South Carolina’s coaching vacancy may soon be filled by former Florida head coach and current Auburn defensive coordinator Will Muschamp. The Muschamp-to-South Carolina story has been building momentum over the past week or so, and Pete Thamel and Thayer Evans of Sports Illustrated are now reporting, and The Slate has confirmed the report, the two have agreed in principle to name Muschamp the new head coach of the Gamecocks.
The South Carolina saga has been a wild one in the past 24 hours. Arizona head coach Rich Rodriguez reportedly flew to South Carolina to interview for the job, but he ultimately came to the decision to stay put in Tucson. The news was broken by Arizona athletics director Greg Byrne via Twitter Saturday night.
Great news! @CoachRodAZ did not commit to the offer from S. Carolina. He's an Arizona Wildcat. #BearDown
— Greg Byrne (@Greg_Byrne) December 6, 2015
Happy and honored to be an Arizona Wildcat!! Bear Down!!
— Rich Rodriguez (@RealCoachRod) December 6, 2015
Muschamp had been considered a top candidate for the South Carolina job for a few weeks now, although why is a bit unknown. Muschamp had one good year as Florida’s head coach. After a 7-6 debut season after accepting the head coaching job in Gainesville following Urban Meyer’s retirement and after serving as Mack Brown‘s coach-in-waiting at Texas, Muschamp took Florida to an 11-win season that ended in a blowout loss in the Sugar Bowl against Charlie Strong, Teddy Bridgewater and Louisville. Muschamp went 10-13 in his final two seasons at Florida before ultimately being removed as head coach. Florida hired Jim McElwain from Colorado State, and McElwain took Florida to the SEC Championship Game in his first season on the job with practically no offense to speak of.
South Carolina needs offense in a big way, so if Muschamp really is going to be the head coach then he needs an absolute homerun of an offensive coordinator by his side. Muschamp reportedly has been trying to line up a potential staff to take to South Carolina, which could possibly include former Gamecocks running back Marcus Lattimore as an assistant coach. Maybe Muschamp will be a better head coach on his second opportunity at a program with lower realistic expectations, or at least the will to allow more time to turn things around than he experienced at Florida. Maybe Muschamp will end up being a solid hire for South Carolina, but the track record certainly does not support the logic behind hiring Muschamp. Muschamp’s impact on Auburn’s defense was not quite as powerful as expected, although Auburn did get better on defense as the season progressed.