W
Wes Mitchell
Guest
Good evening everyone! South Carolina's coaching search rolls on and we're going to do our best to produce daily updates for as long as they're viable and the info is good. Here's the latest we have from Thursday...
** One of the questions we've gotten a lot lately is, where exactly is the coaching search right now in terms of behind-the-scenes progress? You'll no doubt read and hear rumors about a particular candidate being "in the lead," and while there are certainly some coaches who have created more buzz than others, I'm also not sure we're quite at the point yet of a leader.
To be more specific, the four days since Will Muschamp was fired - and frankly some of the time before it was official - have been used for due diligence and vetting of the list of candidates. That involves reaching out to representatives of potential candidates to express interest and judge their interest in South Carolina, while reaching out to industry contacts to try and learn as much as possible about the potential hires.
The list of initial names is relatively long with those involved moving names up and down and even names being added in some cases.
As of this writing (Thursday evening), no formal interviews have taken place. I have been told that those will begin as soon as this weekend and obviously the interviews will be massive in the final decision on who the new coach will be.
** With all of the above in mind, the two names I've personally heard the most buzz about in the last five days are Billy Napier and Shane Beamer. I'll have some more in-depth info in separate articles on each in the coming days, but there's a lot to like about both.
** In doing my own due diligence on Napier, I've been told that he's super detail-oriented with a specific plan for how he runs his program. He's considered a strong recruiter with ties to South Carolina and is considered to be confident and tough with teams that seem to take on that same attitude. He's also an offensive-minded guy who has had strong offenses in the Sun Belt.
One thing that was pointed out to me is that while Napier is a Saban disciple, he isn't a Saban clone and has been able to obviously take some of what he learned from Saban but has kept his own personality and approach. The Sabanites on offense also have seemed to do pretty well when they go out on their own.
** Beamer has built some real momentum behind the scenes throughout the week as some high-profile players who played here when Beamer was an assistant here have endorsed him.
You've probably already seen a little bit of that on social media but it's been even more pronounced behind the scenes with some former players talking with President Bob Caslen and athletics director Ray Tanner about their time around Beamer in Columbia.
Needless to say, he's a players' coach who impressed both players and other administrators in his past stop here with his organization skills, attention to detail, work ethic, and the way he treated people. There are some prominent boosters who I'm told would also strongly support the hire.
Chris has already detailed some of the other reasons that Beamer is deemed a strong candidate, but one other detail that was brought to my attention is that it's going to be important for whoever gets the job to bring in some assistant coaches with recent Power 5 experience.
Why is that more important than ever right now?
The NCAA recently announced that in-person recruiting visits are still banned until at least April 15, which means the new coach will be walking into a situation where they'll be trying to sign kids for this class without ever meeting them (if they don't have that experience).
This isn't unique to Beamer, but does match with his staff plans, and it will be important for the staff of whoever the coach is to have at least some assistants with prior relationships with prospects in this recruiting footprint if there's any chance to make a strong final push for 2021.
Miss a prior update? Check out all of our coaching search updates in one place at our Coaching Search Central.
** One of the questions we've gotten a lot lately is, where exactly is the coaching search right now in terms of behind-the-scenes progress? You'll no doubt read and hear rumors about a particular candidate being "in the lead," and while there are certainly some coaches who have created more buzz than others, I'm also not sure we're quite at the point yet of a leader.
To be more specific, the four days since Will Muschamp was fired - and frankly some of the time before it was official - have been used for due diligence and vetting of the list of candidates. That involves reaching out to representatives of potential candidates to express interest and judge their interest in South Carolina, while reaching out to industry contacts to try and learn as much as possible about the potential hires.
The list of initial names is relatively long with those involved moving names up and down and even names being added in some cases.
As of this writing (Thursday evening), no formal interviews have taken place. I have been told that those will begin as soon as this weekend and obviously the interviews will be massive in the final decision on who the new coach will be.
** With all of the above in mind, the two names I've personally heard the most buzz about in the last five days are Billy Napier and Shane Beamer. I'll have some more in-depth info in separate articles on each in the coming days, but there's a lot to like about both.
** In doing my own due diligence on Napier, I've been told that he's super detail-oriented with a specific plan for how he runs his program. He's considered a strong recruiter with ties to South Carolina and is considered to be confident and tough with teams that seem to take on that same attitude. He's also an offensive-minded guy who has had strong offenses in the Sun Belt.
One thing that was pointed out to me is that while Napier is a Saban disciple, he isn't a Saban clone and has been able to obviously take some of what he learned from Saban but has kept his own personality and approach. The Sabanites on offense also have seemed to do pretty well when they go out on their own.
** Beamer has built some real momentum behind the scenes throughout the week as some high-profile players who played here when Beamer was an assistant here have endorsed him.
You've probably already seen a little bit of that on social media but it's been even more pronounced behind the scenes with some former players talking with President Bob Caslen and athletics director Ray Tanner about their time around Beamer in Columbia.
Needless to say, he's a players' coach who impressed both players and other administrators in his past stop here with his organization skills, attention to detail, work ethic, and the way he treated people. There are some prominent boosters who I'm told would also strongly support the hire.
Chris has already detailed some of the other reasons that Beamer is deemed a strong candidate, but one other detail that was brought to my attention is that it's going to be important for whoever gets the job to bring in some assistant coaches with recent Power 5 experience.
Why is that more important than ever right now?
The NCAA recently announced that in-person recruiting visits are still banned until at least April 15, which means the new coach will be walking into a situation where they'll be trying to sign kids for this class without ever meeting them (if they don't have that experience).
This isn't unique to Beamer, but does match with his staff plans, and it will be important for the staff of whoever the coach is to have at least some assistants with prior relationships with prospects in this recruiting footprint if there's any chance to make a strong final push for 2021.
Miss a prior update? Check out all of our coaching search updates in one place at our Coaching Search Central.
Last edited by a moderator:
