Gamecocks football coaches have returned to the office, but they’re doing it carefully
For a while, the lockdown of South Carolina’s football program was in some way symbolized by the locked gates outside the parking lots of the operations facility.
But now the Gamecocks coaches are getting back in the building, albeit in limited numbers because of the coronavirus pandemic.
Muschamp said his staff are back in the building in shifts, he announced on a radio appearance Tuesday with ESPN radio in Charleston. Muschamp hosted a wedding at his Lake Murray house this past Friday, and the coaches were able to return to campus last week.
“We started back in the office,” Muschamp said. “Our offensive staff comes in from eight to 12. We social distance. We wear masks. We do all the protocol that they’re asking us to do. Our defensive staff work from 1-5. And we’ve done that last week and this week and probably continue into next week.”
When the campus first shut down, it meant the staff had to work from home, utilizing Zoom videoconferencing for a range of staff meetings
And now that they’re back in the building, they’re taking a range of precautions, with only a few staffers beyond the core coaches coming in.
“We’re in limited numbers,” Muschamp said, again referencing the offense and defense shifts. “Our operations coordinator, George Wynn, is allowed to come in, and Drew Hughes, our recruiting coordinator, and that’s it. No one else is allowed in the building.”
Muschamp also said he expects the season to kick off on the scheduled day — Sept. 5 against Coastal Carolina — and hopes to have a full football stadium.
He said this break has let him spend more time with family, but he also missed the fellowship of leading a team.
“Being in the profession I’ve been in, I haven’t spent as much time with my wife and my kids as I probably have (during the pandemic),” Muschamp said. “That part of it, you know, is fun. I mean, to be able to be around them a lot more and the living out there on the lake has been great.
“But I’m ready to get back after it.”
South Carolina’s coaching staff:
Offense
Mike Bobo
Des Kitchings
Joe Cox
Eric Wolford
Bobby Bentley
Defense
Travaris Robinson
Tracy Rocker
Rod Wilson
Mike Peterson
Kyle Krantz
This story was originally published May 19, 2020 at 3:36 PM.
