{"id":70544,"date":"2024-12-18T13:30:02","date_gmt":"2024-12-18T18:30:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/?p=70544"},"modified":"2024-12-18T11:08:43","modified_gmt":"2024-12-18T16:08:43","slug":"gamecocks-promote-shula-extend-others","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/2024\/12\/18\/gamecocks-promote-shula-extend-others\/","title":{"rendered":"Gamecocks Promote Shula Extend Others"},"content":{"rendered":"

The South Carolina Gamecocks significantly changed their coaching staff Tuesday, promoting senior offensive analyst Mike Shula<\/a> to the offensive coordinator role. This comes on the heels of the team\u2019s previous play caller David Loggaines being named the new head coach of the Appalachian State Mountaineers earlier this month.<\/p>\n

The Gamecocks also handed out raises to nine assistant coaches, with the most notable being defensive coordinator Clayton White. With Carolina\u2019s staffing questions now settled, they can now turn toward bowl game preparations.<\/p>\n

Long Road for Shula<\/h3>\n

Shula joined the Gamecocks\u2019 staff before the start of the 2024 season but brings over three decades of coaching experience to the role. Most of his coaching tenure comes from a number of stops in the NFL, but Shula is also no stranger to coaching in the SEC.<\/p>\n

His lone head coaching stint was as the head coach of Alabama from 2003-2006, where he led his alma mater to a less-than-stellar 26-23 record over that stretch. He then spent the next 16 years making multiple stops around the NFL as both an OC and quarterback\u2019s coach, before finally landing in Columbia in 2024.<\/p>\n

After the departure of Loggaines, Shula became the most obvious candidate in the eyes of many to take up the vacant role. His years of high-level coaching experience and his understanding of Carolina\u2019s personnel and culture made him the perfect fit to slide into the role. There had been reports of head coach Shane Beamer looking at possible outside candidates, but he ultimately gave Shula the nod.<\/p>\n

Other Staffers Extended<\/h3>\n

With the promotion, Carolina has signed Shula to a three-year contract that will pay him 1.1 million a year. The Gamecocks also handed out extensions to several other key staffers, including defensive coordinator Clayton White. White\u2019s new contract comes with a significant pay raise as well, making him the highest-paid assistant in the program\u2019s history. Starting next season, he\u2019ll be earning 2 million a year.<\/p>\n

White has served as the defensive coordinator for Carolina the entire time Shane Beamer<\/a> has been there and led on of the best defenses in the country this year. He was also recently named a finalist for the Broyles Award, which is given out annually to the nation\u2019s top assistant coach. White also received a ton of interest from programs in need of a new head coach, so locking up long-term was a massive win for Beamer and the company.<\/p>\n

All Eyes on Illinois<\/h3>\n

With his staff firmly locked in, Beamer can turn all his attention to bowl game preparation. The Gamecocks will face off against the 20th-ranked Illinois Fighting Illini in the Cheez-It Citrus Bowl on New Year\u2019s Eve. A win against the Illini would secure the first 10-win season in 11 years for Carolina and would also give Beamer his best finish as a head coach.<\/p>\n

A win here would also cap off what has been the best season for Carolina since Steve Spurrier was coaching. The momentum generated would offer a perfect spring board into next year. Finishing the season off on a six game win streak is no small feat, and if Carolina is able to accomplish it they’ll be on everybody’s radar heading into next season.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Gamecocks
Photo courtesy: Ken Ruinard-Imagn Images<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The South Carolina Gamecocks significantly changed their coaching staff Tuesday, promoting senior offensive analyst Mike Shula to the offensive coordinator role. This comes on the heels of the team\u2019s previous play caller David Loggaines being named the new head coach of the Appalachian State Mountaineers earlier this month. The Gamecocks also handed out raises to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5264,"featured_media":70560,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2,3],"tags":[33068,24016,149,80],"class_list":["post-70544","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-sec","tag-cheez-it-citrus-bowl","tag-mike-shula","tag-shane-beamer","tag-south-carolina-gamecocks"],"modified_by":"Tony Siracusa, CFB Managing Editor","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/70544","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5264"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=70544"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/70544\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":70561,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/70544\/revisions\/70561"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/70560"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=70544"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=70544"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=70544"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}