Smart adds another former offensive coordinator to his staff.
Dawgs247 has learned the Southern Miss offensive coordinator Buster Faulkner is expected to join the staff at Georgia and that would be officially on Monday.
This position is not exactly determined yet, but we are told likely an quality control/analyst type off-field role.Buster Faulkner, a 15-year coaching veteran, joined the Southern Miss staff in February 2019. He spent the previous three years at Arkansas State as its offensive coordinator, including tight end duties the last two seasons…
With Faulkner joining the staff Georgia could have as many as five former offensive coordinators on their offensive staff this season. Shawn Watson, James Coley, Monken, and Matt Luke.
Gettin’ mighty crowded in that playcalling booth…
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UPDATE: As we like to say here at the blog, “if” is doing a shit ton of heavy lifting in this tweet from Seth.
If I didn’t know any better, I’d think Kirby is getting himself some Coley insurance.
Get The Picture 
Faulkner is another guy with ties to the air raid at Valdosta State.
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Isn’t there a rule that went into effect last year limiting the number of people in booths and on headsets to just onn field coaches? Still interesting to see this much emphasis put on developing the passing game.
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I think it was inacted a few years ago, but yes, there is a limit on the number of coaches and staffers who may be on headsets. Doesn’t prevent an analyst from standing next to a coach and speaking to him.
Gosh, want to see McGarity make wireless bandwidth at Sanford Stadium a priority? Have Kirby tell him that the analysts who are not on headsets need to be able to communicate on their cellphones.
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That is the thing. How much do analysts make? Guy was making $270,000 and was the OC at Southern Miss. I dont see him coming here to make 75 or 100k as an analyst. I think Coley leaves and this guy is a QB coach. That makes more sense. Coley cleared all of his Georgia stuff off of his twitter. Its his fam and a blank slate on twitter. something is up.
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No he didn’t. I don’t use twitter, but it only took 15 seconds to search for “james coley twitter” and click on the first like to @coachcoley. Most of his page is related to Georgia football and former Georgia players.
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Coley had a UGA banner (with a picture from the post game celebration after the Sugar Bowl) and a profile picture of him in UGA gear at a practice.
The banner is now just a black texture and his profile picture is him and his family with no UGA stuff in sight. He also removed “offensive coordinator/quarterbacks” from his bio.
He’s probably leaving for A&M
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I think he is gone after the Feb signings are in the books. Can’t blame him or Kirby – it just didn’t work out.
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Does this seem like a preemptive move if Coley is moving on? Hire him as an analyst and move him to tight ends coach if Coley gets a job elsewhere (cough, cough … TAMU … cough, cough). Hartley moves to full-time special teams coordinator.
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*great minds.
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He’d need to be an on-field coach to be in the booth. Many think it’s why the offense wasn’t as great once Johnson had to leave the booth.
Also… Coley’s replacement should he decide to skiddadle down to College Station to Jimbo’s loving arms to ease his hurt feelings?
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“insurance”??
Sounds like it, my first thought.
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Faulkner was hired by USM after the president nixed the Art Briles hire
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Seems like a lot of emphasis on improving the staff when we just need 5 stars to execute.
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And better 5 stars.
The ones we had on offense apparently sucked.
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Our recruits go to 11 stars.
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This is a little bit concerning to me. No doubt we need to tweak the offense, but there is also a saying about too many cooks spoiling the broth. Maybe it will all shake out and make more sense in a few days. I would hate to lose Coley, but maybe it is for the best. I just hope we know who is on first next spring.
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I just hope we know who’s going to take over South Florida recruiting if Coley decides to leave.
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There is no doubt that Coley has been and will continue to be a great recruiter, especially for South Florida, but it isn’t as if Kirby doesn’t have a clue about recruiting. I think he will have that covered.
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I agree. I also don’t want to see the South Florida pipeline dry up.
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I would hate to lose Coley too. He had a fine year in 2017 as WR coach. Tremendous recruiter. I think the biggest mistake was adding the jobs of OC and QB coach, and then not giving Coley sufficient help. Hankton was the passing game coordinator and WR coach, and if you ask me he failed miserably in both roles. And what good is Hartley in the booth? Looks like Kirby recognizes he needs a lot more (capable) help on the offensive staff.
The question now is whether Hartley is a capable ST coach – IF he moves to that position. Hartley (or Hankton) might be odd man out if Kirby wants a proven ST coach.
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On the flip side it seems to work well for Saban.
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His QBs put up great numbers passing at Ark ST, so whole “get better at passing the ball” emphasis sure seems there.
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Well, I’m pretty sure now that Kirby was feeling the same as the rest of us about the offense.
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Apparently so. Some are critical of others for giving their opinion about some aspects of our team/schemes/coaching etc., like, by giving their input somehow suggest that they think they are smarter than the guys making millions…only to have those guys making millions, later support the opinions with their actions by making the suggested changes.
