After three years as the TCU Football Offensive Coordinator, Quarterbacks Coach, and Associate Head Coach, Kendal Briles has his sights set on a return to the SEC. According to first reporting by FootballScoop.com
and other sources confirming the report, the South Carolina Gamecocks have targeted Briles as the primary candidate for its open Offensive Coordinator role, with expectation that the deal will be finalized this week.
Kendal Briles joined Sonny Dykes’ staff in 2023 as the Horned Frogs were coming off an undefeated regular season and trip to the CFP National Championship game. In the three seasons with Briles on staff, TCU has a regular season record of 21-15 (14-13 in Big 12 conference play), missing a bowl in 2023 and winning the New Mexico Bowl in 2024. In 2025, TCU finished the regular season ranked seventh in the Big 12 with 30.8 points per game, ranking 14th in the league in rush yards per game and 3rd in pass yards per game. Briles had also been linked to the open OC opportunity at Ole Miss and head coach opportunity at North Texas before Neal Brown was hired in Denton.
Briles was an OC in the SEC prior to joining the Frogs, leading the offense at Arkansas after stops as a play caller at Florida State, Houston, and Florida Atlantic. Briles rose to prominence as an assistant on the staff at Baylor under his father Art Briles. His time at Baylor is infamously linked to the program’s sexual assault scandal and Title IX lawsuits.
South Carolina has an opening at Offensive Coordinator as Mike Shula was fired in November, midway through his first season in the role. The Gamecocks entered the 2025 season with high expectations for its offense as QB LaNorris Sellers was the preseason First Team All-SEC quarterback and projected as a top NFL Draft prospect. Instead the Gamecocks finished just 4-8 on the season and 1-7 in SEC play, finishing ranked in the bottom-three in the SEC in points per game and yards per game. South Carolina head coach Shane Beamer is needing a major bounce-back season to avoid the hot seat and a jolt of energy from Briles is what he’s targeted as the cure to what ails a struggling SC offense. The Gamecocks are scheduled to play at Briles’ former team Arkansas Razorbacks in Fayetteville during the 2026 season as part of the first year with a nine-game SEC schedule.
If Briles does indeed leave TCU, Sonny Dykes will conduct his third Offensive Coordinator hire as head coach of the Horned Frogs, previously bringing Garrett Riley in with him when he has hired as Head Coach before the 2022 season, then replacing him with Briles when Riley left for the OC job at Clemson following that single season in Fort Worth. It will be a critical hire for the Dykes as the Horned Frogs will look to finish better than 5th in the Big 12 for the first time since 2022.
