Most Georgia fans seemed pretty alright with the fact that Jim Chaney would be leaving the Bulldogs to become Tennessee’s offensive coordinator. However, the Tennessee athletics department seemed really happy about the hire. Perhaps too happy.
Shortly after announcing the news of Chaney’s hire, the Tennessee Athletics Twitter account tweeted out a video of Athletics Director Phillip Fulmer with sunglasses dropping down onto his face, thus creating a “Deal With It,” meme.
As the people on the internet like to say, “Weird flex but ok,” Tennessee. The Volunteers are coming off a 5-7 season, and whiffed on a number of other offensive coordinator candidates before settling on Chaney.
Chaney wasn’t very popular among Georgia fans, though the offense did improve every year under Chaney. The Bulldogs have led the SEC in each of the last two seasons, and finished 14th in the country this year in scoring offense.
But critics often lamented how the offense performed in the second half of big games, specifically with how Georgia played against Alabama in each of the last two seasons.
The reason Chaney ended up taking the Tennessee job, according to DawgNation’s Mike Griffith, was because the Volunteers offered a massive raise. According to Griffith, Tennessee will pay him $4.8 million over the next three seasons. That figure would’ve made him the highest paid offensive coordinator in the country in 2018. Chaney made $925,000 at Georgia this past season, and was in the first year of a three-year deal.
Related: Possible candidates to replace Jim Chaney as Georgia offensive coordinator
As far as possible replacements go, Georgia co-offensive coordinator and quarterback coach James Coley is considered the favorite for the job. One interesting name that has come up for the opening is Kentucky offensive coordinator Eddie Gran, according to a report from SBNation’s Steven Godfrey.
Georgia is also looking for a defensive coordinator at the moment. DawgNation can confirm that offensive line coach Sam Pittman, who worked with Chaney at Tennessee and Arkansas, will remain at Georgia.
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