South Carolina Coaching History

South Carolina is not known for being a powerhouse college football program, though some truly giant figures have left their mark on Columbia across the years. From Richard S. Whaley in 1896 to Shane Beamer in 2024 there have been 36 head coaches – 2 of whom served as interim coaches.

Here’s a look at each head coach across South Carolina history, including years served and their overall record.

South Carolina Coaching History

South Carolina’s coaching history is a little different from most SEC programs – there isn’t really a lasting, highly successful figure that you can definitively say “belongs” to South Carolina. Of course, the Gamecocks have not always been members of the SEC – for a long time USC played in the ACC before going independent until 1991.

The early history of South Carolina’s head coaches is about the same as most SEC programs though. There were player-coaches and coaches that didn’t stick around for very long at all in the early-going — in fact, only 2 head coaches in Gamecocks history stayed in Columbia for a total of 10 or more seasons: Rex Enright and Steve Spurrier.

Spurrier is one of 2 Hall of Fame coaches to lead the Gamecocks, by the way. As you can see above, Lou Holtz also spent some time at South Carolina – though he didn’t have as much success as he did at Arkansas and Notre Dame.

Only 7 South Carolina coaches who saw more than 2 years of action finished with an overall record over .500: Spurrier, Billy Laval, Sol Metzger, Norman B. Edgerton, Joe Morrison, Warren Giese and Jim Carlen. Shane Beamer, if he were to call it quits today (which he won’t), would also finish with a record above .500.

Steve Spurrier

Steve Spurrier, similar to how Lou Holtz is best known for his time at Notre Dame, is best known for his time at Florida during the 1990s. But it’s harder to win at South Carolina, and though Spurrier was unable to win a conference title, he left Columbia as the winningest head coach in school history.

Spurrier led the Gamecocks to their highest ever AP ranking in 2012, when South Carolina ranked No. 3 in the nation. South Carolina finished that season ranked No. 8.

A year later in 2013, the Gamecocks finished the season ranked No. 4 in the AP Poll – capping an 11-2 campaign. In fact, the Gamecocks posted 3 straight 11-win seasons from 2011-2013, all of which ended with bowl victories.

Spurrier retired in 2015, though he did make a brief appearance in 2019 as head coach of the Orlando Apollos of the short-lived AAF. He was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 2017.

Paul Dietzel

Paul Dietzel did not have a particularly great stint at South Carolina, to be brutally honest. He coached for 9 years from 1966-1974 and finished with an overall record of .443 – not exactly ideal. Dietzel is most famous for leading LSU to the 1958 national championship.

However, his impact on South Carolina football was large. For starters, he delivered the Gamecocks their lone conference championship in school history, winning the ACC in 1969 following a 6-0 conference record. The Gamecocks went on to lose in the Peach Bowl that same season.

Dietzel also served as South Carolina’s Athletics Director during his stint as head coach, notably leading the Gamecocks out of the ACC and into independent status. Following an upset loss to Duke in 1974, Dietzel announced that he would retire at the end of the season and took the open AD job at Indiana.

Ethan Stone

Ethan Stone is a Tennessee graduate and loves all things college football and college basketball. Firm believer in fouling while up 3.