Ole Miss to hire Illinois' George McDonald as its new wide receivers coach, pass game coordinator
After Derrick Nix left for Auburn last week, Ole Miss quickly got on the phone to find his replacement. The former Southern Miss running back had been in Oxford, Miss., for 16 years. Now, head coach Lane Kiffin must find a replacement. Saturday, the Rebels announced Illinois assistant head coach and wide receivers coach George McDonald would be taking over. The news was first reported by 247Sports’ Matt Zenitz.
McDonald, an Illinois alumnus and former player, has coached just about everywhere throughout his 24 year career. He started his career at Ball State in 2000 as a graduate assistant and has been all over the place since. He’s been in the ACC, Pac-12, NFL, Big Ten, MAC and now the SEC.
Ole Miss added some serious firepower in former South Carolina wide receiver Juice Wells and also returns Tre Harris and Jordan Watkins.
During his time in Illinois, he helped led a surge in offensive production.
McDonald helped Illinois’ offense rank as one of the best in the Big Ten in 2023, as the Illini finished in the top five in the conference in passing (3rd), total yards (t-4th), and scoring (5th) and led the Big Ten West in all three categories. Isaiah Williams, one of the top receivers in the nation, was named to the All-Big Ten First Team after leading the Big Ten and ranking 13th in the nation in receptions (82) and ranking second in the Big Ten and 15th in the nation in receiving yards (1,055) during the regular season.
All three wide receiver starters for McDonald had over 500 receiving yards, as Casey Washington totaled 670 yards and three touchdowns and Pat Bryant added 560 receiving yards and a team-best seven touchdowns on the season. Illinois was the only Power-5 program with a 1,000-yard receiver and two other receivers over 500 yards in 2023.
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George McDonald also saw success at prior stops.
During his time at Stanford as tight ends coach, he coached Mackey Award finalist Alex Smith. He followed Bill Cubit from the Cardinal to Western Michigan as offensive coordinator and wide receivers coach. There, McDonald’s pupil, Greg Jennings, was 2005 MAC Player of the Year, Biletnikoff Award semifinalist and an All-American. McDonald then he made his way to Minnesota where he coached First-Team All-Big Ten performer Eric Decker.
He made the jump to the NFL’s Cleveland Browns from 2009-10 as wide receivers coach under Eric Mangini. He then returned to college football to coach wideouts at Miami from 2011-12 under Al Golden. He was actually named the receivers coach at Arkansas under then-new head coach Bret Bielema in December 2012, but was offered the offensive coordinator position at Syracuse under former Illini assistant coach Scott Shafer a few weeks later where he spent the 2013-14 seasons.
His six-year stint at NC State began in 2015 under former Bielema assistant Dave Doeren as wide receivers coach and has watched his role grow to passing game coordinator, co-offensive coordinator, and most recently as assistant head coach of the Wolfpack. Under McDonald’s tutelage, for the first time in ACC history, NC State had a pair of wide receivers named to the All-ACC first-team in 2018 when Kelvin Harmon and Jakobi Meyers both topped 1,000 receiving yards.
During his career, he has mentored 27 players who have gone on to play in the NFL.
George McDonald was a four-year letterwinner at receiver for the Fighting Illini.
He completed his Illinois football career with 57 receptions for 589 yards and four touchdowns. He led the Big Ten in kickoff return yardage in 1996 (736) while returning 57 kickoffs for 1,276 yards (22.4 avg.) during his career. McDonald also ran track his freshman and senior years, earning All-Big Ten honors his senior year when he set an Illinois record with a time of 6.74 in the 60 meters, a mark which still ranks seventh on the Illini top times list, to win the 1999 Big Ten Indoor Championships 60m title.
