Georgia's Chidera Uzo-Diribe Joins Cowboys as Outside Linebackers Coach

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Georgia's Chidera Uzo-Diribe Joins Cowboys as Outside Linebackers Coach

Kirby Smart and the Georgia Bulldogs finished the 2025 college football regular season with a 12-1 record, capped by an SEC Championship Game victory and the No. 3 seed in the College Football Playoff. However, Georgia’s season ended in the quarterfinals, as the Bulldogs fell to the No. 6 seed Ole Miss Rebels 39-34 in the Sugar Bowl.

Now, Smart will look to rebuild as he prepares for the 2026 college football season. Since the loss to Ole Miss, the Bulldogs have seen 15 players enter the transfer portal, though Smart has also worked to replace those departures by bringing in nine transfers. Still, on Tuesday, Georgia lost another key member of its team.

Georgia Bulldogs head coach Kirby Smart against the LSU Tigers.John David Mercer-Imagn Images

Chidera Uzo-Diribe began his college football coaching career in 2016, joining his alma mater, the Colorado Buffaloes, as a graduate assistant. He then became the outside linebackers coach for the Kansas Jayhawks for two seasons, 2019-20. He later joined head coach Sonny Dykes as SMU’s defensive line coach in 2021, then followed Dykes to TCU. But his stint with the Horned Frogs didn’t last long as Uzo-Diribe accepted Georgia’s outside linebackers coaching position a month later.

In his first season with the Bulldogs, Uzo-Diribe helped guide Georgia to the 2022 CFP national championship, winning the title against TCU, his former team. Over the past four years on Smart’s staff, he has helped Georgia field some of the nation’s top defenses, developing standout linebackers such as Jamon Dumas-Johnson and CJ Allen.

But on Tuesday, it was revealed that Uzo-Diribe plans to move on from Georgia after four years and is expected to join the Dallas Cowboys as their outside linebackers coach, leaving Smart searching for another replacement on his staff.

“The #Cowboys are expected to hire Georgia’s Chidera Uzo-Diribe as outside linebackers coach, sources tell @CBSSports,” CBS Sports’ Matt Zenitz wrote on X. “Uzo-Diribe, who has been considered a top rising star in the college coaching space, had worked under Kirby Smart at Georgia since 2022. Now headed to Dallas.”

Uzo-Diribe is now set to join a Cowboys staff led by newly hired defensive coordinator Christian Parker, who previously served as the Philadelphia Eagles’ defensive backs coach.

Related: Indiana Loses Defensive Lineman to College Football Transfer Portal

This story was originally published by Athlon Sports on Feb 3, 2026, where it first appeared in the College section. Add Athlon Sports as a Preferred Source by clicking here.

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