He is not the guy that I wanted. The good thing: he wasn't Smart's first choice either. The guy that Smart wanted, Arkansas refused to release. That is a downer.
But here is the main part: Chaney is a guy who has been in the game since he was OL coach at Wyoming in 1995. (Actually before then he was an assistant for a small school in California that dropped football.) He was OC at Purdue for eight years (although it is fair to point out that head coach Joe Tiller called the plays for much of that time). 3 years as a position coach in the NFL. An OC at Tennessee, Arkansas and Pitt since then. He is a veteran, capable, qualified guy. He may not be exceptional or innovative, but with the exception of Auburn in 2010 and perhaps Florida in 2008, exceptional and innovative hasn't won national titles in the SEC. (Even then, the effectiveness was likely owing more to exceptional athletes like Percy Harvin, the Pouncey twins, Cam Newton and Tim Tebow than the scheme and playcalling). Otherwise, "reliable and effective" was what worked for LSU in 2003, Auburn in 2004, Florida in 2006, LSU in 2007 and (sigh) Alabama every year since then. UGA won't be a dumpster fire on offense like Tennessee under Dave Clawson, Auburn under Tommy Franklin and Hugh Nall, the entire Will Muschamp era at Florida or LSU since JaMarcus Russell left. UGA will be competent at running the football and passing the football at the same time, which happened shockingly few times at UGA under Richt: only in 2002, 2007-2008, 2012-2013. Yep. That is right. Those are the only times that UGA had a combination of a QB to pass for over 2800 yards (at a reasonable completion percentage and TD/INT ratio) and a RB to run for over 900. The David Greene/Musa Smith year in '02, the Stafford/Moreno 07-08 years, and the Murray/Gurley 12-13 years. 2001, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2010, 2011 UGA had good to great QB play but not much at tailback; 2014 and 2015 they had great RB play but not much at QB, 2009 both the QB and the RB play were subpar but UGA somehow still won 8 games anyway. Wait ... it wasn't somehow. It was because the only ranked team - the only team with fewer than 5 losses - UGA beat that year was Georgia Tech. Balanced football will return to UGA under Chaney. Maybe UGA won't regularly throw for 4000 yards under Chaney or have a 1500 yard tailback under Chaney, but based on his track record UGA will have a 3000 yard passer and a 1000 yard rusher nearly every year. And having that alone at UGA would have won the SEC East every year since 2010, instead of having to suffer the indignity of watching South Carolina, Missouri twice, a terrible offensive team at Florida go instead.
Another factor: Smart was quick to emphasize a varied background; that Chaney had both pro-style and spread in his background. (The guy that Smart wanted from Arkansas had the same.) What it is pretty safe to gather from that: no more will UGA make the next Cam Newton, Deshaun Watson, Connor Shaw or Josh Dobbs go out of state because they are spread guys and not pro-style guys. Under Chaney, UGA will be able to recruit, develop and run an offense for both and play whoever is best. This reminds me of a guy that UGA fans may detest but has a great track record at this: Jimbo Fisher. At LSU, Fisher won the SEC with Rohan Davey (dropback passer), a national title with Matt Mauck (spread option) and his system developed JaMarcus Russell (dropback passer, #1 overall pick) and Matt Flynn (spread option, won national title). And at FSU he has had Christian Ponder (pro style #1 draft pick), E.J. Manuel (spread option #1 draft pick), Jameis Winston (pro-style #1 overall draft pick and national title) and played both Everett Golston (spread dual threat) and Sean Maguire (pro style) this year for a 10-2 record. Another staff who does a great job: Clemson. In the past several years they have had Wally Korn (pro-style), Tajh Boyd (spread) and now Deshaun Watson (spread QB in high school, but is running mostly a pro-style offense with a lot of designed runs - pretty much what Cam Newton and Russell Wilson do in the NFL - at Clemson ... Miami needs to adopt that offense with Ryan Tannehill, who was first a WR then a spread QB at Texas A&M, and so does Cleveland with Johnny Manziel but oh well).
Now Chaney doesn't need to be as good as Fisher or the Clemson staff. He merely needs to produce offenses that are capable and consistent whether the QB is a pro-style guy or a dual threat guy, and of course have an effective running game no matter who is under center. And as he has done this before at a lot of other places, he will much more likely do this than not at UGA.
