South Carolina assistants sound off on being linked to head coaching vacancies
A pair of South Carolina coordinators are garnering recognition for their work — and it may lead to head coaching jobs.
USC defensive coordinator Clayton White and special teams coordinator Pete Lembo have both seen their names suggested as candidates for the head coaching job at Charlotte by The Athletic’s Bruce Feldman.
Charlotte fired head coach Will Healy last week amid a 1-7 start, including a 56-20 loss to South Carolina on Sept. 24.
“We’ve got some fantastic coaches on our staff and as we continue to win, other schools are going to want to talk to them, whether it be for assistant coaching positions or head coaching positions,” head coach Shane Beamer said Sunday in reference to his assistants receiving head coaching consideration. “I’m happy for them. What I tell our coaches is just keep me informed of anything that’s going on, and I will help them in any way if there’s an opportunity out there that is something they’re interested in, that they feel is a better situation for them and a chance for them to advance their career.”
Lembo has more than a decade of previous head-coaching experience from stops at Lehigh, Elon and Ball State. He’s amassed a 112-65 record as a head coach and has five seasons with at least nine wins.
The Gamecocks currently rank tied for first nationally with five punt blocks this year. South Carolina also returned kicks for touchdowns in wins over Texas A&M and Charlotte — though the latter was called back due to a penalty away from the ball.
Lembo was also connected to the head coaching vacancy at Buffalo during the 2020-2021 coaching cycle shortly after he arrived at South Carolina. That job eventually went to Michigan co-defensive coordinator Maurice Linguist.
“I enjoyed being a head coach and, someday, if the right opportunity comes along and it’s the right fit, I would love to be a head coach again,” Lembo said. “But I’m certainly not looking and my complete focus is on what we’re doing here.”
White’s name has quickly been thrown into head-coaching conversations after the Gamecocks defense overachieved in Year 1 under his guidance.
The former N.C. State linebacker helped South Carolina lead the Southeastern Conference in takeaways and rank No. 1 in passing defense in 2021. This year’s squad has come on stronger of late as the Gamecocks get increasingly healthy. USC currently ranks fifth in the league in passing defense and has recorded 10 of its 11 takeaways this year over the last four games.
White has previous experience as a defensive coordinator at Western Kentucky, along with stints as an assistant at UConn, Stanford, N.C. State, Western Michigan and Western Carolina.
“As far as the Charlotte job, I don’t know any coaches there. I haven’t heard anything from anybody,” White said. “Bruce Feldman put out a nice tweet. Bruce is a nice, respected reporter out west. You guys took it and ran with it. It’s nice for all of us to be recognized, but no I haven’t talked to anybody at Charlotte.”
