Will Muschamp out at South Carolina
Nearly five years since he was hired, Will Muschamp is out as South Carolina's football coach, Gamecock Central has learned.
Muschamp was fired Sunday, seven games into his fifth season in Columbia.
The Gamecocks have now lost three straight games following Saturday's 59-42 loss at Ole Miss after losing to LSU and Texas A&M by a combined score of 100-27 and are 2-5 after finishing 4-8 last season.
Muschamp finishes 28-30 overall with an SEC record of 17-22 at South Carolina.
Muschamp's contract, amended last year, stipulates that the university would owe him a $13.2 million buyout if he was fired on Dec. 31, but buyouts are typically negotiated and there's no word yet on what the actual number will be in the end.
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Muschamp was introduced as the University of South Carolina’s 34th head football coach on December 7, 2015.
In his first season in Columbia, Muschamp guided the Gamecocks to a 6-7 mark, doubling the win total from the previous season with several true freshmen leading the way.
Indeed, the Gamecocks overachieved at the beginning of the Muschamp era, following up that 6-7 season with a 9-4 mark and an Outback Bowl win in the 2017 season.
But while the Gamecocks were winning games, there were still signs of distress within the program. An undermanned but opportunistic defense was keeping South Carolina in games, but Muschamp had yet to solve his offensive coordinator problem, a key factor in his downfall at Florida.
Muschamp fired offensive coordinator Kurt Roper following that 2017 season, named co-offensive coordinator Bryan McClendon the playcaller for the bowl game, before ultimately naming him the full-time offensive coordinator shortly after.
In the first year under McClendon, the Gamecocks shifted to an up-tempo offense led by junior quarterback Jake Bentley. With the combination of Deebo Samuel, Bryan Edwards and Shi Smith at wide receiver, the Gamecocks had top-shelf skill position talent and produced the most explosive offense of the Muschamp era.
But a struggling defense, easily explained at the time by a rash of injuries on that side of the ball, didn't pair well with a hurry-up offense that created big plays but also was prone to three-and-outs. The Gamecocks finished 7-6 including a clunker in the Belk Bowl to finish the year.
South Carolina started its 2019 campaign much in the same way that 2018 began, with a lackluster loss in Charlotte to an ACC team, dropping a 24-20 contest to North Carolina. It was a sign of things to come as even an incredible upset over No. 3 Georgia couldn't erase the sting of a 4-8 season. McClendon was replaced by Mike Bobo after the season, becoming Muschamp's third offensive coordinator in five seasons.
South Carolina entered this strangest of seasons, an all-SEC schedule played amidst a global pandemic, with low expectations. The Gamecocks lived up to those expectations early on, starting the season 0-2 before blowing out Vanderbilt and upsetting Auburn to move back to even.
But then the bottom fell out again.
Muschamp survived a 52-24 blowout at the hands of LSU and its freshman quarterback T.J. Finley. But by the time the dust settled on the Gamecocks 48-3 home loss to Texas A&M, a thorough domination on both sides of the ball, the steps towards a possible change were already being taken behind the scenes.
Saturday night's loss at Ole Miss only locked in what was then inevitable, that the Gamecocks will move on from Will Muschamp and start the process of hiring the 35th head football coach in school history.
