Mandrallius Robinson

Sports Columnist

The football offices at the University of South Carolina are filled with several new faces.

Jessica Jackson is the new director of on-campus recruiting. Kristin Sheetz is now the director of external communications. Charity Grady and Carina Hargreaves serve as the directors of offensive and defensive operations, respectively.

Last year, these offices were not just empty. They did not exist.

South Carolina head coach Will Muschamp has expanded the football support staff, without expanding the budget. Muschamp reconfigured his roster of analysts and reassigned quality control assistants while spending nearly $232,000 less than the program spent last year.

“It’s something that I’ve been exposed to at some different spots,” Muschamp said. “Everybody’s got a job within the organization and a very detailed job description for what they need to do to help us be successful.”

Muschamp's personnel moves got Carolina up to date with the latest trend aimed to enhance scouting, coaching and recruiting. The benefits are indisputable, but the ramifications are indefinite.

The NCAA caps coaching staffs to one head coach and nine full-time assistants. However, there are no restrictions on the size of the support staff. Coaches with resources can create positions without restraint. All they need is a creative title and a competitive salary.

Former head coaches can accept a position as a consultant or analyst with an established power rather than rush back into coaching. Schools can compile rosters of recruiters to manage everything from campus tours to Photoshopped tweets.

Some administrators wonder if stretching staffs has become the new arms race. They worry that it will generate further financial disparities for less profitable programs.

South Carolina athletic director Ray Tanner recognized the benefits of reorganizing the staff shortly after the departure of head coach Steve Spurrier last season. It was one of the reasons he hired Muschamp.

RELATED: Initial win helps USC's "buy-in" factor

“He knew exactly what he wanted to do. He knew about the coaches he wanted to bring to assist him, but he was also familiar with personnel with recruiting officers, analysts and quality control guys,” Tanner said. “When he was hired, we implemented his plan immediately.”

Tanner provided Muschamp with a set budget to allocate to his staff. Muschamp started by accepting a $3 million base salary, $1 million less than his predecessor. Muschamp distributed $723,148 of the difference toward support staff.

He hired Ellis Johnson, Kyle Krantz, DeMarco McNeil, Seth Strickland and Omar Young as analysts. He reassigned Shaq Wilson and Brian Turk as assistant directors of recruiting. He hired Clyde Wrenn as director of high school relations.

He added seven new full-time positions and even bumped the average salary for on-field assistant coaches by 1.1 percent. This season, under Muschamp, South Carolina is expected to spend approximately $9,420,350 on base compensation for the entire full-time football staff, excluding bonuses.

That still is $231,852 less than Carolina spent last season under Spurrier.

With a relatively conservative budget, Tanner's toughest task was ensuring none of the new staff members would be forced to work in a broom closet. Minor renovations to the Floyd Building created ample space for the new team members.

The South Carolina athletic department generated $113.2 million in revenue in 2015, the 17th highest total among the 231 Division I schools included in a USA TODAY Sports compilation. The bulk of that figure, $41.1 million, was produced through media rights and licensing contracts. USC recorded $31.2 million in donations.

Carolina generated $2.9 million through a student fee, but, according to USC chief financial officer Jeff Tallant, that revenue is designated to offset the cost for student tickets. USC students are not charged for admission to any of the program's ticketed sports.

Thus, expanding the staff should not directly induce any additional charges for Carolina students, alumni or fans.

Carolina is positioned to absorb an increase in manpower, but Tanner acknowledges that every Division I program, including some in Power Five Conferences, may not be able to keep pace.

​“I don’t have a number, but I think there should be limits on the additional staff outside of full-time coaches," Tanner said. "It’s all about trying to make the program better. It’s all about the well-being of the student-athlete. It's about improving performance on the field.

"The intentions I think are spot on. I don’t have any question about the intentions, about what coaches are trying to do by growing their staff, but there should be a limit. There are budget constraints. Some programs are going to be able to do it."

Tanner said administrators and conferences have engaged in preliminary discussions about the possibility of regulating staff size, but no formal legislation is imminent. Meanwhile, major programs from Florida to Washington continue the human resource race.

Earlier this week, Alabama coach Nick Saban announced the addition of former Southern California coach Steve Sarkisian as an analyst. In March, Clemson University coach Dabo Swinney hired successful high school coaches Kyle Richardson and Mickey Conn as analysts.

Proponents of the practice assert that financial equity may never be feasible in college football. Programs in the same division or the same league do not always sit in the same tax bracket. Differences in the culture and caliber require different organizational and financial structures.

“You can't run Nike the same as you run Joe's Mom & Pop Shoe Store,” Swinney told ABC News. “You can't run East Carolina the same way as the University of Alabama.”

“It's just a difference, and it's always going to be that way.”