Mack Brown beating his old coach-in-waiting has now led to that coach getting a dreaded vote of confidence as Will Muschamp is apparently feeling the heat in South Carolina.
Gamecocks athletic director Ray Tanner tried to downplay concerns about his football coach this week in several interviews, with The State noting that he jumped on SportsTalk SC radio on Thursday and seemed to throw his support behind the now-embattled coach.
“I went over and met with him early in the week,” Tanner said. “He probably didn’t need to see me necessarily, but I felt that I needed to go visit with him for a little bit and I did and we had a nice chat.
“Everybody is disappointed, but we have to move on.”
#Gamecocks AD Ray Tanner on Muschamp's buyout: It falls in line with other coaches across the country … I'm as confident in Will Muschamp as the day I hired him. You know what he walked into. We had to build a little bit
— SportsTalk Media Network (@sportstalksc) September 5, 2019
Muschamp has a reported $18.7 million buyout if he’s fired before the end of the year, all but assuredly cementing him in Columbia beyond 2019. Despite that, fans are not happy after the Week 1 performance by the team in which they allowed a pair of 90+ yard drives in the fourth quarter to lose to North Carolina.
To make matters worse, the Gamecocks lost starting quarterback Jake Bentley to injury and will be starting a true freshman under center going forward.
South Carolina has their home opener at Williams-Brice Stadium on Saturday and then host No. 2 Alabama the following week. Votes of confidence tend not to be a good thing for head coaches at this point in the season but some improved play over the coming games could be enough to cool down an upset fan base.