Will Muschamp to South Carolina: GABA Staff Reactions

Dan

Overall, I'm happy. You can't fault Ray Tanner for swinging for the fences and trying to get Tom Herman. Could Tanner have been better prepared for a refusal from Tom Herman and UGA opening? Yes, but I doubt we'll get the full story. I really wish things would've moved more quickly, mainly because a lot of the fanbase and some media spin has been "what a disaster!" vs. the thorough process narrative. I'm really happy with the hire though, I think it's a great match. Change isn't always good, but coming off a 3-9 campaign, I'm ready to shake things up.

James

If I've learned anything from this process, it's that coaching searches aren't necessarily fun. At some points last week I was preparing myself for the reality that Shawn Elliot would be our next head coach. I hope Elliot stays with us, but thank God it didn't get to that point.

A lot of trash talked Muschamp's way was that he made a bad Auburn defense worse, and while that was true at the beginning of the year, his unit definitely improved over the course of the year. I'm just happy we will have a competent defense from here and will now start praying to the football heavens that Brandon McIlwain gets to Columbia!

Kaci

Honestly one of my overwhelming emotions right now is relief that the coaching search is finally over. Like James said, this hasn't exactly been a fun process, especially over the past week or so. I'm wary of the Muschamp hire for several reasons and I'm disappointed that we didn't get any of the better candidates that we were pursuing, but I am shifting into hopeful/optimistic mode now that we've settled on Muschamp. If, and that's obviously a big if, Muschamp learned from his mistakes at Florida and can bring the kind of staff and recruits we're all hoping for, I think this can turn out okay.

Richard

I love it. I've been a Will Muschamp fan for a little while now and when his name came up after his firing at Florida to be a candidate as our defensive coordinator and possible HCIW, I was all for it. I believe in his abilities and so did a lot of other schools. Specifically, Texas, who didnt want him to go anywhere so they decided to put the HCIW tag on him under Mack Brown. I understand the uncertainty because of his tenure at Florida, but when you really look at the issues of why he wasn't successful, specifically on the offensive side of the football, it's very fixable. Obviously everyone will be watching who he hires on the offensive side of the football, but as a team, the talent needs to go up everywhere. He has to hit the recruiting trail hard and bring in some real talent first.

Katie

To be honest, the first thing I thought when the Muschamp news broke is that it probably (hopefully? maybe?) can't be worse than this year, and at least we won't have to end next season without a coach. That being said, I sincerely hope he does a great job and everything goes a lot better than a lot of people are expecting it to. Like Kaci said, if he can take his previous experiences, which clearly left something to be desired, and learn from those, as well as bring in a competent staff that can get USC back on the right track, then I'll be really glad to say I was wrong to be upset/concerned about the hire.

SMcDowell93

Honestly, I really like this hire. Muschamp coming here brings a probable solution to 2 of our 3 biggest problems. Recruiting and defense. He's already assembled a pretty good looking staff on the defensive side of the ball, and there's rumor that he bring Brad Lawing back as defensive line coach (I'd argue that Lawing is the best DL coach in the country). He's reached out to Marcus Lattimore and others with deep South Carolina roots. I know he's not the first choice that we wanted, but I think there's some reason to believe that this won't go like it did at Florida. Muschamp knows if he doesn't change and fails (which will likely happen if he doesn't alter his offensive philosophy) he won't get another big time head coaching job. So he's coming in with a bit of a chip on his shoulder. He has something to prove. He may not have been the fan's first choice, but the more I read about who he is bringing in on staff the more I start to think we may have gotten the steal of the Coaching Carousel of 2015.