Will Muschamp’s seat ranked among the hottest in the country by CBS
Perhaps in a few months, any talk of hot seats for coaches will be extinguished by disruptions to the season by the COVID-19 pandemic.
But for the moment, CBS is still rating coaches by the hotness of their seats, and South Carolina’s Will Muschamp was rated among the 11 hottest by national reporter Dennis Dodd.
Muschamp was given a four out of five, which is described as “Start improving now.” There are only six coaches listed as five out of five or “Win or be fired,” with five other coaches getting fours.
Muschamp is in a group with the likes of Texas’ Tom Herman, Arizona’s Kevin Sumlin, Miami’s Manny Diaz and Tulsa’s Philip Montgomery.
“Going into Year 5, the Gamecocks are one game above .500 coming off a 4-8 season,” Dodd wrote of Muschamp. “At only 48, Muschamp has already been in the NFL and with four SEC programs. Two of them as a head coach. Take away his 11-2 season at Florida in 2012 following Meyer, and Muschamp is 43-44. He’s also 3-19 against ranked teams since 2012, 2-13 at South Carolina. There’s plenty of potential, perhaps just not at South Carolina which sees Florida, Georgia and maybe also Tennessee pulling away in the SEC East. The buyout is $13.2 million after this season.”
The Gamecocks have seen their win totals slip from nine to seven to four, and again have a schedule that’s heavy at the top with strong teams. There were also several public comments from then-new president Robert Caslen about the state of the football program late last season.
All of that, plus lower-than-normal recruiting rankings at this point in the cycle, work together to create a sense of uncertainty. That said, the effects of the pandemic on both the season and the financial situations of athletic departments are far from certain.
Letting go of coaches might be tricky for many departments, as football tickets and rights fees provide a large portion of athletic revenue.
The Gamecocks are 26-25 in four seasons under Muschamp, who had a rocky tenure at Florida. He made bowls his first three seasons, overachieving in two, but the team failed to meet lofty expectations in 2018 and then had a host of issues in 2019.
This story was originally published July 8, 2020 at 2:00 PM.