But here is the main part: Chaney is a guy who has been in the game since he was OL coach at Wyoming in 1995. (Actually before then he was an assistant for a small school in California that dropped football.) He was OC at Purdue for eight years (although it is fair to point out that head coach Joe Tiller called the plays for much of that time). 3 years as a position coach in the NFL. An OC at Tennessee, Arkansas and Pitt since then. He is a veteran, capable, qualified guy. He may not be exceptional or innovative, but with the exception of Auburn in 2010 and perhaps Florida in 2008, exceptional and innovative hasn't won national titles in the SEC. (Even then, the effectiveness was likely owing more to exceptional athletes like Percy Harvin, the Pouncey twins, Cam Newton and Tim Tebow than the scheme and playcalling). Otherwise, "reliable and effective" was what worked for LSU in 2003, Auburn in 2004, Florida in 2006, LSU in 2007 and (sigh) Alabama every year since then. UGA won't be a dumpster fire on offense like Tennessee under Dave Clawson, Auburn under Tommy Franklin and Hugh Nall, the entire Will Muschamp era at Florida or LSU since JaMarcus Russell left. UGA will be competent at running the football and passing the football at the same time, which happened shockingly few times at UGA under Richt: only in 2002, 2007-2008, 2012-2013. Yep. That is right. Those are the only times that UGA had a combination of a QB to pass for over 2800 yards (at a reasonable completion percentage and TD/INT ratio) and a RB to run for over 900. The David Greene/Musa Smith year in '02, the Stafford/Moreno 07-08 years, and the Murray/Gurley 12-13 years. 2001, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2010, 2011 UGA had good to great QB play but not much at tailback; 2014 and 2015 they had great RB play but not much at QB, 2009 both the QB and the RB play were subpar but UGA somehow still won 8 games anyway. Wait ... it wasn't somehow. It was because the only ranked team - the only team with fewer than 5 losses - UGA beat that year was Georgia Tech. Balanced football will return to UGA under Chaney. Maybe UGA won't regularly throw for 4000 yards under Chaney or have a 1500 yard tailback under Chaney, but based on his track record UGA will have a 3000 yard passer and a 1000 yard rusher nearly every year. And having that alone at UGA would have won the SEC East every year since 2010, instead of having to suffer the indignity of watching South Carolina, Missouri twice, a terrible offensive team at Florida go instead.
Another factor: Smart was quick to emphasize a varied background; that Chaney had both pro-style and spread in his background. (The guy that Smart wanted from Arkansas had the same.) What it is pretty safe to gather from that: no more will UGA make the next Cam Newton, Deshaun Watson, Connor Shaw or Josh Dobbs go out of state because they are spread guys and not pro-style guys. Under Chaney, UGA will be able to recruit, develop and run an offense for both and play whoever is best. This reminds me of a guy that UGA fans may detest but has a great track record at this: Jimbo Fisher. At LSU, Fisher won the SEC with Rohan Davey (dropback passer), a national title with Matt Mauck (spread option) and his system developed JaMarcus Russell (dropback passer, #1 overall pick) and Matt Flynn (spread option, won national title). And at FSU he has had Christian Ponder (pro style #1 draft pick), E.J. Manuel (spread option #1 draft pick), Jameis Winston (pro-style #1 overall draft pick and national title) and played both Everett Golston (spread dual threat) and Sean Maguire (pro style) this year for a 10-2 record. Another staff who does a great job: Clemson. In the past several years they have had Wally Korn (pro-style), Tajh Boyd (spread) and now Deshaun Watson (spread QB in high school, but is running mostly a pro-style offense with a lot of designed runs - pretty much what Cam Newton and Russell Wilson do in the NFL - at Clemson ... Miami needs to adopt that offense with Ryan Tannehill, who was first a WR then a spread QB at Texas A&M, and so does Cleveland with Johnny Manziel but oh well).
Now Chaney doesn't need to be as good as Fisher or the Clemson staff. He merely needs to produce offenses that are capable and consistent whether the QB is a pro-style guy or a dual threat guy, and of course have an effective running game no matter who is under center. And as he has done this before at a lot of other places, he will much more likely do this than not at UGA.
