South Carolina Coaching Options: Self-Awareness is Key
By Jason McIntyre
Steve Spurrier, the greatest football coach in the 100+ year history of South Carolina football, is retiring. As we wrote last month, this is a smart move for the Gamecocks and Spurrier. The run is over, the cupboard is nearly bare, and AD Ray Tanner has a difficult situation on his hands: South Carolina isn’t an elite job in the SEC, but barring a massive surprise it will be the only job open in the best conference in the sport.
The Gamecocks won’t be competing with the USC Trojans for a coach, so let’s leave them out of this. Before we go any further, please consider the following – given the last two South Carolina hires, Lou Holtz and Spurrier, is it time to find a young coach to build something long-term, instead of putting a band-aid on the program? Where was Hugh Freeze before Ole Miss grabbed him? (Arkansas State). Where was Kevin Sumlin before A&M grabbed him? (Houston). Missouri’s Gary Pinkel came from Toledo; Mississippi State’s Dan Mullen had never been a head coach.
The key word to remember here: Self-awareness.
MY FIRST CALLS:
Justin Fuente, Memphis: Might be the best young coach in America. Larry Porter went 3-21 in Memphis, then Fuente was hired, and in year three, the Tigers went 10-3 (giving UCLA all it could handle and Ole Miss a game for three quarters) and won a bowl game against BYU. They’re 5-0 in 2015 and host Ole Miss this weekend. Unless something catastrophic happens in Memphis over the next two months, Fuente will be the hottest name in coaching come December.
PJ Fleck, Western Michigan: Extremely young to be coaching in the SEC (he’s only 34), but considered a potential rising star. Knows offense, knows recruiting. The latter would be supremely important in fertile South Carolina, where Spurrier hasn’t landed a 5-star recruit since Jadeveon Clowney. Fleck is a year or two away from a big step up, but my guess is somebody’s going to grab him in December.
NEXT TIER:
Kirby Smart, Alabama. Longtime defensive coordinator (well, he’s only 39) has struggled a bit in recent years against the spread, but eventually, he’s going to leave the Tide and take on a head coaching job. Many assume he’s going to slide over to Georgia when Mark Richt departs, but who knows when that might be. Is that assumption something South Carolina fans would always want to worry about?
Dino Babers, Bowling Green: Doesn’t fall into the “Young Hot Coach” category as he’s 54, but he’s got experience (offensive coordinator at Arizona and Texas A&M), though none of it has been in SEC country. All-around smart coach who with an inferior team the last couple years has knocked off Maryland, Purdue and Indiana.
YOU’RE NOT GOING TO LIKE THESE, BUT …:
Butch Davis, formerly of North Carolina: I’m aware he turns 64 in November and his last stop (North Carolina) ended in disaster. Actually disaster might be putting it mildly, but the scandal hasn’t been forgotten, and he was fired in July 2011. Butch Davis can coach, there’s no question about that, but his level of toxicity is the question. But let’s be honest – we’re talking about South Carolina, a football program that hired Lou Holtz in 1999. His tenure (not under Tanner) ended in disaster.
Tommy Tuberville, Cincinnati: SEC guy. Would qualify as an SEC retread, as he coached at Ole Miss and Auburn. Tuberville is 61, knows offense, but things didn’t end well at Texas Tech. And he won for the first two years at Cincinnati with players left over from the Butch Jones regime (only 3-2 this year, and not looking good).
WAIT, WHAT ABOUT …
Why are you calling Mark Dantonio? He’s been at Michigan State for nine years, and for the third year in a row has a Top 10 team. Yeah, he went to South Carolina 40 years ago. If you’re desperate for him, have Steve Spurrier casually reach out to gauge interest (obviously not the week of the Michigan game). I like D’Antonio. A lot. I wouldn’t make him the #1 target under any circumstances because I’m not a fan of aiming high and striking out plenty before landing your guy. Sometimes it works. Sometimes it doesn’t. Zero in on your guy and get him.
[photos via USA Today Sports Images]