If you haven’t heard, Mario Cristobal has left Eugene and is now the new head coach of the Miami Hurricanes.
And with Cristobals departure, a pending bowl game against Oklahoma, the early signing period for recruits, and the hiring of a new head coach, there’s certainly been a landslide of activity inside of the Hatfield Dowlin Complex to keep the current state of the Oregon football program moving forward.
One piece of that puzzle was the promotion of Bryan McClendon to interim head coach to lead the Ducks into San Antonio in the Alamo Bowl to face the Oklahoma Sooners on Wednesday, December 29th.
Over the past two seasons, McClendon has been the Ducks receivers coach and passing game coordinator under Cristobal.
Since Cristobals departure and then McClendon’s elevation to interim head coach, needless to say, the past week and a half has been a bit of a whirlwind for himself, his staff and the players.
“It’s been eventful,” said McClendon on Thursday during his very first opportunity to meet the media.
“But it’s been really, really good. Once the focus is constantly the student-athletes and the players, I think that makes a lot of this stuff a lot easier. The staff has done a really good job of that. And that’s constantly been the focus of what we’re doing, why we’re doing it, and the things that we’re doing and everything else.”
And not only did the athletic department put their trust in McClendon to move forward, but so did the players who outwardly showed their support on social media.
“It means a lot” explained McClendon.
“With support there comes trust. So, I’m grateful for the trust they have in me. And then I trust them and really grateful for the trust they have in each other to be able to go out there and block some stuff out and keep the main thing the main thing.”
McClendon has a vast and impressive resume during his coaching career. He was assistant head coach for Mark Richt at Georgia in 2015 and was also the offensive coordinator for South Carolina in 2018 and 2019.
McClendon is also highly regarded in the recruiting circles as one of the best in the country.
He would certainly be a valuable member of the Ducks staff moving forward under new head coach Dan Lanning, however, his future is up in the air.
“I tell you what, my focus has really been on these guys, it really has,” McClendon said.
“Definitely know that there’s things in the balance when it comes to that. Definitely will have time at some point in time to be able to focus on that. But right now, my focus is to make sure that this experience is really, really good for those guys because they earned this opportunity and you don’t want it to go by the wayside.”
PRESS BRIEFING; INTERIM HEAD COACH BRYAN MCCLENDON TALKS NEW DUTIES AND MOVING FORWARD