COLUMBIA, S.C. — Bob Caslen came to South Carolina as a retired three-star general and West Point superintendent. A former center for the Army football team, Caslen played a major role in Army hiring Jeff Monken as head football coach and that hire has proven to be quite succesful.
Caslen had planned on continuing to be part of the decision-making process concerning South Carolina athletics. Case in point, Caslen wanted to make a change in who was leading the men's basketball program but that was stopped cold after some members of the school Board of Trustees and some in the legislature came out in support of Frank Martin. There was also the issue of Will Muschamp's eight-figure buyout which was also used by supporters of Martin to question how the school could afford to pay Martin a $6 million buyout on top of Muschamp's $12.9 million.
In November of 2019, Caslen granted an interview to The Greenville News where he spoke about Will Muschamp's status and then he admitted to the Florence Morning News that the school had contacted Florida State for intel as to how they handled the buyout for former FSU head football coach Willie Taggert. That was clearly information better left within the walls of his office.
While Caslen did navitage the school through the pandemic, this past weekend's well-documented remarks at commencement would prove to be his final undoing, A big question for the next President is how involved will that person be in major hires made by the athletics department. Will that person let Ray Tanner and his staff do its collective job or will there be an edict handed down from above?