The South Carolina Gamecocks get ready to kickoff the 2026 season against Kent State on Saturday. The big storyline surrounding the Gamecock this year is whether or not sixth-year head coach Shane Beamer has done enough rebuilding to have a bounceback season.
With a 30-33 overall record during his time in Columbia, there's no secret that Coach Beamer is likely to be coaching for his job in 2026. Paired with South Carolina having to play one of the hardest schedules in the country, Gamecock athletic director Jeremiah Donati will have some big decisions to make regarding whether or not to retain Beamer as the 2026 season plays out.
But Donati, who did not hire the South Carolina head football coach, oversees the entire athletic department, as well as its operating budget. In the end, he and his staff has to decide whether or not to fire Coach Beamer, which would trigger the head coach's hefty buyout.
Beamer's buyout as of December 2025 was $27,903,958, per the USA Today's coaching salary database.
But as The Greenville News' Lulu Kesin pointed out this week, that's not the only expensive financial decision that South Carolina might be on the hook for beyond 2026.
Also looming is the fate of head men's basketball coach Lamont Paris. Similar to his football counterpart in Beamer, Paris also enters the 2026-27 basketball season very much on the hot seat. He has a 62-68 overall record across his four seasons with the Gamecocks, and had below-.500 finishes his last two years. The Gamecocks were also abysmal in SEC play in each of the last two seasons, going a combined 6-30 in conference play.
Per the newspaper and Kesin's reporting, Paris' buyout is currently $12 million, but drops to $9.2 million in March 2027. Beamer's buyout, meanwhile, drops to $22.1 on Dec. 31.
In an interview this offseason with The Post & Courier, Beamer admitted to the newspaper that he realizes he is on the hot seat in 2026:
“I just think it’s the profession that I chose," Beamer told the newspaper. "You look at any coach in the country, especially in the SEC because of the intensity in this league, if you don’t have a good season the year before, you’re immediately on the hot seat the next year. It is what it is.”
So hypothetically, South Carolina could potentially be on the hook in paying upwards of $30-plus million in coach buyouts over the next 16 months. If South Carolina only ends up moving on from one of the two head coaches, Paris' buyout is a bit easier to swallow.
Of course, an easy solution to this is Coach Beamer winning football games this season to avoid this. The Gamecocks likely need to at the very least make a bowl game in order for Beamer to get another season with the Gamecocks. If South Carolina finishes with another losing season, Donati would have no choice but to likely move on from him after six seasons.
In today's modern college athletics landscape, South Carolina is expected to be able to afford to pay both buyouts. But there's no question having to pay two hefty buyouts while starting completely over with a new head coach at both sports would put Donati and the department in a tough spot financially.
Hopefully for South Carolina's bottom line, both coaches produce rebound seasons that earn them another year.
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