A year ago, South Carolina’s top football coach Will Muschamp offered an interesting insight after his team absorbed a brutal 30-6 defeat on the road to the then unqualified Texas A&M – part of an ignominious 4-8 campaign that should have cost you your job.
“I intend to take this program, really, where it has never been before,” Muschamp told reporters after the humiliating defeat at College Station, Texas. “I really intend to do that.”
Muschamp also said that his program “was not as far as people seem to think we are”.
A year later, however, Gamecock fans are facing what many considered incomprehensible a year ago: More regression.
The 48-3 home loss in South Carolina to the 7th Aggies on Saturday night marked a new low for the besieged Muschamp – who only kept his job after last year’s mortifying campaign because Gamecock’s athletic department had not how to pay for your massive purchase.
And I still can’t (more on that in a moment) …
First, we need to resolve the absolute constraint that South Carolina football has become since the former coach Steve Spurrier decided to stop trying so hard after leading the program for three consecutive seasons of 11 wins in 2011-2013.
No one can argue that Muschamp inherited a disaster by taking over the program after the 2015 season. And no one can argue that his first two years in office have exceeded expectations. Including our.
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“The guy proved that we were wrong from day one … and the momentum continues in the right direction,” we later observed that Muschamp led the Gamecocks to a nine-win campaign in 2017.
The problem? Three years later, the program is a disaster again – although Muschamp has successfully attracted many talented players to Columbia.
Texas A&M Head Coach Jimbo Fisher – who was Muschamp’s assistant at LSU in the early 2000s – exposed the depth of Gamecock’s free fall on Saturday night, putting his ex-colleague on an absolute butt jump.
At Muschamp’s house. In ESPN. After Muschamp and his team had two weeks to prepare for the game …
It was the worst defeat suffered by a South Carolina football team since 2016, Muschamp’s inaugural onslaught on Gamecocks state rivalry with Clemson – a clash that will not be played this season thanks to the Southeastern Conference (SEC) non-spin scheduling movement.
sure This one the defeat occurred during the first season of Muschamp in Columbia … this occurred in his fifth.
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Like last year’s defeat at College Station, South Carolina was dominated by the Aggies in all facets of this year’s game – which reduced Gamecocks to 0-7 at all times against their permanent enemy from the Western SEC division ( including a 0-5 mark under Muschamp)
Texas A&M attack – led by senior quarterback Kellen Mond – accumulated an impressive 530 yards against the defensive coordinator Travaris Robinsonunity of. Mond launched for four touchdowns and ran for another score, while the tailback Isaiah Spiller cut Gamecocks by 131 yards on eighteen shipments.
With almost perfect balance (266 passing yards and 264 running yards), Texas A&M mercilessly exercised its will on Gamecocks – including the conversion of 12 of the 16 third downs.
In fact, touch them …
In contrast, South Carolina’s offense continued to recede under the coordinator of the first year Mike Bobo – taking only 150 total yards in eleven possessions. Graduation transfer quarterback Collin Hill completed an anemic eight of 21 passes for 66 yards with a couple of interceptions – although Hill was tormented (again) by his slippery-fingered body.
For example, in the game’s opening campaign in South Carolina, Hill hit the junior wide receiver Jalen Brooks on a deep route in the middle of the field – only to see the ball deflect from Brooks’ hands.
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Hill was also unable to count on a ground game – as South Carolina advanced only fifty yards in 25 races against the Aggies’ defense. Second year rear Kevin Harris – who entered the game with an average of 107 yards per contest – had a minimum of 39 yards of the season in thirteen loads.
South Carolina’s overall performance on both sides of football was so anemic that cascades of boos rained down on Muschamp and his players, from the crowd of 16,253 crowned by the coronavirus at Williams-Brice Stadium. At one point, the Gamecock faithful even shouted for their head coach to be fired.
“I hope they’re upset, and that’s okay,” said Muschamp after the game. “The last two presentations, I don’t think there is any doubt that they should be (upset).”
Social media was even more brutal – calling Muschamp to be replaced by Freedom head coach Hugh Freeze, who led Flames in his first bowl game last season and has the program undefeated and in the Top 25 for the first time this year.
Is freezing really the answer, however?
The 51-year-old Oxford, Mississippi native resigned as coach of his hometown Ole Miss Rebels three years ago, in the middle of a scandal involving calls he would have made to an escort service.
Freeze posted a record of 39-25 (including a 19-21 conference mark) during his five years in Oxford from 2011 to 2016, guiding the Rebels to the Top Twenty consecutive seasons in 2014 and 2015. His program was the focus of an important NCAA investigation, however – criticized by this site for its seemingly selective application.
Ole Miss was forced to abandon 33 victories from 2010 to 2016 in connection with that investigation – including 27 Freeze victories.
Assuming that South Carolina identifies a promising coaching perspective, can you afford to part with Muschamp? While paying a new coach a competitive salary?
As of January 1, 2020, the purchase of Muschamp was an impressive $ 18.6 million. Since then, it has fallen to $ 13.2 million – but this assuming that Muschamp was fired after January 1, 2021.
For all previous days, you can add $ 12,022 at the purchase price …
In other words, if Muschamp were fired on Monday, November 9, 2020 – South Carolina would have to pay him another $ 637,166, bringing your total purchase guide to over $ 13.8 million.
That’s a lot of money for a school that entered the current year $ 168.8 million in debt (a rising tide of red paint that does not include a $ 22.5 million Williams-Brice Stadium update).
With so much debt – and revenues projected to decline by at least $ 58 million this year due to the impact of the coronavirus – South Carolina simply cannot afford to fire Muschamp.
Nor can you afford to hire the kind of trainer who can reverse the program … especially when your donors are wasting their money on frivolities like spur-less statues.
Who do Gamecock fans have to blame for this disaster? Most of the burden falls on the eighth-year athletics director Ray Tanner – who along with the school’s board of trustees hired Muschamp and inexplicably granted him a raise and an extension of contract after the 7-6 campaign in 2018.
Oh, Tanner also received an extension after that ignominious campaign …
Did any of them deserve it? Not. This was painfully clear in the intervening two years.
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Since South Carolina’s disastrous showing at the Belk Bowl after the 2018 season, Muschamp has set a record 6-12. He is now 28-29 in his four and a half seasons at the helm of the Gamecock program – including a 17-21 conference mark, a 3-15 record against ranked opponents and a 1-2 record in bowling games .
In four years in FloridaMuschamp had 28-21 with a 17-15 conference record, a 5-14 mark against qualified teams and a 1-1 bowl record.
Again, regression.
Still, Muschamp – who has struggled with criticism – believes he is the right man for the job in South Carolina.
“In our first three years in office, we have won more games than any other coach here and we plan to continue to succeed here,” said Muschamp. “I think we recruit well. I think we have good players in our program. I am disappointed with our last two outings. “
For Gamecock fans, however, such an answer is a broken record … they heard Muschamp offer similar apologies last year.
Who else should we blame for the sorry state of affairs in South Carolina? The school’s board of trustees, which state lawmakers overwhelmingly re-elected earlier this year, despite previous promises to hold them accountable for the declining fortunes of the university and its athletics programs.
Of course, rewarding failure and mediocrity is normal when it comes to governance in Palmetto State … which is one of the reasons why we get so much from both.
Result? In more ways than one, South Carolina is stuck … unable to retain its current football coach, but also unable to fire him.
-FITSNews
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Flag: Travis Bell, Columbia SC photographers