Bryan McClendon comments on rumors linking him to Miami Hurricanes

Oregon interim head coach Bryan McClendon will neither confirm nor deny rumors that he is set to take a job with the Miami Hurricanes. In an interview with the Oregonian, McClendon said he is focused on leading the Ducks in the Alamo Bowl against Oklahoma.

“I don’t how much is out there is actually true to be honest with you,” McClendon said Monday. “The frustrating thing about it and disappointing thing about it is regardless of how some stuff came up, which I still don’t know how that happened until this point, I think everything did get rectified in that sense. The thing that’s frustrating though is I haven’t even thought about it as much as some of the other people have. My focus has been on these guys.”

Bryan McClendon’s comments come after a Friday tweet showed him listed in the Miami Hurricanes coaches directory. Former Ducks head coach Mario Cristobal was announced as the next Miami coach on Dec. 7.

McClendon spent the past two seasons on Cristobal’s staff as the passing game coordinator and receivers coach. Although he would not confirm whether he joined the Hurricanes staff, he left the door open.

“I do look forward to being able to make those decisions,” he said. “I just feel like it’ll be a hard decision to make right now while my focus is solely on these guys and making sure that these guys have a positive influence. I don’t want to cheat them. I don’t want to make a bad decision for my family because my focus is so much on these guys right now.

“I feel like there will be a time to make that decision, right now is not it. My focus has been on these guys because I feel like that’s what they deserve and I feel like that’s the best possible way to make a decision for my family because I can have a time to step away from this to being able to do this.”

Oregon finished the 2021 season as the Pac-12 runner up after falling in the championship game to Utah. That earned the Ducks a trip to the Alamo Bowl, where they will take on the Sooners for the first time since 2006. Legendary coach Bob Stoops, who was the head man for Oklahoma in the last meeting, will be the interim head coach for OU in the game.

Kickoff for that contest is set for 9:15 p.m. on Dec. 29 in San Antonio.