There is a chance this year's Palmetto Bowl between Clemson and South Carolina might not be a loser-leaves-town match after all, even if the Gamecocks fell to the Tigers. Although South Carolina finds itself at the bottom of the SEC standings at 2-3, the dollars and cents have to make sense for Shane Beamer to get the ax. His extended buyout might be as steep as buying out Dabo Swinney.
While Beamer's buyout may have dropped from $27.9 million to only $24 million heading into the Kentucky game, there is a growing sense that it may take more than $50 million for South Carolina to buy out Beamer and the rest of his staff, as well as to hire a new head coach. With Swinney's buyout being $57 million, moving on from Beamer might be too big a pill for South Carolina to swallow.
However, another sub-.500 season out of Beamer may be too much for the rabid South Carolina fan base to stomach. When looking at the Gamecocks' remaining seven games, they could conceivably be an underdog in every single one of them. Their easiest game remaining is at Arkansas on Nov. 14. They still have to play three ranked teams in Florida, Tennessee, and Georgia as well during SEC play.
The bottom has to fall out for South Carolina to punt on Shane Beamer
While Clemson fans should hope for an extended runway in Beamer's ongoing demise, it may have more to do with the financial ramifications of his contract than anything. Although he appears to have a good-to-decent working relationship with his boss, South Carolina athletic director Jeremiah Donati, so much can change between now and the end of the Palmetto Bowl. How does 3-9 sound?
Frankly, it may take a three-or-four-win season out of Beamer for him to be shown the door. He is clearly a coordinator-dependent head coach. To be honest, so too is Swinney. However, the Clemson head coach seems to be far more adept at picking the right guys to be on his staff. It also helps that he competes in the ACC, a league where he may face two ranked teams in conference play all season.
No doubt about it, Beamer sits atop the hottest seat in college football. Mike Locksley will probably be out of a job at Maryland by season's end, but apathy has set in over in College Park a long time ago. As long as Swinney wins around eight or nine games, any notion of him being placed on the hot seat is not going to happen. Swinney is an icon, somewhat beloved, and costs way too much money.
At this time, logic will presumably give way to emotion, and Beamer will be out of a job if he loses to Clemson in the Palmetto Bowl for the second year in a row. South Carolina does not have the greatest football history, but its proud fan base is not going to tolerate being the worst team in the SEC for another year. The other bottom feeders in the league are figuring it out or trending up, just not them.
Simply put, it has to be so beyond obvious that Beamer needs to go in order for the Gamecocks to finally make the move to fire him.
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