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SEC head coach becomes first Power 5 firing of the season
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We’ve had college football for 11 weeks now. After more than two months of action, we finally have a head coach firing at a Power 5 program.
Though some might have thought Michigan’s Jim Harbaugh would be first, that wasn’t the case. On Sunday, South Carolina confirmed the school is parting ways with head coach Will Muschamp, effective immediately:
Will Muschamp has been relieved of his duties. Mike Bobo has been named interim head coach. https://t.co/G3I7OfB65B
— Gamecock Football (@GamecockFB) November 16, 2020
Muschamp has long been an SEC guy going back to his playing days at Florida. He was an assistant at LSU, Auburn, and Texas, where he was perceived to be the eventual replacement for Mack Brown.
However, before Brown stepped down, Muschamp went to Florida for three seasons before being let go.
After serving as Auburn’s defensive coordinator for one season, he took over the Gamecocks program.
Muschamp just never could find the success Steve Spurrier did in Columbia. The Gamecocks’ best season under Muschamp came in 2017 when the team went 9-4 and defeated Michigan in the Outback Bowl. While he may be on his way out, Muschamp will get a pretty nice payday.
Can confirm that Will Mushchamp is out as coach at South Carolina. Source tells @YahooSports that Mike Bobo is expected to be the interim coach. The buyout for Muschamp is more than $13 million.
— Pete Thamel (@PeteThamel) November 16, 2020
With Muschamp gone, could this be the start of the college football coaching carousel? There are plenty of other names to speculate about, including one right here in Big Ten country in the form of Harbaugh. All eyes are on his job status after that disaster of a performance against Wisconsin.
As of now, the only other candidate that seems like they could truly get fired would be Lovie Smith at Illinois. P.J. Fleck at Minnesota and James Franklin at Penn State have enough of a track record that it seems unlikely. It also appears that Scott Frost has a pretty long leash in Lincoln with Nebraska.