In any case. I like the suggestion that these coaching changes are making. It appears that we are looking for both ‘scheme’ changes and different talent. And, apparently, these are changes that the current play-callers could not or would not make.
That being said, I am reminded that execution was part of our problem. If we had better route-running, more accurate reads/throws and less dropped balls, we might not be having these conversations about a new hire.
I was one of those that wasn’t sure Coley was the problem. I thought it possible that Kirby held Coley in check to ensure his approach to how offenses should be ran. At this point we still don’t know. It could be that Kirby went to Coley and realized that neither of them knew how to fix the problem, so outside help would be needed. I’m just glad that Kirby’s pride doesn’t keep him on a blind direction. (His mentor certainly has allowed his offense to change over the years).
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Yes, the people who constantly bitched all season are the real heroes.
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I’d hate to lose Coley, especially his recruiting prowess. That obviously doesn’t mean a lot of you can’t coach them up, though.
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Another Connor Riley “winners and losers” article today … talking about his new book “Journalism In Crisis.”
Monken is much like Shanahan at SF. “Air Raid” is complimentary and perhaps the key to the creation of an explosive running game. As the commentators said yesterday, (SF/GB game) Shanahan attacks the edges using zone blocking schemes. Our run game is going to flourish with Monken/Faulkner.
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Everyone is assuming this is insurance for a Coley departure. What about a Cortez Hankton exit?
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He gone. Between getting visibly demoted and Monken undoubtedly wanting to shape his staff, it is hard to see how Coley stays.
He could always have some sort of renaissance, but it seems we’ve found Coley’s ceiling: great recruiter, decent position coach. At this point, Georgia needs good coaches a lot more than it needs good recruiters.
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You are probably right. Rumor has it, and it’s just a rumor right now, is that Jimbo has contacted Coley and he may be headed to A&M.
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Were Monken and Faulkner at Southern Miss at same time? If so, this hire may be a Monken hire moreso than a Smart hire.
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As someone who sat through Jim Donnan’s debut (and did a 4-hour each way the same day to boot!), i can only ask would he leave the OC job at Southern Miss to be an analyst at Georgia????
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I suggest Kirby consult those of us on Get The Picture to figure out his staff. We seem to know it all. While we are speculating, after this season how valuable could Coley be to another school? Would his hurt feelings be enough for him to take a pay cut if Kirby is willing to let him stay but not as OC?
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It’s casualty insurance if Coley were to leave; it’s also accident insurance snapping up a potential SEC OC and keeping him off the market.
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Stack ’em up like firewood
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You guys on that letter between P and R thread are doing some good work Vox. Keep it up, there are many of us that are behind you.
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Coley removed his UGA profile pic and banner.. still says university of Georgia, but has updated to remove OC and QB coach so seems as though there’s something going on..
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Unrelated: is anyone listening to the Aaron Hernandez podcast?
Fun hearing Belichick say, “What the f— is wrong with you Florida boys”?
Top 1% of the top 1%. FTMF.
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CKS has proven 11-12 games (yearly) can be won in Athens town under the present conditions/strategy/coaching philosophy etc., CKS has also found out UGA needs 1-2 more wins yearly to be in that upper conversation, hence the offensive staff direction change…which almost begs the question, did CKS see this earlier in the year and just rode the season out no matter the outcome, cause when change happens fast, the wheels were turning along time ago
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It is often said going from 9 to 10 wins to 11-12 wins is extremely difficult. It’s what Kirby did to improve on Richt’s time in Athens.
Going from those 11-12 wins, where you win divisions, to 13-15 wins is where you win conference titles, get to the playoffs, and win national titles. That’s the hardest thing to do as a CFB coach.
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I mean, that seems fairly obvious now. It was what I assumed if he thought Coley was among the major problems with the offense. He certainly wasn’t going to act during the season or throw Coley under the bus during press conferences.
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No pressure, Newman!
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First off, I have not run into Dan Mullen recently. That does not mean that he has not vacated Gainesville entirely yet to ‘relax’. Buster Faulkner is a stud. I played ball at parkview and I lobbied for Buster to take the reigns as a freshman to run our team over a super talented guy that played at Tech. I say this that he has a great mind, a great vision for football and what he’s done as a coach has built someone that I think can help bring more creativity to our offense next year. I’m not implying that he is the savior, I’m just saying that he is football guy, and I’m super proud of him for what he has done and now where he is. And his wife who also attended parkview is super hot!! Buster scored on all fronts with a great job and a great family. Very proud of this dude.
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I see Faulkner as insurance not as Coley’s replacement but as Monken’s replacement in two years. We are going to light it up under Monken and he will become a hot property as a HC somewhere.
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