Why one national writer thinks Will Muschamp is 'underrated'

Barrett Sallee had a vote and a voice in CBS Sports' rankings that put USC's Will Muschamp as the No. 37 coach in Power Five.

But the writer who also hosts SiriusXM's College Sports Nation, didn't buy that South Carolina's head man shouldn't have been higher after a nine-win 2017 season.

"I had him ahead of Willie Taggart, Mike McIntyre, Dana Holgerson, Larry Fedora, Scott Frost, Kevin Sumlin, P.J. Fleck and on and on and on," Sallee said in his daily podcast. "Because I think Will Muschamp gets sort of unfairly labeled.

Sallee said he ranked Muschamp No. 33, and that he considers him "underrated."

In two years in Columbia, Muschamp led the Gamecocks from three wins to six and then to 9-4 last season. His teams have yet to produce big offensive numbers, but they've managed to excel in close games (9-4 with a final margin of seven points are less).

Sallee said his history is something he's not been able to shake.

"I think a lot of people remember Will Muschamp from the Florida days, but refuse to accept the fact that he evolved," Sallee said. "He even evolved his last year at Florida. He decided to go more up-tempo, more shotgun. Jeff Driskel was a mess. Florida was a mess in general. He had all kinds of issues behind the scenes. It was too little too late. The minute he got the South Carolina job, he was doing the exact same thing."

Muschamp had a breakthrough in his second year in Gainesville, winning 11 games with a defensive style. Injuries saw his team fall to 4-8 the next year, and a 6-5 season in 2014 ended things there.

He came to Columbia promising a push toward up-tempo. USC's sometimes-thin defenses have performed well overall, but the offenses have been slow and often inconsistent or ineffective. He changed offensive coordinators from Kurt Roper to Bryan McClendon in hopes of changing that.

Sallee has also been bullish on the Gamecocks going into 2018, saying there's a good chance for 9-10 regular season wins and pushing Georgia in the SEC East.

"It takes a lot for a coach to swallow his pride and recognize that all he's been doing throughout the course of his assistant coaching career was wrong," Sallee said. "And that's what Will Muschamp recognized.

"Will Muschamp didn't get the respect he deserves."

This story was originally published May 10, 2018 at 2:16 PM with the headline "Why one national writer thinks Will Muschamp is 'underrated'."