On Friday afternoon South Carolina athletics director Ray Tanner released a statement in regards to the job security of Gamecocks head football coach Will Muschamp.

"Today, I want to make it clear that Will Muschamp is our football coach and will be our coach going forward," Tanner stated via a release from South Carolina Athletics Communications and Public Relations. "President Caslen and I are fully supportive of his leadership and his development of student-athletes on and off the field. Coach Muschamp and our staff are dedicated to the success of Gamecock football. They have built a program where our team plays for each other and for our University, and they deserve our support. While we wish the outcome of some of our games would have been different, we are excited about the future of our program."

South Carolina is 4-6 in the fourth season under the direction of Muschamp. He is under contract through the 2024 football season. In his first three seasons Muschamp and his staff combined for a 22-17 record, the most wins for a head coach in his first three seasons at South Carolina. Three consecutive bowl berths at the start of a head coaching tenure was also a program first.

Notable losses in 2019 include blown second half leads to North Carolina in the season opener and against Florida (at home) and Tennessee (on the road) in back-to-back weeks in October. Poor offensive showings also occurred in losses on the road against Missouri in late September and last week at home against Appalachian State. The Gamecocks' signature win of the season and in Muschamp's tenure was a double overtime upset of then-No. 3 Georgia in Athens, Ga. on Oct. 12.

Injuries have been an issue for the second season in a row. The notable injury this season being at quarterback as 33-game starter Jake Bentley suffered a foot injury in the season opener that required season-ending surgery. True freshman Ryan Hilinski has been the starter in the nine games since. South Carolina's struggling offense is averaging 26.0 points per game (10th in SEC), 20.9 per game when not factoring in the 72 points put up against FCS opponent Charleston Southern. The 2018 offense averaged 30.1 points per game even while factoring in being shut out by Virginia in the Belk Bowl.

The Gamecocks (4-6, 3-4) are on the road against Texas A&M this week, a 7:30 p.m. kickoff on Saturday night. The team will be on a bye week next week before concluding the regular season against Clemson at home. Carolina has not defeated either program in Muschamp's time as the head coach, including being 0-5 against Texas A&M since the programs became permanent SEC cross divisional rivals in 2014.