Morgantown, West Virginia – Neal Brown met with the media today and said nothing about the vacant head coach position at the University of South Carolina. What would have been very easy to squash with a “I’m not going anywhere” statement never happened.
Instead, there’s more rumors and speculation regarding Brown’s interest in South Carolina and South Carolina’s interest in Neal Brown.
Justin Rowland, Publisher of the Rivals website Cats Illustrated, recently posted the following message: “Can confirm the Gamecocks are very interested and would like to interview him.”
Although Brown has a $4 million buyout in his contract (which is lowered to $3.5 million after January 1st), South Carolina wants a young, experienced, proven head coach, and the perceived frontrunner for the job, Shane Beamer, does not check all of the boxes.
Beamer, the current Assistant Head Coach at Oklahoma, is young and highly-regarded, but is not a proven head coach. In fact, he has no head coaching experience at all.
Brown not speaking about the matter today could mean that he’s simply not interested and doesn’t feel like he needs to deny any interest, or perhaps he would consider an offer if one comes from South Carolina.
Reportedly, only Beamer has been interviewed for the position, but it is now clear that Brown is among the small group of coaches that the University of South Carolina is interested in and wants to interview.
