Dell McGee taking lessons learned at Georgia, values of Kirby Smart's program to Atlanta

Dell McGee was officially introduced as the new head coach at Georgia State on Monday, but it didn’t happen without some reflection for him of his time in Athens. An original member of Kirby Smart’s UGA coaching staff, McGee spent eight seasons as the running backs coach for the Bulldogs, and he said he wouldn’t be in the position he is without that time under Smart’s direction.

“I must thank Coach Smart and the University of Georgia starting with Greg McGarity, Josh Brooks, Kirby’s wife Mary Beth and a lot of other colleagues I worked with at the University of Georgia that believed in me, gave me a lot of confidence in taking this job. I can’t thank them enough for everything I learned and what we’re going to do here at Georgia State University,” McGee shared in his opening comments.

“Coach Smart really supported my decision. We had deep conversations. It wasn’t necessarily about finances, he was very encouraging and knew that I wanted to be a head coach,” he added. “He felt like this was a great opportunity for me to seize, and thought this was a really, really good fit … That friendship and that love I have for him and Mary Beth is more than words can express. They have meant a lot to my career, my family and I’m very appreciative of the time I spent with Coach Smart building that program to where it is today. I wouldn’t be here today before you without working with Coach Smart.”

McGee’s comments throughout screamed of somebody that had spent tons of time around Smart. The core values of McGee’s Georgia State program are going to resemble those of Smart’s in Athens: attention to detail, physicality and toughness and, of course, competition. He’s also going to emphasize in-state recruiting as the Panthers try to “find the diamond in the rough” from the plethora of Peach State players.

“I’ve coached 21+ years in the state of Georgia. My teeth are cut in the state of Georgia. Atlanta is the best city in the nation with the high schools in the Atlanta area along with the quality coaching Georgia has. With a five hour radius and the states that butt up against Georgia, we have plenty of student-athletes we can identify, acquire and develop,” McGee said.

“We kind of joked, ‘I know you’re going to be trying to recruit my players because I’m going to bring some in,'” he added on his conversations with Smart. “In the portal world, I get it. It’s part of what we’re dealing with in college, but we’re going to be a great resource to one another.”

Asked what the most important lesson he learned from Smart, there were too many for McGee to choose just one.

“There are a multitude of things. One thing I would say is, you create value in your team with competition, and we’re going to recruit players that want to compete and like things hard,” McGee said. “It’s not going to be easy, it’s going to be tough, but life is tough. Everything we’re going to do on and off the football field, in the classroom, it’s things that are going to prepare these young men for the next 40-50 years of their life.”

“Just the details and his passion,” he continued. “I wear my emotions on my sleeve, I know it doesn’t look like it, but I’m a very good adjuster. We just had a great time with the current team. I think they see my personality, but you have to be able to change gears as a coach. We’re going to have fun, laugh, work and they’re going to get their butt kicked too, but we’re going to roll our sleeves up and do this thing together.”

McGee knows life won’t be as easy at Georgia State as it was UGA however. He’s not concerned about that though. McGee’s belief is that regardless of the bells and whistles, the relationships he’s set to build with his players will have the Panthers ready to do just about anything.

“One thing about Columbus people, we don’t need a whole lot,” McGee said. “That was one of the concerns I think about me coming from Georgia where we have all the bells and whistles. We’re moving in the right direction, and I want to move our facilities in the right direction, but that’s no concern of mine because of what I inherited as a first-time head coach at Carver High School. We had the bare minimum, but we got our kids to play with a passion, believe in our philosophy and accomplished some great things. It’s all about the people. As long as they see that I’m real, the realness of our coaching staff and that they’re important and that we care, I know they’re going to run through a brick wall for us.”

Georgia has worked quickly to find McGee’s replacement as Matt Zenitz of 247Sports reported late Sunday night that the Bulldogs are expected to hire Georgia Tech’s Josh Crawford. Like McGee, Crawford’s roots are in Georgia high school football before making the jump to the college level.