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5 candidates for South Carolina football coach if Will Muschamp is fired

By Brad Berreman

COLUMBIA, SC - NOVEMBER 02: Head coach Will Muschamp of the South Carolina Gamecocks prior to their game against the Vanderbilt Commodores at Williams-Brice Stadium on November 2, 2019 in Columbia, South Carolina. (Photo by Michael Chang/Getty Images)
COLUMBIA, SC - NOVEMBER 02: Head coach Will Muschamp of the South Carolina Gamecocks prior to their game against the Vanderbilt Commodores at Williams-Brice Stadium on November 2, 2019 in Columbia, South Carolina. (Photo by Michael Chang/Getty Images) /
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Mandatory Credit: Michael Wade/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images
Mandatory Credit: Michael Wade/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images /

4. Dave Aranda, LSU defensive coordinator

Aranda is literally the highest-paid coordinator in college football, at $2.5 million per year right now. So it’s worth wondering what his appetite to be a head coach would be, even as LSU’s success (9-0 this season after Saturday’s win over Alabama) advances his profile again.

Aranda, if he wants it, will surely be a head coach at some point. It’s really only a question of what job or jobs he would consider leaving LSU for, and if a mid-to-lower tier Power 5 conference head coaching job like South Carolina would be enough to get him to move for what may not be a substantial raise in pay. Or he may just be comfortable as a defensive coordinator, where the overall pressure is naturally lower as long as your unit is performing until he quits coaching. But he’s only 43 years old, and theoretically can wait for what he sees as the right head coaching opportunity.

From South Carolina’s end, it would be worth finding out if Aranda or any other higher profile assistant coach they think could be a fit for that matter, would consider their job opening if/when it comes. It will be an obvious challenge to push toward the top of the SEC and recruit at a high level sitting so geographically close to Clemson and Georgia.

But on a percentage chance Aranda would embrace that challenge, and bring some good assistants with him, he has to be on South Carolina’s list of candidates if Muschamp is dismissed.

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