It has been stated for awhile that South Carolina intended to target Houston head coach Tom Herman to replace Steve Spurrier as the Gamecocks head coach in Columbus. The whispers behind the scenes was that Herman was the focus and there was even reports that a deal might have been reached between the two parties recently despite Houston ponying up big money to keep Herman.
Yahoo Sports is now reporting that Herman is no longer a candidate for the South Carolina job and it looks like the brass at South Carolina are back to square one for their coaching search.
Houston head coach Tom Herman is no longer a candidate to be the football coach at South Carolina, multiple sources have told Yahoo Sports.
Herman had been the school’s top choice to replace Steve Spurrier, sources said, and third-party discussions had been extensive. But Herman has withdrawn his name from consideration, according to sources.
A salary raise to $3 million a year was approved for Herman last week at Houston, where the Cougars are 10-1 in his first year on the job after a successful stint as offensive coordinator at Ohio State. Herman could still be a candidate for other jobs, but the option of staying at Houston – with a loaded team for 2016 – appears to be a growing possibility.
Herman is expected to be at the top of many wishlists this offseason after his instant success at Houston this year and his success as the offensive coordinator at Ohio State in 2015. It is not at all surprising that Herman could be holding out for a different job with the schools that will potentially be in the market, and the option of staying in Houston is also there as well.
With Herman no longer a possibility, where does South Carolina go from here? While they will certainly be able to offer any prospective candidate a good chunk of money, there is a pretty big rebuild in store for whoever opts to take that job. The Gamecocks are in the middle of a four game losing streak, including their most recent loss being to The Citadel at home. Their three wins on the year include UCF (who hasn’t won a game all year), Vanderbilt, and North Carolina (still not sure how they pulled that off).
With Herman off the table I think the next coaches of preference could be Memphis’ Justin Fuente, Alabama’s Kirby Smart, and I would even keep an eye for a guy like Les Miles if and when LSU cuts him loose. Could they possibly bring in someone from the NFL like a Chip Kelly, whose time seems to be running out in Philadelphia? With things getting sideways in Philadelphia I am pretty confident Chip is heading back to school for 2016, so a school in the market would be foolish not to kick the tires on him.
The good thing for South Carolina is that there will be plenty of options to go through this offseason with coaches looking to make a move with the market being wide open . They will just have to find the right fit who is capable of restocking the pantry that looks pretty bare right now.