South Carolina lost 35-34 at home to Kentucky on Saturday. The Gamecocks are 2-3, and Shane Beamer has now lost eight straight SEC games.
That is the number that matters. Not the record, not the margin. Eight in a row in his own conference.
The Season So Far Is a Pattern, Not a Slump
Beamer entered the Kentucky game 0-7 in SEC play dating back through last season. He left it 0-8, having lost by one point at home.
Before that: a 41-34 home loss to Mississippi State, and a 49-18 beating at Alabama. South Carolina went 4-8 in 2025. This is Beamer’s sixth season.
Next up is a trip to No. 8 Florida. Nothing about that schedule suggests relief is coming.
The Buyout Is the Entire Conversation
Beamer’s buyout sits at $27.9 million. It drops to $22.1 million on Dec. 31.
That number explains why this is not a done deal. South Carolina can fire him today and write a check for nearly $28 million, or it can wait until January and save almost $6 million. Athletic departments do that math constantly, and the calendar almost always wins.
So the realistic outcome is that Beamer coaches the rest of the season regardless of what happens, and the decision gets made in December by people with a spreadsheet open.
Who Else Is in Trouble
Two names cooled off in Week 6. Lincoln Riley beat Washington 25-21 to move USC to 5-1, which is useful for a coach On3’s Pete Nakos described bluntly: “He is 5-15 against ranked opponents.” Riley’s buyout is reported around $72 million, so that seat was always more theoretical than real.
Mike Norvell beat Virginia 38-7 to get Florida State to 3-2 after a 5-7 2025, with a reported $51 million buyout and athletic director Michael Alford already fired in September. Nakos set the bar: “If they go 0-4 in October, I think that’s it.” Louisville, Miami and Clemson are still on that schedule.
Dave Doeren at NC State is 3-2 in his 14th season with a $10.5 million buyout and a contract through 2029. He has won two straight. His seat is cooler than the preseason version of this list expected.
Mike Locksley at Maryland is 10-19 since the start of 2024 with 13 losses by 14 or more points and 11 straight losses to Power Four opponents. Greg Schiano at Rutgers has lost nine of his past 11 Big Ten games and just got beaten 47-15 at home by Indiana.
One Correction Worth Making
If you see Billy Napier on a 2026 Florida hot seat list, the list is a year old. Napier was fired by Florida in October 2025 and is now the head coach at James Madison.
No FBS head coach has been fired in the 2026 season to date. Beamer is the likeliest to change that, and even he probably gets to December.
A longtime sports reporter, Carlos Garcia has written about some of the biggest and most notable athletic events of the last 5 years. He has been credentialed to cover MLS, NBA and MLB games all over the United States. His work has been published on Fox Sports, Bleacher Report, AOL and the Washington Post.