Gamecocks losing assistant coach Mike Peterson to SEC East rival
South Carolina football is losing a member of its coaching staff to a rival SEC East program.
Gamecocks outside linebackers coach Mike Peterson, who has been at the position since 2016, will be taking the same job at Florida under new head coach Billy Napier, a source within South Carolina athletics confirmed to The State on Tuesday. Chris Vannini of The Athletic was the first to report. Peterson will also assume the role of alumni liaison at Florida, according to Vannini.
Peterson played linebacker at Florida from 1995-98 under head coach Steve Spurrier and won the national championship with the Gators in 1996. He was inducted into the University of Florida Athletic Hall of Fame in 2011.
Peterson was the last assistant coach remaining from Will Muschamp’s staff at South Carolina. New coach Shane Beamer originally kept Peterson, offensive coordinator Mike Bobo and running backs coach Des Kitchings on staff. Bobo and Kitchings both left for new jobs in January 2021.
In Columbia, Peterson coached the edge linemen, previously known as “bucks” under Muschamp, including Kingsley “JJ” Enagbare, Jordan Burch, Jordan Strachan and Aaron Sterling. He had celebrated Strachan’s decision to return for another year at South Carolina earlier Tuesday via Twitter.
Peterson was making $420,000 annually at South Carolina
Shane Beamer assistant coaches
- QBs/OC: Marcus Satterfield
- OL: Greg Adkins
- RBs: Montario Hardesty
- WRs: Justin Stepp
TEs: Erik Kimrey
- DL: Jimmy Lindsey
LBs/DC: Clayton White
- DBs: Torrian Gray
- STs: Pete Lembo
This story was originally published January 4, 2022 at 7:42 PM.
