Could Dowell Loggains still call plays in South Carolina's bowl game? It's possible

When South Carolina heads down to Orlando to play in the Cheez-It Citrus Bowl on New Year’s Eve, there’s a chance Dowell Loggains could be on that trip as well.

Loggains was officially introduced as Appalachian State’s new head coach in a press conference on Monday. While his time in Columbia is close to over, the second-year offensive coordinator could stick around for the bowl game in a few weeks when South Carolina faces Illinois.

“Our initial conversations yesterday were he wanted to stay and coach the bowl,” head coach Shane Beamer said on Sunday. “My initial thoughts were that I wanted him to as well.”

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But those conversations took place before Loggains accepted the job with the Mountaineers. Beamer has been in similar situations before like the one his assistant coach will go through over the next few weeks.

When Beamer originally accepted the head coaching job at South Carolina in 2020, he finished out his time at Oklahoma and helped the Sooners win the Big 12 Championship before shifting his full focus to the Gamecocks.

With Loggains now being a first-time head coach, he will have to do the same as Beamer did if he ultimately decides to help South Carolina try and get its 10th win of the year.

“As he’s finding out what I found out when Coach (Ray) Tanner offered me the job four years ago … there’s a lot that comes at you when you say yes and it gets announced that you don’t expect,” Beamer said.

“He’s realizing that right now, and it’s a lot. It was hard for me balancing being the head coach and going back to Oklahoma to coach the tight ends in the Big 12 championship game against Iowa State. There was a lot on my plate. He’s an offensive coordinator doing the same thing in an era of transfer portal and NIL, which I didn’t have to deal with when I first got hired.”

If Loggains doesn’t coach in the Citrus Bowl, it will be the second time in three years that Beamer will have to turn play-calling duties into a combined effort amongst his coaching staff. When former offensive coordinator Marcus Satterfield left for Nebraska before South Carolina’s trip to the Gator Bowl in 2022, offensive analysts Freddie Kitchens and Nick Coleman were tasked with calling plays in that game in Jacksonville.

“I thought everything in that bowl game two years ago went well for the most part,” Beamer said. “… It was a collaborative effort with the entire coaching staff, the guys that were on that staff at that time. They all stayed intact except for Marcus that had left to go to Nebraska. But everybody else was there and it was a collaborative effort.”

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At the time, Satterfield announced his decision to join Matt Rhule’s staff at Nebraska more than a month before the Gator Bowl. This time around, Loggains’ next step comes a little under a month before the Citrus Bowl. But even with a little less time to get everything in order, a decision doesn’t need to happen right now regarding what’s next, Beamer said.

“Whether it’s Dowell Loggains calling plays in the bowl game or whether it’s someone else calling plays in the bowl game, we’re still working through all that,” he said. “All those things are still on the table. But whatever we do, we’ve got almost a month to prepare. We’ll have a great plan to go down there and be at our best, for sure.”

During his introductory press conference in Boone, North Carolina, Loggains didn’t mention nor was he asked what his future plans with South Carolina will be. Though, Beamer did say he wants “to do what’s best for him and I want to do and what’s best for our program, also.”

The Gamecocks will kick off against the Fighting Illini on Tuesday, Dec. 31 at 3 p.m. on ABC.

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