South Carolina’s Pete Lembo named Buffalo football head coach

The South Carolina football program will need to find another new coach to hire for the upcoming season.

Associate head coach and special teams coordinator Pete Lembo has been announced as the University at Buffalo’s new head football coach, the program announced Sunday afternoon. ESPN’s Pete Thamel first reported the news Sunday morning.

UB Athletics will introduce Lembo to campus as head coach Tuesday afternoon, and he will meet with players the same day. He will receive a five-year contract and make his debut as head coach of the Bulls against Lafayette on August 29.

“Pete is a proven winner as a head coach and is a tremendous hire for Buffalo,” USC head coach Shane Beamer said in a statement to UB Athletics. “He has improved our program at South Carolina on and off the field. I can’t wait to see what he does in Buffalo.

Beamer later shared X (formerly Twitter): “Congratulations Pistol Pete!!!!! An incredible opportunity for you… You have improved our program on and off the field. This position in Colombia is EXTREMELY attractive to many now because of this… Even if the new coach will never be able to reach your level of nickname usage on our team.

Lembo spent the last three seasons with the Gamecocks, joining Shane Beamer’s staff in December 2020. He coached special teams with a game-high 14 blocked kicks in three seasons. The Gamecocks finished last year ranked 23rd in the nation in punts on net and 18th in punt return defense.

Lembo is from Staten Island, New York, about six hours from the Buffalo campus.

“We will work tirelessly to recruit, develop and maximize the experience of our student-athletes on and off the field,” Lembo said in the Bulls’ announcement. “I’m really excited to assemble an energetic team that will build meaningful relationships with our players and each other. »

Buffalo went 3-9 last season and 3-5 in the MAC. Former head coach Maurice Linguist resigned last week to become an assistant at Alabama under new head coach Kalen DeBoer.

Lembo is the second USC coach to leave the program this offseason for a head coaching position, after former tight ends coach Jody Wright accepted a position at Murray State on Jan. 10.

Lembo served as head coach at Elon and LeHigh before joining Ball State (2011-15), a conference foe for Buffalo, where he led the Cardinals to a 33-29 record while putting up over 60 program records in five years. He was also the first Ball State head coach to reach 30 wins in four seasons in program history.

Lembo went 112-65 in his 14 years as head coach, from 2001 to 2015. He previously coached at Maryland, Memphis, Rice, Dartmouth Hampden-Sydeny and Albany. before landing at USC with Beamer. Lembo played college football at Georgetown.