Daniel Shirley: Fans should relax about coaching staff hires

The past few weeks have been interesting for the Georgia and Georgia Southern football programs.

With new head coaches come new assistant coaches.

Those hires bring excitement from fans about some of those names and complaining and moaning about others. And it's all really silly.

But it's really no surprise. Overreacting to the smallest little thing is what college football fans do best.

And we certainly have seen plenty of overreactions to the new assistants at Georgia and Georgia Southern.

Kirby Smart continues to work with Alabama as the Crimson Tide prepare for the national championship game Monday against Clemson. Smart, a former Georgia player, has been working double duty with the Tide while also putting together his coaching staff with the Bulldogs.

It hasn't been made official, but all signs point to Mel Tucker being named the defensive coordinator. There has been plenty of angst about the staff Smart has put together, but Smart has done well with this staff, no matter what some fans might think.

Jim Chaney is a versatile offensive coordinator, and we'll see how he adjusts his scheme and systems to the talent he has on the roster (yes, including Jacob Eason), and that can't be worse than what the Bulldogs went through last year. Sam Pittman is a terrific offensive line coach, and James Coley (wide receivers), Dell McGee (running backs) and Shane Beamer (tight ends/special teams) are all terrific additions to the offensive staff.

Defensively, the staff certainly will follow Tucker's lead, while Kevin Sherrer and Tracy Rocker staying put will be big, and we'll see what role Glenn Schumann plays.

But where are the big names? Where are the splashy hires? Who knows, and really who cares? Big names don't always add up to wins, and this staff looks like it has plenty of solid hires to get the job done.

But really, we don't know what this staff will do, and we have to wait and see how these coaches work together before making a judgment. We might think we know, but we don't really know until those nine coaches get in a room together and get to work.

At Georgia Southern, Tyson Summers has put together his first staff, and there are people who are out of sorts because of co-offensive coordinators David Dean and Rance Gillespie. When Summers got the job, he said the team would continue to run the option, but Dean and Gillespie are known for their passing offenses, and that has sent some fans off the deep end.

But Dean and Gillespie are good coaches, and good coaches adjust their schemes and systems to the talent they have at their disposal and follow the lead of their head coach. That's what Dean and Gillespie will do with Summers, who has made it clear what the offense is going to be going forward.

So we just have to wait and see if the Eagles stick to that plan or what adjustments these coaches will make.

But that's the case with any staff. It's like recruiting or the NFL draft. In reality, it might be a couple of years until we know what these coaches will do, and the two new head coaches in our state likely will make more changes as they move forward. It's not often that first-time coaches hit home runs with every hire on their first staff, and there will be tweaks along the way before they get the staffs set exactly the way they want them.

So let's give these coaches time to work together, and you know, maybe coach a game or season together, before we make final judgments about the new staffs Smart and Summers have put together.

Contact Daniel Shirley at 744-4227 or dshirley@macon.com

This story was originally published January 8, 2016 at 1:15 PM with the headline "Daniel Shirley: Fans should relax about coaching staff hires ."