Georgia loses a beloved long-time assistant to in-state program

This might be the best hire any Group of Five program made this offseason. While I love what Tulane did in getting Jon Sumrall to replace Willie Fritz, as well as Bronco Mendenhall taking over at New Mexico, what Georgia State did to pry Dell McGee away from nearby Georgia is beyond fantastic for the Panthers. McGee was ready to be a college football head coach years ago. Now is his big shot.

McGee had spent the last several years on Kirby Smart's staff at Georgia as the running backs coach and running game coordinator. His ground game always perfectly complemented whatever Todd Monken or Mike Bobo wanted to do as offensive coordinators. It was a multi-back approach, strengthened by physicality, as well as versatility. You could always count on UGA to run the football.

With Shawn Elliott abruptly leaving for South Carolina to be the Gamecocks' tight ends coach, the Panthers had to act swiftly. They had already begun spring practice. Strength and conditioning coach Mike Sirignano took over in the interim, but Georgia State had to do something. McGee was prioritized and he will be making the trek down either 78 or 316 from Athens to Atlanta to take over.

McGee has a shot to make Georgia State a Group of Five power in the Sun Belt almost immediately.

Prior to coming aboard in Athens, he served in a similar role at Georgia Southern, as well as having been a high school coach in Columbus at regional power Carver. He is also a noted Auburn alum.

Georgia State landing Dell McGee as head coach is as good as it gets

Don't let the jump from position coach to head coach fool you. McGee has long been ready for this. Given where the Bulldogs are under Kirby Smart, you have to fully expect for top-tier assistants to be poached for other jobs. So far this offseason, Georgia has had three assistants poached (McGee, Fran Brown, Bryan McClendon), one step aside (Will Muschamp) and one resign (Scott Cochran).

McGee joins Fran Brown as new FBS head coaches. Brown took over Syracuse right before the end of the year. McClendon left his alma mater yet again, this time to coach the wide receivers for Todd Bowles' Tampa Bay Buccaneers as a part of Liam Coen's offense. Scott Cochran's special teams were outstanding, but he resigned only a few weeks ago. It will be interesting to see where he resurfaces.

Right now, Smart has to replace two offensive coaches on his staff, McClendon and now McGee. Donte Williams has effectively replaced Brown. Travaris Robinson has done the same for Muschamp. Kirk Benedict suffices the Cochran role. I would expect McGee to retain most of Elliott's remaining staff in Atlanta, just because of time. However, he will probably revamp this at some point next year.

By landing McGee, Georgia State went from a complete afterthought to a force to be reckoned with.