SEC Head Coach Firmly Placed on Hot Seat Ahead of Sixth Season

A head coach of an SEC football program is squarely on the hot seat as he enters his sixth season on the job.

South Carolina Head Coach Shane Beamer disputes a pass interference call in the game with Clemson | Ken Ruinard / USA Today Co Inc SC / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

The college football coaching carousel that commenced in the middle of the 2025 season was among the most chaotic in recent memory. 33 different head coaching spots opened up across the FBS ranks, and roughly half of those openings were at Power Four programs.

The SEC in particular found itself immersed in the chaos. Six different programs hired a new coach in late November and early December of 2025, five of which occurred due to firings.

With the mass turnover from the last coaching carousel behind it, the SEC is due for a quieter coaching carousel near the end of the 2026 season. However, not all SEC fan bases feel warm and fuzzy about their current head coaches going into next season.

The fan base most eager to turn to a new chapter at head coach in the SEC is South Carolina. The Gamecocks are entering the sixth year of head coach Shane Beamer's tenure, which resembles that of a roller coaster.

South Carolina hired Beamer to replace Will Muschamp in the 2021 offseason after the program took backward steps in each of Muschamp's last three seasons. The Gamecocks benefitted from playing against deteriorating SEC teams in Auburn and Florida at the end of the 2021 regular season to reach bowl eligibility.

South Carolina Gamecocks head coach Shane Beamer reacts after winning the 2021 Duke's Mayo Bowl at Bank of America Stadium. | Bob Donnan-Imagn Images

The Gamecocks progressed from 7-6 to 8-5 from 2021 to 2022, but a backward step to 5-7 in 2023 riled up a previously content fan base. The expectations for South Carolina in 2024 were low, but a 9-4 season highlighted by the play of young stars in quarterback LaNorris Sellers and defensive end Dylan Stewart helped bring back positive energy around the program.

That positive energy was diminished in 2025. With all the hype around South Carolina as a potential College Football Playoff contender, the Gamecocks' encore performance came in the form of a 4-8 mark that featured a 1-7 record in SEC play.

With Beamer turning in his most disappointing season yet, the hot seat conversations are some of the loudest in college football as the 2026 season approaches. Blake Toppmeyer of USA Today mentioned Beamer and South Carolina in his list of hot seats he released on Monday.

"South Carolina possesses one of the SEC’s most-talented quarterbacks in LaNorris Sellers. If Beamer can’t win with him, that’s a problem — a problem that could spark a coaching search, on the heels of last year’s 4-8 season. Beamer has delivered three winning seasons in five years at South Carolina," Toppmeyer wrote.

"That makes him better than most predecessors not named Steve Spurrier. Trouble is, Beamer posted his best season in Year 4, followed by his worst year last season. That’s a classic case of raising the bar, then failing to meet it, and that’s a recipe for a firing."

Four of South Carolina's nine SEC games in 2026 are against teams that finished 2025 with losing records, three of which fired coaches. The Gamecocks play four College Football Playoff participants from last season ago in Alabama, Texas A&M, Oklahoma and Georgia.

South Carolina Gamecocks head coach Shane Beamer disputes pass interference call against the Clemson Tigers | Jeff Blake-Imagn Images