Gamecocks coaching search spit-blog November 17th

Nov 17, 2020, 8:54 PM

By Phil Kornblut / November 17, 2020 / USC /

Eric Bieniemy
The University of South Carolina officially commenced the search for its 35th head football coach Sunday night with the announcement that Will Muschamp had been relieved of his duties after 58 games. So, let the spit-balling begin. There’s nothing more common to a coaching search than the media and fans spewing out the names of would-be candidates. Some stick. Most don’t. As a service to you, we have created the spit-blog, a blog for spitballing the names associated with the search, along with the rumors, and facts, that are attached to them. We will keep the blog posted at the top of the website and update it with our information. And we invite your comments.

(November 17)

How would you feel about Kansas City Chiefs highly regarded offensive coordinator Eric Bieniemy being adding to the search list? You should feel pretty good. He’s one of the 20 or so names being studied by Ray Tanner as he continues his search for a new football coach. Bieniemy has been the offensive coordinator with the Chiefs since 2018 and has been mentioned for several NFL and college jobs. We all know how good the Chiefs are on offense. Bieniemy was third in the Heisman voting as a running back at Colorado in 1990 when he rushed for over 1600 yards.

Former USC assistant Rich Bisaccia, now the assistant head coach of the Las Vegas Raiders and a veteran of four NFL coaching stops, would love to be considered for the job. He calls the USC job his dream job. He is in his 19th NFL season. He also has coached in college at Clemson, Ole Miss and his alma mater of Wayne State.

Louisville coach Scott Satterfield could draw a look as well. He’s 10-11 in his second season with the Cardinals and before that he was 51-24 at Appalachian State. He was to make $3.25 millon this season prior to any Covid-19 reduction.

Clemson offensive coordinator Tony Elliott also remains viable at this point. Elliott, as has been his practice, won’t entertain any overtures from other schools until Clemson completes its season at least thru the ACC Championship Game.

Thee is at least one member of the USC board, maybe more, who wants Tanner to visit with Liberty coach Hugh Freeze. That is not in the works at this point.

Tanner is using an individual from a search firm to help him make contacts with agents and do background checks on candidates. Contact has been made with the agent for Oklahoma assistant head coach Shane Beamer, and agents for other candidates have been contacted as well to gauge interest.

Tanner said at his press conference Monday that school president Bob Caslen would be instrumental in working with him on the search. Caslen played a major role in hiring Jeff Monken at Army. The plan is for Caslen to join Tanner for the in-person interviews with candidates when those are scheduled.

Tanner also pinpointed the December 16th early signing day as an endpoint for the search. It makes sense to figure he’d really like to have his coach on board at least a week earlier to allow for some staff organization and last minute recruiting. I would think around December 9th or 10th, of possible, Tanner would like to have his man.

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Gamecocks coaching search spit-blog November 17th

Re: Gamecocks coaching search spit-blog November 17th

Sounds like Caslen is lame ducking Tanner. Smart Choice.

Ray Tanner said they got their man in 2015. He was right.

Re: Gamecocks coaching search spit-blog November 17th

Um, wouldn't "pee-blog" be a more appropriate name for this...

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