Muschamp’s response to school president saying he will be back for 2020
Some of the storm around Will Muschamp and his job status has seemed to settle.
It didn’t hurt when school president Robert Caslen said Muschamp would be back in a statement last week. That’s something the embattled football coach valued, though he remained tight-lipped on the subject.
“I appreciated it,” Muschamp said Tuesday. “And didn’t think anything else.”
He had previously been approached by several reporters last week, a day after Caslen’s statement, but declined to speak.
Caslin released a statement following a comment he made to the Florence Morning News that athletic director Ray Tanner had spoken to Florida State about how it structured a buyout for Willie Taggart. Hours after that went public, Caslen said via statement Tanner had not spoken to anyone with the Seminoles.
The second statement said “I support Will Muschamp, and we look forward to him being our coach next year and for seasons to come,” and asked directly if that meant Muschamp was returning, Caslen said, “That’s what the statement says.”
Caslen had previously said Muschamp was the coach through the season, and things would be reassessed after.
That brought to an end much of the speculation about Muschamp’s future spurred in part by a season they will end with seven or eight losses. It is South Carolina’s first losing season since 2015 and only the second since the start of the Steve Spurrier era.
Muschamp is 26-24 with a game against top-five Clemson still to play. He would be owed $19 million in buyout money across five years were he let go right after the season.
The off-season still could feature some transition, with former starting quarterback Jake Bentley having a decision whether to come back or continue his career elsewhere, and possible moves on the staff, especially on offense where the Gamecocks struggled all season.
This story was originally published November 26, 2019 at 1:36 PM.
