Dallas Cowboys assistant coach remains in mix for USC job

As South Carolina’s search for a new head football coach continues into its eighth week, Dallas Cowboys assistant coach Rich Bisaccia remains a candidate of interest.

Gamecocks athletics director Ray Tanner continues to do background work on Bisaccia, according to two sources, and several prominent players and coaches with connections to Bisaccia are campaigning on the coach’s behalf.

Bisaccia, 55, has been the Cowboys assistant head coach and special teams coordinator since 2013. He has worked in the NFL the last 14 seasons, but his coaching career began in earnest at South Carolina in 1988, when he left a job at Wayne State College to take a graduate assistant job with the Gamecocks.

He spent the next six years at South Carolina, coaching the running backs and special teams in 1992 and 1993. He then spent five years coaching running backs and special teams at Clemson.

“I think he’s a high-character, high-integrity man,” NFL Hall of Famer Derrick Brooks, who played for Bisaccia in Tampa Bay, told The State in October. “A family man and definitely understands from a father figure what young men are going through and will go through. Knowing his ties to South Carolina, it’s hard for me to fathom why this job would not be the right job for him.”

South Carolina’s search originally began to focus around three candidates – Houston head coach Tom Herman, Alabama defensive coordinator Kirby Smart and North Carolina head coach Larry Fedora.

However, Herman may now stay at Houston, and Smart is expected to be a strong candidate for Georgia’s open job. Fedora, who will lead the Tar Heels against Clemson in the ACC Championship game on Saturday, hasn’t made any comments about other jobs.

This story was originally published December 1, 2015 at 1:37 PM.