Jeff Dillman out as South Carolina’s strength and conditioning coach

South Carolina football coach Will Muschamp promised in the wake of the Gamecocks’ season-ending loss to Clemson that there would be changes for USC as it tries to move past a disappointing 4-8 campaign.

The first of those changes happened Sunday, as The State has learned strength and conditioning coach Jeff Dillman will not return next year.

Dillman, who spent four years with Muschamp at South Carolina and three at Florida, has also had stops in his career at Alabama, LSU, Appalachian State and IMG Academy.

Injuries have decimated the Gamecocks over the past two seasons, with the defense bearing the brunt of it in 2018 and the offense losing many key pieces this past season.

In 2018, 14 players suffered season-ending injuries, with 12 others missing at least one game due to ailments. In 2019, the team lost more than 100 games to injuries.

Gamecocks AD Ray Tanner declined to comment on anything related to the coaching situation, but said he was in constant communication with Will Muschamp.

Through the year, Muschamp insisted the spate of injuries were the unpreventable sort, broken bones or torn ligaments. His focus had been “soft tissue” injuries, especially hamstrings, which the team controlled well in 2018 but had flare up in 2019.

Dillman was under contract through May 31, 2020. He was paid $425,000 per year, one of the top figures for strength and conditioning coaches across the country, according to USA Today’s coaching database, which had him 11th in pay among such coaches in 2018.

FootballScoop.com and The Big Spur first reported Dillman’s departure Sunday.

This story was originally published December 1, 2019 at 3:38 PM.