COLUMBIA, S.C. — South Carolina’s search for a new head football coach will kick into high gear as soon as Thursday’s Thanksgiving holiday is complete.
School officials have already met face-to-face with Coastal Carolina head coach Jamey Chadwell and have in-person interviews scheduled with Oklahoma assistant coach Shane Beamer and Louisville head coach Scott Satterfield, a source with knowledge of the search told The Athletic on Tuesday. Those interviews won’t take place before Thursday.
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South Carolina could meet in person with “six or seven” candidates before the search is complete, but the Gamecocks still expect to have a new coach in place by the time the early signing period starts on Dec. 16. South Carolina officials have spoken on the phone with Army coach Jeff Monken, Louisiana coach Billy Napier and Liberty coach Hugh Freeze, but it’s unclear if any of the three will have an in-person interview, the source said.
The fact that Chadwell got the first meeting is more a factor of geographic proximity than an indication that he is a favored candidate, the source said.
Chadwell’s Chanticleers are 8-0 and ranked No. 16 in the country. He is 76-51 in four stops as a head coach but doesn’t have any Power 5 coaching experience as an assistant or head coach.
South Carolina athletic director Ray Tanner — who hasn’t spoken publicly about the search since Nov. 16, the day after the Gamecocks fired fifth-year head coach Will Muschamp — will be on hand for all of the face-to-face interviews, and school president Bob Caslen is also expected to be in the meetings, although he could miss some due to scheduling conflicts.
Caslen’s influence is the most important and least known part of the process. It was chiefly Caslen’s decision to move on from Muschamp following a 59-42 loss to Ole Miss, and he will make the final call on the next hire, two sources with knowledge of the situation told The Athletic. Caslen has not spoken publicly about the search, and a representative for the president declined an interview request from The Athletic this week.
A former football player at West Point, Caslen was heavily involved in hiring Monken as Army’s football coach when he was superintendent of the school. Earlier this year, Caslen wrote a book along with psychologist Michael Matthews called “The Character Edge: Leading and Winning with Integrity.”
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“Character, integrity, work ethic, passion, student-athlete-first mentality” all will be factors in South Carolina’s search, Tanner said. The Gamecocks also are searching for someone who will inject “a tremendous amount of fun and enthusiasm” into the program.
Caslen has “enormous” respect for Monken after their time together at Army, but that doesn’t mean Monken is a favorite in the search, a source told The Athletic. Monken does not appear to be a popular choice with the team’s fan base because he runs a triple-option attack at Army. Last week, a Twitter account was created (@notjeffmonken) devoted to campaigning against the hire.
Our players entering the transfer portal if Monken gets the job pic.twitter.com/N8LqGIl45M
— DO NOT HIRE JEFF MONKEN (@notjeffmonken) November 23, 2020
Beamer, on the other hand, has strong support among the team’s former players and appears to be the candidate with the most momentum at this point. His interview is believed to be scheduled for Friday.
The son of former Virginia Tech head coach Frank Beamer currently serves as the assistant head coach at Oklahoma. Though Shane Beamer doesn’t have experience as a head coach or an offensive or defensive coordinator, he would check the box for fun and enthusiasm.
The 43-year-old was born in Charleston and coached under Steve Spurrier at South Carolina from 2007-10, during which time he served as the team’s recruiting coordinator and special teams coordinator, and he remains very popular in Columbia. Beamer has a large group of supporters, including some former lettermen who are pushing his candidacy internally. He has worked as an assistant coach at Georgia, Mississippi State and Virginia Tech since his playing career as a walk-on wide receiver for the Hokies ended in 1999.
Satterfield is 3-6 this season but won eight games last year at Louisville and had a long track record of success at Appalachian State, where he was 51-24 in six seasons. He issued the following statement on his Twitter feed late Tuesday night:
— Coach Satterfield (@CoachSattUofL) November 25, 2020
Any potential contact with Napier was complicated Friday with the news that he has tested positive for COVID-19. He currently is in isolation. Napier was the youngest offensive coordinator in the FBS in 2010 when he called plays at Clemson, but he was fired by head coach Dabo Swinney following that season.
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After stints as an assistant coach at Alabama, Colorado State and Arizona State, Napier was hired as the Ragin’ Cajuns head coach in 2018. He is 25-11 in two-plus seasons and was named Sun Belt coach of the year in 2019. Louisiana is 7-1 this season and already has clinched the Sun Belt’s West Division.
“I do think all of these things are positive because we’re relevant, we’re significant,” Napier said of interest from other schools. “I think it’s a reflection more of a lot of people.”
Las Vegas Raiders assistant head coach and special teams coordinator Rich Bisaccia, a South Carolina assistant from 1988-93 and a former collegiate assistant at Wayne State, Clemson and Ole Miss, is very interested in the job and hoping to get an interview for the position. Bisaccia, 60, has been an assistant head coach for the Dallas Cowboys, San Diego Chargers and Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the past 18 years. Bisaccia comes with strong recommendations from Raiders head coach Jon Gruden and former Cowboys head coach Jason Garrett. Bisaccia also was interested in the job five years ago when Muschamp was hired but didn’t receive an interview.
Nice fake punt design by Rich Bisaccia. Direct snap to the PP, inside hand off with two pullers. pic.twitter.com/qsB2tMvpms
— Ted Nguyen (@FB_FilmAnalysis) November 6, 2019
Freeze, whose Flames lost their first game of the season last week against NC State, remains a long-shot candidate due to his troubled tenure at Ole Miss.
Alabama offensive coordinator Steve Sarkisian will be a candidate for many jobs soon due to his work with the Crimson Tide, but the former head coach at Washington and USC could be waiting for a different job to open.
Kent State’s Sean Lewis, 34, is the youngest head coach in the FBS. He is 10-6 in the past two seasons, including 3-0 this season, and he’s considered a hot name in the profession although his age could make him a tough sell in the SEC at the moment.
Tanner hosted a Zoom meeting for more than 80 of the team’s lettermen last week to give their input on the position and has said the opinion of the fan base is important to him.
(Photo: David Purdy / Getty Images)