Shawn Elliott

Shawn Elliott returns for his second stint with Carolina Football. He was named the Gamecocks’ run game coordinator and tight ends coach, on Feb. 16, 2024.

The Camden, S.C., native has been part of 23 winning campaigns and 21 postseason appearances in 27 seasons as a college coach. Most recently, he served for seven seasons as the head coach at Georgia State where he posted a 41-44 record and led the Panthers to four bowl wins in five appearances. A long-time offensive line coach, Elliott built the GSU program by establishing one of the nation’s most productive rushing attacks. Over the last five seasons, the Panthers averaged 214 yards rushing per game.

During his tenure in Atlanta, Elliott posted GSU’s first winning season as an FBS program in 2017. He logged the school’s first consecutive winning seasons and three-straight bowl berths from 2019-21, culminating with a school-record eight wins in 2021. He pulled a stunning upset in 2019 with a win at Tennessee for the program’s first Power 5 win, earning him Dodd Trophy National Coach of the Week honors, and engineered the school’s first win over a ranked opponent with a win at No. 21 Coastal Carolina in 2021.

While at Georgia State, Elliott produced 71 All-Sun Belt Conference players, one All-American and one Freshman All-American. Eleven of his players signed NFL free agent contracts, including five who played in the league. In addition, GSU had eight Academic All-District selections and one Academic All-American during his tenure.

Before taking over the Georgia State program, Elliott worked seven seasons (2010-16) at South Carolina under Steve Spurrier and Will Muschamp, highlighted by three consecutive 11-win seasons from 2011-13 during the most successful run in the Gamecocks’ history. In addition to coaching the offensive line, he was the running game coordinator in 2010 and 2011, was elevated to co-offensive coordinator in 2012, and then served as the interim head coach following Spurrier’s retirement midway through the 2015 season.

Elliott originally joined the South Carolina staff in 2010 and helped the Gamecocks reach five-straight bowl games while coaching some of the most prolific and balanced offenses in school history. The Gamecocks turned in the program’s best offensive season, statistically, in 2013, averaging 34.1 points while rolling up a school-record 452.3 yards per game.

South Carolina’s 2014 unit scored nearly 33 points per game while averaging over 440 yards of offense as All-America and All-Southeastern Conference offensive guard A.J. Cann paved the way. In 2010, Elliott’s first season in Columbia, his offensive line blocked for record-setting running back Marcus Lattimore, the National Freshman of the Year.

In addition to Cann, a third-round draft pick by the Jacksonville Jaguars in 2015, Elliott developed future NFL linemen Corey Robinson, Ronald Patrick, Brandon Shell, T.J. Johnson and Rokevious Watkins.

Before coming to South Carolina in 2010, Elliott coached his entire career at Appalachian State, his alma mater. In 13 seasons, he was an integral part of App State’s three consecutive NCAA titles from 2005-07 and the Mountaineers’ historic upset at Michigan in 2007.

Beginning in 1997, he worked two seasons as a defensive assistant (1997-98) and then two seasons as the tight ends coach (1999-00) before taking over the offensive line in 2001.

In nine seasons as the Mountaineers’ offensive line coach, Elliott’s players earned All-America distinction on 12 occasions, including four different linemen who received first-team All-America accolades. He also coached All-American and future NFL tight end Daniel Wilcox in 2000. In 2003, offensive lineman Wayne Smith was the first pick in the Canadian Football League Draft. From 2005- 07, Elliott coached three-consecutive Southern Conference Jacobs Blocking Trophy recipients.

Elliott helped lead the Mountaineers to 10 NCAA playoff berths in 13 seasons with two trips to the national semifinals and three appearances in the quarterfinals in addition to the three championships.

He was one of three App State coaches to earn the NCAA’s Award of Valor for their efforts in rescuing two individuals from an automobile accident in 2000.

The two head coaches under whom Elliott spent the bulk of his time as an assistant coach, Spurrier at South Carolina, and Jerry Moore at Appalachian State, are both enshrined in the College Football Hall of Fame.

Elliott was the first player in Mountaineer annals to appear in the NCAA Division I-AA playoffs four separate seasons. He was a four-year letterwinner, helping the Mountaineers to two Southern Conference titles and a combined record of 36-16. He served as a co-captain of the 1995 Appalachian State squad that finished 12-1 while earning all-league distinction as a defensive end.

Born June 26, 1973, Elliott earned his bachelor’s degree from Appalachian State in 1996. He is married to the former Summer Scruggs, also an App State grad and a standout tennis player for the Mountaineers, and the couple has two children, Maddyn and Max.