South Carolina football: hypothetical replacements for Will Muschamp

JAMEY CHADWELL

Chadwell is another successful, young coach with ties to the Palmetto State. He’s been the head coach at Coastal Carolina, Charleston Southern, and North Greenville.

At North Greenville, he took the Crusaders to their first ever playoff appearance. At Charleston Southern, he led the Buccaneers to the NCAA I-AA playoffs on two occasions, twice winning the Big South Conference.

Now at Coastal Carolina, he’s got the Chanticleers undefeated and ranked 15th in the country. His teams have taken down Power Five school Kansas in back-to-back seasons, and defeated previously mentioned Billy Napier’s Louisiana team earlier this season (ULL’s only loss of the year).

Chadwell, too, is young at only 42 years old. He’s been a winner at every stop, with each of those stops being untraditional programs. There are cons, as he left Charleston Southern under NCAA scrutiny, having players purchasing jewelry and electronics with scholarship money reserved for textbooks. He’s also never coached at the Power Five level.

But he’s someone who will get a call from major programs very soon. Chadwell has led high powered offenses, holding offensive coordinator roles at Charleston Southern and Coastal Carolina prior to landing head coaching gigs.

The Gamecocks need to look to an offensive mind in their next hire, as football in the SEC is evolving. Chadwell’s Chanticleers are ranked 23rd in the nation in scoring, posting nearly 38 points a game.

He will be on the short list if South Carolina starts a coaching search.