Sorting through the state of the Gamecocks — and Muschamp — as 2019 slips away
In the 10 or so minutes he spoke Saturday night after a 30-6 loss to Texas A&M, South Carolina football coach Will Muschamp hit on a few crucial points to take away.
▪ His team falling to 4-7 was something that “shouldn’t happen” — and it simply wasn’t something anyone in the program saw as a possibility.
▪ Even through a tough week, he still felt his athletic director, school president and board of trustees are behind him.
▪ He still believes he’s the man to not only lead the Gamecocks football program going forward, but will take them to levels the school has never seen.
“We’ve had a rough year,” Muschamp said. “We’ve had a very rough year, OK. And that’s frustrating. It’s very frustrating for us all. Now I’m a coach that has been a part of national championships and multiple conference championships, and I plan on taking this program where it hasn’t really ever been before. I really do plan on doing it.”
In some ways, this is the nature of coaches, especially on the public-facing side of things. If you’re not competing for the big stuff, why compete? If you’re not the man for the job, why do you still have it?
There’s a sense that work, coaching and a plan can turn things around. And there’s a sense the outside world is just noise, complaints and perception that don’t define a team, nor do they capture anything important about a team and the work that goes into it.
But at the moment, it seems a lonely place, promising a program will reach never-before-seen heights in the midst of a fourth season that stands at 4-7.
The challenge at South Carolina will more often be maintaining the floor as much as breaking through the ceiling. The schedule will always have Georgia and Florida (both in a good spot), Texas A&M (heavily invested and in a fertile talent area) and Clemson (a reigning superpower). Half the time, there will be Alabama, Auburn or LSU as well.
Kentucky is solid these days. Tennessee looks to be rising after a fall. Missouri always fields a competitive team.
So unless the Gamecocks establish a baseline level of strength, each year is going to be a slog by nature. This is not Auburn, the school where Muschamp started his career and a place where wild swings are frequent.
This year was supposed to be one where that level of strength came through. The roster was going to be deep and talented. While those inside the program talked about the lofty annual goals — winning the SEC East and beating Clemson — those outside focused on keeping a head above water and perhaps being a stronger team than the record indicated.
A lot of things have gone to pieces since.
The roster has been torn apart by injuries, and that depth hasn’t really produced the bounty of reserve playmakers the staff hoped. The offense has been reduced to badly needing to run, and couldn’t do it two games in a row (50 yards on 16 carries, discounting sacks). The defense has been stout at times, but its breakdowns tend to result in very large plays.
It’s a team in a bad spot, and the coach and players’ words and moods seem to say as much.
The next few weeks will be instructive and tense. Gamecocks AD Ray Tanner is standing by his man, but things tend to have that perilous feel until the storm fully passes.
Muschamp wore his angst about all this plainly in College Station. He spoke like a man with long-term visions and plans.
The question simply hangs: Will the short-term realities of the sport allow him the chance to try to make those plans come together?
This story was originally published November 17, 2019 at 5:15 AM.
