Contracts, salaries OK’d for first batch of Beamer assistants. Here are the details
The University of South Carolina’s board of trustees approved eight assistant football coaches’ contracts Monday, officially locking in most of new South Carolina head coach Shane Beamer’s first staff.
Of those eight contracts, four were for coaches retained from former coach Will Muschamp’s staff, while four were for newcomers. Beamer has two remaining assistant spots to fill, including defensive coordinator.
Offensive coordinator Mike Bobo, running backs coach Des Kitchings, defensive line coach Tracy Rocker and outside linebackers/Bucks coach Mike Peterson all return with the same salaries they had under Muschamp. Their contracts are being extended through 2022, giving them all two-year deals.
The newcomers — special teams coordinator and associate head coach Pete Lembo, offensive line coach Will Friend, tight ends coach Erik Kimrey and wide receivers coach Justin Stepp — each received contracts that run through 2022 as well, except Lembo, whose deal is for three years and runs through 2023.
Friend and Stepp are both coming to South Carolina from rival SEC programs in Tennessee and Arkansas, respectively, and will make $700,000 and $460,000 annually.
For Friend, that marks a decline from the $800,000 he made at Tennessee, according to USA Today’s database of assistant coaching contracts.
For Stepp, it’s an increase from the $400,000 he made at Arkansas. Shortly after his contract was approved, the program released a statement acknowledging his hire for the first time.
“I’m honored to be part of Coach Beamer’s staff at South Carolina,” Stepp said in the statement. “Obviously, it’s a chance for me to get back home. I grew up going to Gamecock games and it will be a dream come true to be able to coach on the sidelines at Williams-Brice Stadium alongside Coach Beamer.”
Lembo, a former head coach who most recently was special teams coordinator and associate head coach at Memphis, will make $450,000, a raise from the $305,000 he made with the Tigers, per the (Memphis) Commercial Appeal.
Kimrey, who joins the staff after spending 17 years coaching on the high school level at Hammond School in Columbia, will make $200,000 in his first collegiate position since serving as a graduate assistant in 2003.
The new contracts also adjust the buyout figure Kitchings and Peterson would owe USC should they decide to leave, jumping from $40,000 to $100,000 for the first year of the contract, then declining to $50,000 in the second year.
Bobo’s and Rocker’s buyout obligations remain the same. Bobo would owe $200,000 for leaving in the first year, $100,000 in the second, while Rocker would owe $100,000 in Year 1 and $50,000 in Year 2.
Beamer’s own contract is for five years, with a guaranteed $2.75 million per year. On top of that, he can earn performance bonuses, including $100,000 for making a bowl, $200,000 for making the SEC title game and $1 million for winning a national championship. His new assistants’ contracts contain smaller performance incentives, including $20,000 each for a bowl game appearance and $25,000 for an SEC championship game appearance.
Athletic director Ray Tanner said when Beamer’s contract was approved by the board that the salary pool for Beamer’s assistants would likely be in a similar range to what it was under Muschamp. According to USA Today’s assistant coaching salary database, the Gamecocks’ assistants were scheduled to make a combined $5.28 million in 2020, before COVID-19 related salary reductions lowered that total to just under $5.1 million.
SOUTH CAROLINA FOOTBALL COACHING ANNUAL SALARIES
Head coach Shane Beamer — $2.75 million
Offensive coordinator/QBs coach Mike Bobo — $1.2 million
Running backs coach Des Kitchings — $300,000
Wide receivers coach Justin Stepp — $460,000
Tight ends coach Erik Kimrey — $200,000
Offensive line coach Will Friend — $700,000
Defensive line coach Tracy Rocker — $525,000
Outside linebackers/BUCKs coach Mike Peterson — $300,000
Special teams coordinator Pete Lembo — $450,000
This story was originally published January 4, 2021 at 3:49 PM.
