South Carolina Football: Former Gamecock coach hired by SEC rival

For the past couple of years, South Carolina football fans have been a bit perplexed by the fact that so many former Gamecock coaches were on staff with the two best programs in college football. Since 2021, the Alabama Crimson Tide and Georgia Bulldogs hired a long list of former USC coaches that included former Gamecocks Will Muschamp (Georgia), Travaris Robinson (Alabama AND Georgia), Mike Bobo (Georgia), Bryan McClendon (Georgia), Coleman Hutzler (Alabama), Eric Wolford (Alabama), and Joe Cox (Alabama).

Several of those coaches still coach for Alabama or Georgia, but a few of them recently got brand new gigs.

Will Muschamp took a role off the field with the Georgia Bulldogs so that he could spend more time with his family, Travaris Robinson moved from Alabama to Georgia to take his place as co-DC, Coleman Hutzler left Alabama to become the DC at Mississippi State, and Eric Wolford is starting his second stint as the offensive line coach at Kentucky.

Now, Joe Cox has a new job, as well.

According to a release from the University of Mississippi, Cox has been named Ole Miss' tight ends coach.

After not being retained by Shane Beamer when the South Carolina football head coach got the job in Columbia, Cox spent a year as the tight ends coach at Charlotte before returning to the SEC with the Alabama Crimson Tide. Cox worked in Tuscaloosa for two seasons under Nick Saban, but when Saban retired, he was looking for a job again.

Now that he has found his new home, Cox will coach in a familiar venue when the Rebels travel to Columbia to take on the Gamecocks in Williams-Brice Stadium on October 5th. He will also face off against his alma mater (Georgia) in Oxford in one of the highest-stakes games in the SEC in 2024.