the offensive line coach and got the head coaching job at Arkansas, and now Dan Lanning, Tucker’s replacement as the defensive coordinator back in 2019, will begin his head coaching career at Oregon this fall, ironically opening against Georgia.

“Coach Smart has done everything as a mentor that you could do as a head coach and assistant coach,” McGee said of his boss. “He’s very, very positive when it comes to his assistants moving on. We’ve had several assistants who have moved on to become head coaches and being a part of his pedigree is very special to me.”