For the fourth time since his hire, Shane Beamer will reportedly have to replace an assistant
By Keith Farner
Published:
First it was Mike Bobo, then Will Friend and Tracy Rocker. Now Des Kitchings is on his way out the door at South Carolina.
Like Bobo and Rocker, Kitchings was expected to be a holdover from the Will Muschamp staff, but instead, new coach Shane Beamer will look for another running backs coach, according to a report from FootballScoop.
“Kitchings, a Furman alum who was South Carolina’s running backs coach for most of the past year, is positioned to leave the Gamecocks to join Arthur Smith’s Atlanta Falcons staff, sources on Wednesday told FootballScoop.”
Bobo, Friend and Rocker all left for Auburn, but Rocker has since taken a job with the Philadelphia Eagles.
Kitchings previously coached at N.C. State and Vanderbilt. He got his coaching start at Furman.
A little more than two weeks ago, Beamer address his hiring vision, including what kind of experience he looked for in assistants.
“I could have gone out there and hired 10 name head coaches 24 hours after getting the job at South Carolina and had the staff done with. I didn’t. That’s because I wanted to make sure I had this right and get the right 10 guys in here,” Beamer said. “I want guys that want to be here. I’m not going out there to hire some guy with a fancy name or because he’s coached in the SEC for 20 years. There are plenty of examples of guys like that where it hasn’t worked out for, a lot here recently. I want football coaches. I want great recruiters. I want great people. I want people that are hungry and driven and believe in this place like I do.”
A former newspaper veteran, Keith Farner is a news manager for Saturday Down South.
