In building staff, Muschamp targets rivals from recruiting trail
South Carolina football coach Will Muschamp's best approach for picking a staff: find the guys he hated recruiting against and go after them.
Hours after news broke he'd added Bryan McClendon and Pat Washington to his staff, he talked about the process in a radio interview with Heath Cline on 107.5 The Game. He noted personal relationships and experience with members of his staff are big pluses for fit, but a little past rivalry does hurt.
"I know when I find out and I ask the prospect, 'Who is recruiting you from so-and-so?' and they tell me so-and-so, I say, 'Oh no, here we go. We better strap it up,' " Muschamp said. "Over the years, you realize the guys you don't like to go against, heck, I want them on our team."
With McClendon, the familiarity went beyond that. When he was a player at Georgia, Muschamp played for McClendon's father Willie.
Muschamp also pointed out there's something a bit hectic about nabbing McClendon, as he's still going to coach the Bulldogs in their bowl game. The new South Carolina coach said it's not always ideal for the players going through it, but in the end, he has to do what's best for South Carolina.
He said he wants the staff in place by Jan. 14, when coaches can get back on the road recruiting.
He also said the addition of Washington brings some high-grade seasoning to a younger staff.
"Here's a guy that's got 28 years of experience, a lot of it in our league," Muschamp said. "Understands the recruiting part of it, in our league, understands the game day part of it, the venues we're going to travel into."
The coach also heaped praise on new special teams coordinator/linebackers coach Coleman Hutzler, noting the young coach was detail-oriented and knowledgeable about every phase of special teams.
This time period is always an odd one for coaching movement, as teams are going through bowls while their coaches look for new landing spots. Muschamp said he took a valuable lesson from Duke's David Cutcliffe when it came to this time of the year.
After the 2013 season, Muschamp hired Kurt Roper off Cutcliffe's staff as bowl preparation wrapped up. As a courtesy, Muschamp said the announcement wouldn't go official until the Blue Devils finished their bowl, as to not be a distraction, but the older coach said he should just put it out there.
"He goes, ‘You know what Will? Kurt's going to be at the University of Florida, I'd rather just tell our players and be up front and honest with them. Just tell them what's going on, so they know it, they hear it from us. They don't hear all the rumors, it's going to get out the way it is nowadays,' " Muschamp said. "He's right. You can sit there and duck and dodge and try and pretend that it's not going to happen. You end up misleading some people and that's not what we want to do."
And that's why the McClendon news went official when it did.
Muschamp also hinted at expanding the off-field staff, focusing on a few different areas. He looked around the college football landscape and saw how other teams were working on next-level, detail-oriented things.
"Seeing where some of the programs are headed, as far as attention for our players, attention for our staff as far as scouting ourselves, being able to ahead-scout on opponents, those things will be off-the-field roles that will be on our staff," Muschamp said.
This story was originally published December 23, 2015 at 5:50 PM.