Back in early December, South Carolina became one of the first major college jobs to get filled as they tabbed Shane Beamer as the new leader of their program.
Beamer worked quickly on assembling his staff, which has come together nicely over the past few weeks, and he ultimately decided to retain four coaches. Among those four were offensive coordinator Mike Bobo, and he also brought in four coaches from other programs as well.
So far, Beamer has had success filling his staff that includes a veteran special teams coordinator with FBS head coaching experience, a talented young SEC assistant, as well as one of the most successful high school coaches in the state.
With two hires to come, including a big one at defensive coordinator (as well as one other defensive position) the eight hires so far account for just over $4.1 million total. Will Muschamp's staff was set to make $5.2 million all together heading into 2020 before the pandemic reductions.
The defensive coordinator hire will most certainly put them over what was allotted for the 2020 Muschamp staff pool, with another assistant coaching hire to be made to put them at the 10 on-field assistants.
All of the coaches that were retained from Muschamp's staff (Rocker, Peterson, and Kitchings) had their salaries kept the same, but a year was added to each of their expiring deals. Each retained assistants were heading into the last year of their respective contracts.
A few of the new hires will make substantially more than the coaches they're replacing. New receivers coach Justin Stepp is set to make $460,000, which is significantly more than former Gamecocks receivers coach Joe Cox made last year ($180k). Stepp's new salary marks a raise from what he was making at Arkansas as well ($400k).
The other coach making a lot more is Pete Lembo at $450k annually. Last year, Gamecocks special teams coordinator Kyle Krantz made $200k.
One place where South Carolina saved some coin was with the addition of tight ends coach Erik Kimrey, who will make $200k on a two-year deal. Under Muschamp, tight ends coach Bobby Bentley made $400k.
Here's a look at the staff salary breakdown, with info courtesy of the Seattle Times.
As of the morning of 1/6/21, two on-field positions remain open, including defensive coordinator.