South Carolina AD Supports Will Muschamp Amid Team's Disappointing 4-6 Season

South Carolina athletic director Ray Tanner released a statement Friday in support of head football coach Will Muschamp despite the Gamecocks' 4-6 record. 

"Today, I want to make it clear that Will Muschamp is our football coach and will be our coach going forward," Tanner said, per ESPN. "President [Robert] Caslen and I are fully supportive of his leadership and his development of student-athletes on and off the field."

South Carolina's loss to Appalachian State put the team's back against the wall to secure a bowl berth. It must now defeat Texas A&M on the road and No. 3 Clemson in order to finish 6-6.

Muschamp has led the Gamecocks to a 26-23 record across four seasons. Each of his first three years resulted in a bowl berth, but they went just 1-2 in those postseason games.

The 48-year-old Georgia native said the lack of a deep threat in the passing game has really limited the team's offensive upside throughout the campaign.

"You become very predictable, obviously, when you don't have a vertical threat," Muschamp told reporters. "Obviously we think Xavier [Legette] as a young player is very promising and he's got a huge upside and is going to be a really good football player for us, but [he] just hasn't done it consistently on our level and it certainly limits you as far as some of the run boxes you're going to face."

South Carolina ranks 94th in total offense (361.6 yards per game) and 44th in total defense (376.2 yards per game) so far in 2019.

Caslen told Manie Robinson of the Greenville News on Tuesday they would review Muschamp's status after the season.

"Coach Muschamp is my coach. That's the message. He will be my coach through the end of the season," he said. "And then, just like any other coach that's out there, whether it's a soccer coach, whether it's the equestrian coach, whatever, they're going to do an end-of-year assessment, the athletic director does. Then, we'll see what's up."

Muschamp posted a 28-21 record during a previous four-year stint at Florida before stepping down following the 2014 campaign.

His teams have only finished with double-digit wins once in eight combined seasons.