South Carolina Football New Year's Resolutions:
Make the Needed Changes
South Carolina football coach Shane Beamer is a loyal guy. That has served him well in many instances in his life and his career. However, from the outside, it has appeared to be a bit of a detriment at times with the Gamecocks.
The biggest example of this could be seen in the offensive coordinator job. It took far too long for the Marcus Satterfield situation to resolve itself when everyone knew what the end result had to be. He eventually left for Nebraska (where the struggles were historically bad in Lincoln), and it seems likely that Beamer encouraged him to look for a new job, but multiple recruits made it known that they stopped considering USC because of the offensive situation (though, one, Mazeo Bennett, backed off of his initial Tennessee pledge and committed to the Gamecocks after Satterfield was gone).
There have been some other personnel moves that fans have been clamoring Coach Beamer to make.
With the Early Signing Period over and some contracts officially coming off the books today (they expired at midnight on New Year's Eve), those moves could still be happening. However, no news has really surfaced from Columbia.
Defensive coordinator Clayton White's unit was among the worst in college football in 2023, even with a strong finish to the year in the 3-3-5. His unwillingness to change and adapt were big reasons for the struggles, and the defense was only decent before due to a high volume of turnovers. 3-3-5 coordinator Zach Arnett (formerly the Mississippi State head coach) is still available if Beamer makes a move.
Strength and conditioning coach Luke Day has come under a lot of criticism, as well. The Gamecocks have been a very injured team for as long as South Carolina football fans can remember, and 2023 was among the worst years of hurt players. Many, including some players, have lamented that the team isn't strong enough, either, something that is a clear indictment of the S&C program.
Several other position coaches have not had the results on the field or the results in recruiting that are needed. Running backs coach Montario Hardesty is the name that gets brought up the most in these failures.
Will Shane Beamer resolve to make the changes that are needed for his program to succeed? Time will tell, but time is also running out. If certain moves are not made in Columbia, things might be a repeat (or even worse) than they were last fall.