Georgia hires Pittsburgh's Jim Chaney to be offensive coordinator

Kirby Smart has his offensive coordinator.

Georgia has hired Jim Chaney to be the program’s new offensive coordinator. Chaney will replace Brian Schottenheimer, who was hired by former head coach Mark Richt last offseason. Chaney will be Georgia’s third offensive coordinator in three consecutive seasons.

Chaney spent the 2015 season at Pittsburgh coaching under Pat Narduzzi. The Panthers rank 76th nationally in total offense at 381 yards per game. Chaney helped a Pittsburgh team improve from 6-7 in 2014 to 8-4 this season, matching the highest amount of wins Pittsburgh has recorded since 2010. Pittsburgh will take on Navy in this year’s Military Bowl on Dec. 28.

“On behalf of our entire program, I would like to thank Jim for his contributions to Pitt,” Narduzzi said in a statement. “His work was very important as we established our program in this first year. In addition to being an excellent football coach, he is a tremendous person, and we wish him and his family the very best.”

Georgia also hired offensive line coach Sam Pittman from Arkansas and stated assistant Glenn Schumann will have a “defensive staff position.”

Chaney is no stranger to the SEC. Before joining Narduzzi at Pittsburgh, he was the offensive coordinator at Arkansas from 2013-14. Before that, Chaney was the offensive coordinator at Tennessee under both Lane Kiffin and Derek Dooley from 2009-12.

Chaney has long been lauded for his ability to adjust his scheme to the personnel he had available. In 2013, Chaney turned to the running game and coached Alex Collins to 1,026 yards and Jonathan Williams to 900 yards. In 2014, Williams ran for 1,190 and Collins totaled 1,100 yards on the ground. In his final season with the Razorbacks, Chaney’s offense averaged 406 yards and 31.6 points per game.

Under Kiffin at Tennessee in 2009, Chaney coached quarterback Jonathan Crompton to a 2,800-yard season. Running back Monterio Hardesty totaled 1,345 rushing yards and 13 touchdowns.

In 2011, receiver Da’Rick Rogers posted 1,040 yards and nine touchdowns. And in 2012, quarterback Tyler Bray broke out under Chaney’s watch, passing for 3,612 yards, 34 touchdowns and 12 interceptions.

Chaney has been a longtime college football offensive coordinator, dating back to 1997. Chaney coached under Joe Tiller at Purdue and tutored Drew Brees from 1997-2000. Under Chaney, Brees threw for 11,792 yards, 90 touchdowns and 45 interceptions in four years.

In Brees’ senior season, before pass-happy offenses spread throughout college football, he threw for 3,668 yards, 26 touchdowns and 12 interceptions. Brees threw for more than 3,900 yards in both his sophomore and junior seasons.

Having coached Brees in college could turn into a recruiting advantage, considering the former Boilermakers player has gone on to win one Super Bowl, reach the Pro Bowl nine times and won two NFL AP Offensive Player of the Year awards.

At Purdue, Chaney also coached former NFL quarterback Kyle Orton at Purdue, who threw for 3,090 yards, 31 touchdowns and five interceptions in 2004. During his nine-year tenure at Purdue, Chaney’s offenses led the Big Ten is passing five times and in total offense three times.

In 2006, Chaney joined the St. Louis Rams staff as an offensive line coach. After two seasons, he moved to tight ends coach with the Rams. He re-entered the college ranks in 2009 when he joined Kiffin’s staff at Tennessee.

Chaney is also well-regarded for his ability to work with tight ends. In 2000, former Purdue tight end Tim Stratton won the inaugural John Mackey Award after catching 58 passes for 605 yards and two touchdowns. At Arkansas in 2014, tight ends Hunter Henry and A.J. Derby combined for 816 yards and five touchdowns. At Pittsburgh this season, tight end J.P. Holtz ranks third on the team with 350 yards and four touchdowns.

Chaney was an all-conference nose guard at Central Missouri State, where he graduated in 1985. Before arriving at Purdue in 1997, he was an assistant at Cal State Fullerton, Western Michigan and Wyoming. Chaney and his wife Lisa have two daughters, Elizabeth and Sara.

This story was originally published December 12, 2015 at 10:05 AM with the headline "Georgia hires Pittsburgh's Jim Chaney to be offensive coordinator."