Georgia hires Jim Chaney as offensive coordinator

ATHENS, Ga. — The University of Georgia announced Saturday that it has hired Pittsburgh offensive coordinator Jim Chaney for the same position.

He is the first big hire for new Georgia coach Kirby Smart who was hired to take over the football program last Monday.

Chaney spent a year with the Panthers after working at Arkansas. According to the Atlanta Journal Constitution, Smart will quickly put Chaney to work.

Published reports said the idea in hiring Chaney so quickly was to introduce Chaney — who coached Drew Brees in college — to five-star quarterback recruit Jacob Eason, who is in Athens this weekend.

Eason, the No. 1 pro-style quarterback in the country according to Rivals, was recruited to Georgia by now-Miami coach Mark Richt. Convincing Eason to go to Georgia with Smart in charge of the team and Chaney in charge of the offense would be a coup for the Bulldogs.

Chaney will replace former offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer, who was not retained by Smart. Schottenheimer coached the Bulldogs’ for just one season.

Pitt’s offensive statistics in 2015 weren’t overly impressive, but the Panthers lost running back James Conner for the season in the first game with a torn MCL. When he was at Arkansas in 2014, Chaney had two 1,000- yard rushers in Jonathan Williams and Alex Collins.

Chaney was at Arkansas for two seasons. He has previous coaching experience at Tennessee and was the offensive coordinator from 2009-2012. He also served as the team’s interim after Tennessee fired former coach Derek Dooley.

In addition to Chaney, Smart also announced the addition of Sam Pittman as offensive line coach. Pittman coached with Chaney at Arkansas and Tennessee.

“Jim and Sam are highly respected nationally as individual coaches,” Smart said in a statement. “But together we have a tandem that has worked alongside each other before in the SEC and been extremely productive and successful.”

Earlier this week, it was announced that Alabama Director of Player Development and Associate Director of Personnel Glen Schumann was named to a defensive staff position.

“Glen did an outstanding job in several areas during his eight years at Alabama and he’ll be a great addition to our staff,” Smart said.