Georgia hires Dell McGee as running backs coach

Former Carver football coach Dell McGee is set to join Kirby Smart’s coaching staff at Georgia.

Smart was hired by Georgia as the head coach last month after the school fired Mark Richt.

McGee will coach the running backs.

Georgia also announced the hiring of wide receivers coach James Coley and recruiting coordinator  Marshall Malchow.

McGee spent the past two seasons as the running backs coach at Georgia Southern. The Eagles led the nation in rushing yards per game each of those two seasons.

After Georgia Southern’s head coach Willie Fritz left for Tulane, McGee was named interim head coach for the Eagles’ first-ever bowl game. The Eagles routed Bowling Green 58-27 in the GoDaddy Bowl at Mobile, Ala., on Dec. 23.

McGee was not given the head coaching job, however, as athletic director Tim Kleinlein named Tyson Summers as the head coach.

McGee had reportedly accepted a position on Fritz’s staff at Tulane.

McGee was Carver’s head coach for seven seasons and went 85-14 with a state championship in 2007. He left for Auburn as an offensive analyst in 2013. McGee was hired by Fritz before the 2014 season. Fritz promoted McGee to assistant head coach on Nov. 9 of this season.

McGee played football at Kendrick High and also at Auburn.

McGee is the second coach on the Georgia staff with Columbus ties. Olten Downs was hired last year and served as a quality control coordinator, an off-the-field position. With massive change to the Georgia coach staff before Saturday’s TaxSlayer Bowl, Downs was given on-field responsibilities coaching the wide receivers.

Downs was the defensive coordinator at Carver under McGee. Smart has not made an announcement as to whether Downs would be retained.

Coley was the offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach for the past three seasons at Miami. He was offensive coordinator and tight ends caoch at Florida State from 2010-12.

Malchow, a native of Augusta, Ga., joined the University of Washington staff as director of player personnel in 2014 and oversaw all aspects of recruiting in 2015.

He also worked as a recruiting specialist at Alabama as an undergrad.

This story was originally published January 3, 2016 at 5:33 PM with the headline "Georgia hires Dell McGee as running backs coach."