Rich Rodriguez to meet with South Carolina about head coaching vacancy

Are we close to the end of the Rich Rodriguez era?

Ever since Steve Spurrier decided to leave South Carolina, Arizona Wildcats fans have wondered if the Gamecocks would come calling for Rich Rodriguez.

Well, that's happening. Fox Sports' Bruce Feldman reports that Rodriguez is going to meet with South Carolina A.D. Ray Tanner about the head coaching vacancy.

Rodriguez has led Arizona to a bowl game in each of his first four seasons as the Wildcats' head coach, with this season's 6-6 regular season record being the worst of his four years in Tucson. Last year, he led Arizona to a Pac-12 South division championship, and a New Years' Six Bowl, where the Wildcats lost to the Boise State Broncos in the Fiesta Bowl.

South Carolina has always been a more realistic option for him if he were to leave Arizona than either Virginia Tech or Miami. Both of those schools have already filled their vacancies. Now we wait.

According to Feldman, some other names to watch in the South Carolina search are: Auburn DC Will Muschamp, Oklahoma OC Lincoln Riley, former Rutgers coach Greg Schiano and Cal coach Sonny Dykes. Also, the interim coach who took over for Spurrier, Shawn Elliott, already interviewed for the permanent position.

If Rodriguez were to go to South Carolina, I'd wonder if Sonny Dykes would leave Cal to return to Tucson, where he was the offensive coordinator from 2007-09. Utah State's Matt Wells is another name that has gotten a lot of play.

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