South Carolina promotes McClendon to offensive coordinator

Jan 5, 2018 - 10:22 PM South Carolina elevated Bryan McClendon to offensive coordinator on a full-time basis Friday.

Head coach Will Muschamp announced the promotion of McClendon while also naming Dan Werner his quarterbacks coach.

McClendon handled the offensive coordinator duties for South Carolina in a 26-19 win over Michigan in the Outback Bowl. Muschamp fired offensive co-coordinator Kurt Roper last month.

"Bryan has prepared himself to take on the offensive coordinator duties and made the most of his opportunity at the Outback Bowl," said Muschamp. "He did an outstanding job of preparing our football team offensively leading up to the game. He also made several adjustments during the game that allowed us to take advantage of some of the things we saw against one of the nation's top defenses, and that showed up when we put together three consecutive scoring drives in the second half."

McClendon served as the co-offensive coordinator/wide receivers coach for the past two seasons. Although he will take over the play-calling duties next season, he will continue to coach the wideouts.

Werner currently is in his first season as an offensive analyst at Alabama, which will take on Georgia in the national championship game Monday.

Prior to joining the Crimson Tide, Werner spent five seasons as the co-offensive coordinator/quarterbacks coach at Mississippi. Ole Miss had the No. 2 passing offense (314.9 yards per game) and averaged 32.6 points in 2016.

"Dan is a great developer of quarterbacks and an accomplished play-caller who brings a wealth of experience to our staff," said Muschamp. "He will be a tremendous asset to Coach McClendon in the offensive staff room. Having gone against his offenses numerous times over the years, I know first-hand what challenges he creates for defenses."