Would Mike Bobo like to join Shane Beamer’s staff at USC? What he said after Kentucky
Mere moments after South Carolina football’s 2020 regular season came to an end Saturday night at Kentucky, it was reported that the Gamecocks had identified their next head coach to replace the fired Will Muschamp — Oklahoma assistant Shane Beamer.
Bruce Feldman of The Athletic and FOX Sports tweeted out the news just seven minutes after Carolina fell to the Wildcats, 41-18. That led to USC’s current interim coach, Mike Bobo, getting asked in his postgame press conference about the reported hire and whether or not he’d like to stay on at South Carolina as part of Beamer’s new staff.
Bobo asked for clarification as to whether the news had been officially confirmed by South Carolina athletic director Ray Tanner — it hadn’t — then offered a non-committal response.
“To be honest, and I’ll be totally honest, I haven’t thought about that or given much thought about (staying on),” Bobo said. “My kids have. They asked me that, ‘Where are we going to be? Dad, where are we going to be, are we moving again?’ And I tell them the Good Lord is gonna take care of us and put us where we need to be.
“And if it’s here at South Carolina, that’s where I’ll be. And if it’s not, we’ll move on and I’ll continue to try to show my kids at home that their dad continues to go to work and responds the right way.”
Bobo has five children, including his son Drew Bobo, who is a three-star offensive line prospect in the class of 2022, currently attends Hammond School and is coached by former Gamecock Erik Kimrey.
Bobo came to South Carolina as the program’s new offensive coordinator, replacing the demoted Bryan McClendon on Muschamp’s staff. He has extensive SEC experience from his long tenure at Georgia, as well as a stint as a head coach at Colorado State. While South Carolina’s offense didn’t crack the top half of the conference in most offensive categories this year, Bobo did have to make do with a severe lack of playmakers, especially in the passing game, where South Carolina’s wide receiver corps proved to be extremely thin.
Bobo did oversee the emergence of sophomore running back Kevin Harris, who went from backup to starter after star freshman MarShawn Lloyd tore his ACL. Harris went on to rush for more than 1,100 yards in 10 games.
And Bobo was considered a key figure in securing the commitment of five-star 2022 quarterback Gunner Stockton out of Rabun County, Georgia — his father helped coach and mentor Stockton from a young age.
Beamer, meanwhile, will return to South Carolina after serving on former coach Steve Spurrier’s staff. But while he coaches tight ends and H-backs under Oklahoma’s Lincoln Riley, considered one of the sport’s best offensive minds, he has no head coaching or play-calling experience, which would make his choice for offensive coordinator seemingly all the more important.
This story was originally published December 6, 2020 at 12:56 AM.
