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Thursday, February 3, 2011

Georgia losing another football assistant

Warren Belin's time in Athens ended up lasting barely a year.

Georgia's inside linebackers coach is leaving for a job with the NFL's Carolina Panthers, UGA spokesman Claude Felton confirmed on Thursday evening. An official announcement from Carolina isn't expected.

"Warren made some outstanding contributions to our team and program in his year with us and we wish him the very best in his new role with the Panthers," Georgia head coach Mark Richt said in a statement.

Carolina has an opening for a linebackers coach on the staff of new head coach Ron Rivera. The Panthers new defensive coordinator is Sean McDermott, who worked with Belin from 1995-96 on the William & Mary staff.

Belin, 43, is a native of Marshville, N.C., and played at Wake Forest. He was hired at Georgia last year after spending eight years at Vanderbilt as a linebackers coach.

Belin was also in charge of Georgia's special teams coverage, which ranked first in the SEC and 15th in the nation. He technically did not coach outside linebacker Justin Houston รข€“ who left for the NFL after leading the SEC in the sacks in the regular season. But he did tutor Akeem Dent, who finished second in the league in tackles.

Georgia is now in the market for two assistants: Offensive line coach Stacy Searels left two weeks ago to take the same job at Texas, accepting a hefty raise in the process.

---

UPDATE: I spoke a short time ago to Amarlo Herrera, one of Georgia's three inside linebacker recruits. He said defensive coordinator Todd Grantham called him with the news earlier this afternoon. Herrera said Grantham didn't give any indications on a replacement, other than saying "don't worry about it or anything."

“It’s a good move for him," Herrera said of Belin, who he hadn't spoken to as of 8 p.m. "But I was disappointed, because I talked to him for a long time. We got close. So it’s been kind of a surprise.”

29 comments:

Anonymous said...

I hope John Jenkins wasn't a big Belin fan...

Matt said...

Anon, I didn't even think of that. This really concerns me.

Anonymous said...

Jon jenkins is a lineman, not a linebacker

CSA said...

Fortunately, Belin isn't coaching the line. I hope that doesn't change the way Georgia sits with John Jenkins.

Anonymous said...

Was he coaching special teams also?

PTC DAWG said...

Good to have Coaches that other teams Covet..speaks to a good job in hiring by Richt.

Dawgs will be fine.

Anonymous said...

random thought... Would Dat Nguyen be a candidate for the LB coach position. Was w/ grantham in Dallas. Coached Von Miller this season @ A&M

Anonymous said...

Remember when BuLLdawg used to post our coaches are no good and nobody tries to hire them? Wrong again.

Anonymous said...

I love this. Good for him for getting a new job. Very appreciative that he did it after Signing Day, and I don't think that it impacts Jenkins at all.

This is a positive sign. Coaches should be sought after. If only Bobo could do the same thing.

Taylor said...

"I love this. Good for him for getting a new job. Very appreciative that he did it after Signing Day, and I don't think that it impacts Jenkins at all.

This is a positive sign. Coaches should be sought after. If only Bobo could do the same thing."

This +100
To all the people who point towards the raw stats the offense puts up, no one ever comes calling on Bobo. Just like no one ever came calling on Willie Martinez. That tells you all you need to know right there!!

Anonymous said...

Belin is a smart guy in jumpimg off the sinking ship. Bobo is a clown and so is Richt. Kicking a damn field goal on 4th and inches. sheesh...... BTW this isnt Bulldawg.

Anonymous said...

D bag ^

Anonymous said...

Make that a double d bag above ^

Anonymous said...

thats a shame. belin was good.

Anonymous said...

@ CSA and Anon 5:34 -

You guys understand that coaches recruit players that they wouldn't necessarily coach, right?

Joeski said...

cough, cough.

Taylor. You are sadly mistaken: it is only partially about production. It's also (mostly) about who you know. Please refer to the line in the article about how Sean McDermott knew Belin from William and Mary. Bobo doesn't have a broad coaching resume, so he doesn't have a deep pool of contacts, else he would already have been tabbed. Bobo has been successful, even if your (non-professional coach) beliefs don't concur. The UGA offense didn't average 30+ points a game by accident.

Anonymous @7:17-- you may not be BuLLdawg, but you are as bad as him: a coward hiding behind anonymity who- judging by your complete lack of understanding of the game of football- hasn't played a down of organized football in your life. Either shut up or grow up and stop behaving like a spoiled brat just because the world doesn't agree with your point of view.

Speaking of which, I am sick and tired of all you people who think Richt should've gone for it. You need to learn something about the game of football, since I can destroy your argument with one sentence: 'Do you really plan not to have an opportunity to score again when there are more than 3 quarters left to play??? REALLY???'

Answer? No, you don't think that way. So you take the safe route and put the points on the board, rather than foolishly risk giving the opponent all sorts of momentum by perhaps getting a goal-line stop.

Anon @ 7:42. You're 100% correct: Coaches are assigned regions to recruit, not positions. But even then, when a team narrows down who they want to target, they usually get the position coach involved, since that is the person the recruit will be spending most/all of his college career with.

Anonymous said...

Like I've said in the past, Joeski knows it all. Everything except when to shut up.

NRBQ said...

Seth, I enjoy your efforts here.

And I won't presume to tell you how to manage your blog.

But if I DID have a blog, I'd zap the little zit-faced Poindexter-pricks like the one above in a millisecond.

They bring down the whole experience, fair play or not.

Sorry. That is all.

Anonymous said...

Ignore the negative posts. Just lame comments from jealous fans of other teams whose recruiting reeked like a dumpster on Wednesday.

Anonymous said...

Wow a lot Richt apologist here that cant stand criticism and want censorship. Maybe they need to move to Egypt. Joeski... Dude why dont you go root for Vandy if you think Richt shouldn't have gone on 4th and inches. Passionate UGA Fans are tired of Richt playing too close to the vest. The hiccups are getting all too frequent in this program. "Either shut up or grow up and stop behaving like a spoiled brat just because the world doesn't agree with your point of view". Maybe you should listen to your own words.

Anonymous said...

Hey Joeski... you are correct tha there was over 3 quaters left in the game. But guess what ? Good teams and coaches know its important to set a tone in the game and send a message. Mark Richt sent the message he didnt have faith in his team.

Riley said...

With the benefit of hindsight I'm sure Richt would've gone for it as well, but he doesn't have the luxury that you armchair quarterbacks have. Let it go.

Anonymous said...

Joeski, you're a clown. That ultra-ultra conservative move by Richt set the tone for the entire game.

We were playing in the friggin Liberty Bowl against Central Florida. Go for the damn first down.

Thor said...

My biggest worry with Belin leaving is that we'll go back to directional kicking. I already have enough problems with our punt return strategy, I can't go back to hating on the kickoff strategy as well.

Atticus said...

This could hurt special teams more than anything as good as he improved that unti from Fab's joke tenure.

PTC DAWG said...

NRBQ +1

Anonymous said...

NRBQ -100. STFU

Anonymous said...

Another negative anon. who likes to use 4 letter adjectives, substitute bad words, and acronyms for bad words. Surely, a Tech fan trying to act like a UGA fan.

Anonymous said...

Nope, sorry. UGA alum. Class of 2007.