Gamecocks Hire G.A. Mangus as QB Coach

"Magic Man" Mangus

On January 9, 2009, the Gamecocks hired George Alford “G.A.” Mangus as the Quarterbacks Coach for the football team. Mangus served as the Middle Tennessee State University Offensive Coordinator for the past three seasons.

In 2008, MTSU went 5-7 overall and 3-4 in the Sun Belt Conference. The highlight of the 2008 season was MTSU's 24-14 victory over Maryland of the ACC.

In 2008, MTSU's offense was ranked 70th in total offense among the NCAA Football Bowl Championship (FBC) teams. The MTSU passing attack was somewhat better, achieving a rank of 39th. Neither seems really impressive; however, those 2008 statistics reflect a steady improvement during each of the years Mangus served as the MTSU Offensive Coordinator. In 2007, out of 119 FBS teams, MTSU's offense was ranked 96th in total offense, and in 2006, it was ranked 104th. The chart below illustrates this data.

While detractors will point to Mangus' recent performance at MTSU as unimpressive, the job he did as the former Head Coach at Delaware Valley College has been described as “amazing.”

An article about Mangus' 2004 award as the Maxwell Football Club Tri State Coach of the Year, positively glows in describing Mangus' work at Delaware Valley. The following bit from that article is particularly noteworthy for Gamecock fans.

In the 2004 season, Mangus led the Rams to a 10-0 regular season record and earned the school's first-ever berth in the NCAA Division III playoffs. In the post-season, Delaware Valley won two more games before falling to Rowan in the quarterfinals. The 12 victories in a single season was a school record and it would have seemed impossible just a few years ago.

When Mangus accepted the job at Delaware Valley, he said the program was "like intramural football. (Players) were out here so they could tell the girls, 'Hey, I'm on the football team.'" He spent the first year, in his words, "weeding out" those players and identifying the ones who were willing to pay the price to win. He inherited 86 players and by the end of the 2002 season, only 44 remained.

Mangus and his coaching staff brought in more than 100 freshmen for the 2003 season and he began shaping his team. Mangus played quarterback for Steve Spurrier at the University of Florida and began his coaching career as a graduate assistant there. He set high standards and expected his players to meet them. In 2003, the Rams won nine games and lost only two, finishing just one game out of first place in the MAC. In 2004, Mangus' team took the next step, winning the title, earning him the nickname "The Magic Man."

The Gamecocks struggled at the end of the season. Additionally, beginning after the Clemson game, rumors of friction or disaffection on the team kept cropping up in the media. Perhaps Mangus is the man needed to redirect the players' focus this off-season toward an SEC championship and an undefeated football season.

Both the MTSUand USC football sites have additional, nearly identical, details about Mangus online.

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