HC Shane Beamer isn’t messing around anymore. The program endured a nightmare 4-8 season, owing to its offense completely falling apart. And South Carolina’s head coach is making some serious moves to fix what’s broken. On Wednesday, the Gamecocks announced plans to hire two coaches on the offensive side.

Shane Beamer is expecting to get TCU’s Randy Clements as offensive line coach and is targeting Penn State’s Stan Drayton as the new running backs coach. This is after the head coach had already fired three offensive assistants during the 2025 season. So, it’s clear he knows exactly where the problem lies.

Randy Clements is a certified offensive line guru with 36 years of coaching experience. And his resume speaks for itself. He spent time at Baylor from 2010 to 2020, where he helped produce three consecutive No. 1-ranked offenses nationally from 2013 to 2015. In 2020 at Ole Miss, his offensive line paved the way for an SEC-leading 555.5 yards per game and broke the conference record for total offense in conference play. Stan Drayton brings an equally impressive track record.

And his specialty is turning running backs into stars. The 32-year coaching veteran has 25 years of experience coaching the position and has developed seven 1,000-yard rushers, five NFL Draft picks, and two All-Americans. He just spent the 2025 season at Penn State working with Nick Singleton and Kaytron Allen. But before that, he was the head coach at Temple for three years. His most impressive work came at Texas from 2017 to 2021, where he served as associate head coach and run game coordinator under Tom Herman and Steve Sarkisian. 

South Carolina’s offensive struggles in 2025 were downright ugly, and that’s putting it nicely.

The Gamecocks finished near the bottom of the SEC in every major statistical category. Those are numbers that’ll get you fired, which is exactly what happened to the offensive staff. The running game was especially anemic, with the leading rusher managing just 470 yards and only three players eclipsing 200 yards on the ground.

Beamer clearly recognizes that fixing the offensive line and running game is priority number one. And these two hires signal he’s willing to spend big and bring in proven talent. There’s also a personal connection here. Beamer and Drayton coached together at Mississippi State back in 2004 under Sylvester Croom. So there’s an existing relationship and trust. 

Clements can build a competent offensive line that actually protects the quarterback and opens rushing lanes, and if Drayton can develop South Carolina’s running backs into legitimate weapons, this offense could look completely different in 2026. 

The talent is there. It just needs proper coaching and development. This was a disastrous 4-8 campaign that tanked bowl eligibility and crushed fan morale. But Beamer knows he needs to deliver results next season, or the hot seat is going to get even hotter.​

Beamer pulls the trigger on air raid upgrade

South Carolina didn’t waste any time landing its main offensive man. On December 8th, the Gamecocks finalized a deal to hire TCU’s Kendal Briles as the program’s new offensive coordinator. This marks the fourth offensive coordinator Shane Beamer has hired during his tenure in Columbia. And he’s probably the most experienced one yet.

Briles spent the past three seasons at TCU as associate head coach, offensive coordinator, and quarterbacks coach. His offense ranked second in the Big 12 in passing offense both years. The deal still needs Board of Trustees approval. But all signs point to this being a done deal. Even 2026 QB recruit Landon Duckworth jumped on social media less than 24 hours after the announcement broke, posting images of Briles with the caption “Coach @KendalBriles was coach to me! Let’s work #GamecockFB.”

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The timing makes sense from Briles’ perspective. TCU head coach Sonny Dykes had made it crystal clear that 2025 was a make-or-break year, saying, “If we’re not in the Big 12 championship game, it’s probably not a successful season.” The Horned Frogs finished 8-4 and ninth in the Big 12, missing that goal entirely. And Briles’ contract was set to expire after the season. So yes, he was basically coaching for his job and looking for an exit ramp.