Inside Will Muschamp's Frantic First Few Weeks as South Carolina's Head Coach
If new South Carolina head coach Will Muschamp takes a few days to decompress over the holiday season, he's earned it.
The former Auburn defensive coordinator (2015) and Florida head coach (2011-2014) was announced as the new head coach of the Gamecocks on Dec. 6 and immediately hit the ground running.
"I took the job on a Saturday, came over here with [athletics director] Ray Tanner and had a meeting, Monday we had a press conference and I was on the road within the hour out recruiting," Muschamp told Bleacher Report Radio. "I don't know that I spent the night back in Columbia until Thursday or Friday of that week, when we had a recruiting weekend."
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From the moment Muschamp shook Tanner's hand, he's been on a nonstop grind in an effort to rebuild a South Carolina program that won 11 games in three straight seasons from 2011 to 2013, but only 10 total over the last two seasons.
Job No. 1 for Muschamp has been finishing off 2015 on a recruiting tear, which he has done successfully.
He earned the recommitment of 4-star wide receiver Bryan Edwards earlier this month. Edwards was originally committed to the Gamecocks but opened his recruitment back up and was considering intra-state rival Clemson amidst the coaching turmoil in Columbia.
Muschamp then landed the quarterback of the future in 4-star dual threat Brandon McIlwain, who was considering playing Major League Baseball instead of going to college. McIlwain never decommitted from the program, but Muschamp's earning a recruiting win over guaranteed baseball contracts, career longevity and the lure of earning a living right out of high school was a big statement for the new-look Gamecocks.
"It's been pretty hectic, but that's life and what you need to do," he said. "The lifeblood of your program is recruiting, and there's a lot to sell here at the University of South Carolina and the city of Columbia. The campus life and all of the positive momentum we have building in our program with a $50 million football operations facility just for football, which will be the best in the country."
But who specifically would help Muschamp recruit, and what attributes is he looking for while assembling his staff?
He hired ace recruiter Travaris Robinson to serve as his defensive coordinator after Robinson served as Muschamp's defensive backs coach at Auburn and Florida.
"Travaris Robinson is a great recruiter, but sometimes when you get labeled as a recruiter, people don't realize how good of a football coach you are," Muschamp said. "He's as good on the grass as I've ever been around as far as intensity with our players, connection with our players, teaching our scheme, teaching our system. The guy does a phenomenal job."
That's not coachspeak. That's reality.
Robinson's pass defense finished fourth or better in the SEC in three of his four seasons on Muschamp's staff at Florida. While Auburn's pass defense didn't exactly impress all year, the Tigers gave up just 192.3 yards per game in November, and true freshman Carlton Davis earned freshman All-SEC honors for a secondary that desperately needed somebody to step up.
Hiring ace recruiters is great, but do they know the landscape?
Shawn Elliott does.
Muschamp retained the Gamecocks' offensive line and former interim head coach to his staff. The Camden, South Carolina, native had been with the previous staff under Steve Spurrier since 2010. His familiarity with the program and the state was too important for Muschamp to pass up.
"It was pretty evident in the week I spent with Shawn how important this place is to him," Muschamp said. "The passion and energy he gives the University of South Carolina, he's done a fantastic job. He does a really good job recruiting; we have good offensive linemen here. He's maintained that. Everybody you talk to was so impressed with the job he did under some very difficult circumstances during the season."
But the most important part of Muschamp's rebuilding effort is determining a direction of the offense.
To solve that issue, former Florida offensive coordinator (2014) and current Cleveland Browns quarterback coach Kurt Roper will reunite with Muschamp and attempt to bring the power-rushing, tempo-based attack that Muschamp saw firsthand last year with Gus Malzahn at Auburn. That initially was the plan when Roper and Muschamp were together at Florida, but quarterback Jeff Driskel's ineffectiveness derailed the plan early and led to Muschamp's dismissal.
"In the recruiting process, high schools run this offense a lot," he said. "It's very difficult at times in the evaluation process to project a young man when you're projecting a quarterback. Can he go under center? Can he go through the decision-making process and deliver the ball down the field?"
The idea for Muschamp at South Carolina is to run as much old-school football as possible, with some new-school twists that will make things easier for his quarterbacks and his entire offense.
"You become good at what you're accustomed to doing, and a lot of guys are coming from the gun," he said. "A lot of running backs are running from the gun. So it's easier to project players to your offense because there are so many teams doing that. Projecting players to your offense is much easier now, and you're much more accurate in your evaluation process.
"The power is the power, however you want to look at it. A counter is a counter, however you want to look at it. Whether you want to run it from under center or out of the gun, it doesn't really matter. That was the one thing I saw working with Kurt our last year at Florida and then Gus this past year at Auburn."
As Auburn found out the hard way this year, though, that system only works if you have a quarterback who can stretch the field through the air when appropriate and keep defenses from crowding the box against the run.
Muschamp will have plenty to choose from.
In addition to McIlwain—who will enroll this January—returning starter Perry Orth, opening-day starter Connor Mitch, dual-threat rising sophomore Lorenzo Nunez and redshirt sophomore Michael Scarnecchia will all square off for playing time this offseason.
Muschamp doesn't know the current roster as intimately as he will once practice gets going, but he's only looking for one thing from his eventual starting quarterback.
"A winner," he said emphatically. "That's the bottom line. I was asked in my press conference about that. I alluded to [former Gamecock] Connor Shaw. I don't know how well he threw it. I don't know how fast he was. But he was a winner and won a bunch of games here. That's the kind of young man we want in our program."
The grind won't stop until after national signing day on Feb. 3, 2016, at which time Muschamp's attention will turn to the preparation for spring practice.
That's when the rubber will really meet the road.
His ability to recruit was never in question, but the development of offensive players and ability to accept a more tempo-based offense are the two biggest questions facing Muschamp.
So far, he's successfully navigated the choppy waters created by a coaching transition and has established a new direction for South Carolina football.
Quotes were obtained firsthand unless otherwise noted. Statistics are courtesy of cfbstats.com, and recruiting information is courtesy of 247Sports.
Barrett Sallee is the lead SEC college football writer and national college football video analyst for Bleacher Report as well as a host on Bleacher Report Radio on SiriusXM 83. Follow Barrett on Twitter @BarrettSallee.
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