Man in the Hat media

South Carolina has hitched it future on Shane Beamer. The first time head coach was officially announced Sunday by the school  LINK: Questions abound with Beamer hire As mentioned yesterday, this hire leaves a lot of questions. While special teams is an affinity that comes with the Beamer name, the new coach has never been an offensive or defensive coordinator. Expect the school to open the pocket book and pay both coordinators between $800,000 and $1 million salaries. That puts extra emphasis on Beamer getting these hires right. News broke late Sunday that South Carolina defensive coordinator Travaris Robinson was not being retained.  Here are some names to keep an eye on for defensive coordinator. Jay Bateman, DC, North Carolina Bateman is in his second year with Mack Brown in Chapel Hill. In his first year he engineered a major  turnaround for the unit, going from allowing 34.5 points per game to 23.7. That number has increased to roughly 28 this year, but in this era of football, h

South Carolina has its next football coach, and its Shane Beamer. Reports began trickling in late Saturday of the hire and the move was confirmed by multiple news outlets Sunday morning. The news has yet to be made official with a press conference by the school.  Beamer takes over for Will Muschamp, who was fired mid-November after a 59-42 loss to Ole Miss. The loss marked a third straight poor performance for the defense, which gave up 159 points in that stretch.  Muschamp finished with a 28-30 career mark in Columbia, but went 8-13 the final two years. He finished tied ninth, with Warren Giese, in wins among coaches but 12th in win percentage at 48.3 percent.  LINK: Will Muschamp fired at South Carolina. Who should Gamecocks look to replace him? LINK: Gamecock coach records  LINK: College coaches must win now, or else The hiring marks a return to Columbia for Beamer, 43, who was an assistant coach from 2007-2010 under Steve Spurrier. Since leaving Columbia he made assistant coaching