Salaries keep going up. How much will South Carolina’s football coaches make in 2026?
Like many schools around the country, South Carolina will spend more money on its football coaches in 2026 than ever before. That should not be too surprising.
If you thought inflation on groceries was getting out of hand, the uptick in coaching salaries has been astronomical over the past five years. How crazy has it become? Well, for starters, Gamecocks head coach Shane Beamer will earn $8.2 million this year. When he was hired at USC in 2021, his first-year salary was $2.75 million.
That’s a salary increase of nearly 200% in five years. Take that, S&P 500 (an 80% increase since 2021)!
But it’s not just the head coach’s salary that has rocketed up. The 2026 salaries of South Carolina’s 10 on-field assistants have more than doubled the pay of Beamer’s initial staff.
Beamer’s 2021 staff at USC, by today’s standards, was quite economical. The 10 assistants were making a combined $4.88 million a year, and just three were earning over $500,000: defensive coordinator Clayton White ($900,000), offensive coordinator Marcus Satterfield ($900,000) and offensive line coach Greg Adkins ($550,000).
This year, Beamer’s assistants will make a combined $10 million, and only one assistant — defensive line coach Travian Robertson ($550,000) — will make less than $650,000 .
Even more: The Gamecocks will have three assistant coaches on seven-figure contracts: White ($2 million), offensive coordinator Kendal Briles ($2 million) and co-defensive coordinator and defensive backs coach Torrian Gray ($1 million), who recently earned a $150,000 raise.
Following the Gamecocks’ stellar nine-win regular season in 2024, every South Carolina on-field assistant was rewarded with an extension and a raise. As a result, the Gamecocks assistants made $8.69 million in 2025.
And you may be wondering: South Carolina went 4-8 in 2025 and is now spending over $1 million more on its assistants?
Well, yes.
The Gamecocks had to replace offensive coordinator Mike Shula (fired), offensive line coach Lonnie Teasley (fired), running backs coach Marquel Blackwell (fired) and edge coach Sterling Lucas (left for LSU). Aside from new edge coach Deion Barnes, the other three replacements will make more than their predecessors — including Briles, who will earn $900,000 more than Shula made last year.
Here’s the full list of the salaries for South Carolina’s coaching staff and how it compares with Beamer’s first USC staff.
SOUTH CAROLINA 2026 COACHING STAFF SALARIES
- Shane Beamer, Head Coach — $8.2 million
- Clayton White, Defensive Coordinator/Inside Linebackers Coach — $2 million
- Kendal Briles, Offensive Coordinator/Quarterbacks Coach — $2 million
- Torrian Gray, Co-Defensive Coordinator/Defensive Backs Coach — $1 million
- Joe DeCamillis, Associate Head Coach/Special Teams Coordinator — $850,000
- Stan Drayton, Assistant Head Coach – Offense/Running Backs Coach — $775,000
- Shawn Elliott, Run Game Coordinator/Tight Ends Coach — $775,000
- Randy Clements, Offensive Line Coach — $725,000
- Deion Barnes, Defensive Ends/Outside Linebackers Coach — $675,000
- Mike Furrey, Passing Game Coordinator/Wide Receivers Coach — $650,000
- Travian Robertson, Defensive Line Coach — $550,000
SOUTH CAROLINA 2021 COACHING STAFF SALARIES
- Shane Beamer, Head Coach — $2.75 million
- Clayton White, Defensive Coordinator/Inside Linebackers Coach — $900,000
- Marcus Satterfield, Offensive Coordinator — $900,000
- Greg Adkins, Offensive Line Coach — $550,000
- Justin Stepp, Wide Receivers Coach — $460,000
- Pete Lembo, Associate Head Coach/Special Teams Coordinator — $450,000
- Mike Peterson, Defensive Ends/Outside Linebackers Coach — $420,000
- Torrian Gray, Defensive Backs Coach — $350,000
- Jimmy Lindsey, Defensive Line Coach — $350,000
- Montario Hardesty, Running Backs Coach — $300,000
- Erik Kimrey, Tight Ends Coach — $200,000
This story was originally published January 6, 2026 at 7:00 AM.
