South Carolina trustees release contract details for Gamecock assistant coaches

Shane Beamer’s first coaching staff at South Carolina is beginning to come together, and most of it has become so official that the Board of Trustees has released the contract details for the assistant coaches.

All coaches have a two-year contract through the 2022 season, except for Pete Lembo, whose contract is through the 2023 season. Beamer is still looking to hire a defensive coordinator.

The coaches are a mix of newcomers to the program and coaches from former coach Will Muschamp’s staff. Four coaches – offensive coordinator/quarterbacks coach Mike Bobo, running backs coach Des Kitchings, defensive line coach Tracy Rocker and outside linebackers coach Mike Peterson – are retained from the Gamecocks’ 2020 staff.

“I am excited about the quality of coaches that this staff has,” Beamer said in a release. “I am looking for coaches who teach and connect with our players, who have boundless energy to recruit young men to our outstanding University and program, and who do it the right way.

Beamer said one of the first things he did when he was hired was visit with the coaching staff already in place from the 2020 season,

“After much thought and many conversations with the players on our team, I knew that Coach Bobo, Coach Kitchings, Coach Peterson and Coach Rocker would be excellent additions to this new staff and needed to stay here in Columbia,” he said. “All four have had great coaching careers and have a knowledge of what it takes to compete in the Southeastern Conference. I would also like to thank Coach Bobo for taking the reigns as the interim head coach late this season. He did an outstanding job leading the team on and off the field.”

Here are the salaries:

Offensive coordinator Mike Bobo: $1.2 million
Special teams coordinator Pete Lembo: $450,000
Erik Kimrey, tight ends: $200,000
Justin Stepp, wide receivers: $460,000
Des Kitchings, running backs: $300,000
Will Friend, offensive line: $700,000
Mike Peterson, outside linebackers: $300,000
Tracy Rocker, defensive line: $525,000

Keith Farner

A former newspaper veteran, Keith Farner is a news manager for Saturday Down South.