‘I would take a bullet for him’: Gamecocks rally around Muschamp amid job speculation
One might have to stretch their imagination pretty far to conjure up a scenario where South Carolina football coach Will Muschamp would need a player to take a bullet for him — but should it ever arise, senior tight end Nick Muse is that devoted to his head coach.
“Hopefully the chance never comes, but I would take a bullet for coach Muschamp,” Muse told reporters Tuesday. “That’s just how good of a person he is for me. That’s how I see him, I see him as like a father figure. He’s been nothing but respectful to me.”
Muse wasn’t alone in his devotion to his coach. While the Gamecocks’ head man has endured rampant speculation about his job security following one of the worst losses of his USC tenure, a 48-3 drubbing at home to Texas A&M, players expressed confidence in Muschamp.
“We love Champ. He rides for us and we ride for him, and that’s how it’s always gonna be, as long as we’re together,” junior defensive lineman Kingsley Enegbare said.
“There will always be outside noise. At the end of the day, that’s my coach, I love him to death, and I’d do anything for him,” redshirt sophomore running back Deshaun Fenwick added.
“When we come into this building, we just rally around coach, we rally around what he’s saying to us, and we come in, like I’ve said, and keep putting in the work,” sophomore quarterback Ryan Hilinski said. “We trust coach. We believe in him. He’s an amazing person, he’s an amazing coach, and we rally around him. He’s our leader when it comes down to it at the end of the day. We trust coach.
“And I understand the fans’ frustration, and we’re gonna do some better things on offense, we’re gonna do some better things on defense and we’re going to keep improving, and we’re going to start winning some ballgames.”
Muschamp, for his part, cracked a little joke when talking about his players’ support but reciprocated their praise.
“Well, I don’t think they’d say I was an a--hole. We got a game on Saturday, right?” Muschamp said. “But no, we have a great group of young men in this locker room, and I appreciate their support and I support them. We ride together, and we need to win a football game, that’ll make everybody happy.”
Despite all internal support, however, there’s no denying that the mood around the program’s supporters is ugly at the moment. After finishing 4-8 in 2019, the Gamecocks are 2-4, having given up 100 points in the last two games, and staring down a tough stretch that could make or break Muschamp’s entire tenure. National observers like ESPN’s Paul Finebaum have not held back in assessing the Gamecocks’ recent play, and boos from the home crowd were audible on ESPN’s broadcast of the USC-A&M contest.
“Outside noise is just that, outside noise. Coaches preach to us how all we got is inside this building, and that’s all we need, really. So, gotta stick together, keep on working,” Enegbare said of the mood inside the team.
Senior quarterback Collin Hill, who is probably second in line behind Muschamp in taking the most criticism as of late, has said in the past he stopped looking at anything written or said about him since he first went to college. And even after the coaching staff has reopened the quarterback competition between him and Hilinski, his stance hasn’t changed.
“Nothing’s changed for me, I’m not reading anything. I’m not on social media, I’m sure everybody has their opinions but, you know, I was really disappointed in how we played as an offense (against Texas A&M). And I’ve talked about that, but we’re gonna put that one to bed,” Hill said.
Hill’s approach is a common one encouraged by many coaches. But at least one of his teammates does take the time to look at the criticism — not that it changes his opinion on anything.
“I think it’s funny because a lot of people have their opinion, which is fine. And I like reading it because I know most of the Karens and the couch coaches, they know a lot more than our coaches, apparently,” Muse said. “So I just like reading it, seeing everybody’s opinion. My dad has a saying, he can say whatever he wants, but he’s just a fat dad in the stands. So that’s what I take to it, you know, it is what it is. But I just read it just to see people’s opinions just because I’m a curious guy, but I mean, it don’t affect me.”
This story was originally published November 10, 2020 at 6:06 PM.
