Steve Taneyhill (born July 21, 1973, in Altoona, Pennsylvania) is an American businessman, and former college football player and high school football coach. He is most known for being the star quarterback for the University of South CarolinaGamecocks from 1992 to 1995, where he broke the school record for passing touchdowns and led the school to its first-ever bowl victory in the 1995 Carquest Bowl.[1] In 2006, he was inducted into the University of South Carolina Athletic Hall of Fame.[2] For more than a decade, Taneyhill coached football at multiple South Carolina high schools, winning several state titles.[3][4] He currently owns several businesses in the state, including three bars in Five Points in Columbia, and a restaurant in Spartanburg.[5]
As a USC Gamecocks quarterback, Taneyhill compiled 8,380 yards in total offense, completing 753 of 1,245 passes. He threw 62 touchdown passes in his career. Taneyhill wore his hair in a mullet. In 1992 he was named Freshman of the Year by Sports Illustrated and was named to The Football News Freshman All-American Team.
Coach
In 2006, he led the Chesterfield High School football team to the South Carolina state championship, where they lost to Carvers Bay. In 2007 Taneyhill's team returned with a 13–6 win over Carvers Bay for the state title and in 2008. In 2009 Chesterfield won their third state title with a 36–6 win over Lamar.
Taneyhill also coached at Cambridge Academy private school in Greenwood, S.C. He led the 8-man team to back-to-back state titles and a runner-up the year after. He was the quarterbacks coach at West Ashley in Charleston, S.C., for one year in between his jobs at Cambridge and Chesterfield. Taneyhill was also the high school coach of NFL first-round draft pick Gaines Adams, who went on to play for Tampa Bay and Chicago during his professional career before Adams' untimely death in 2010.
Taneyhill assumed the head coaching spot for the Union County High School Yellow Jackets in Union, South Carolina, on March 1, 2012.
Taneyhill was let go as head coach of Union County High School after the 2015 season.[6]
Business
In 2016, Taneyhill purchased the Five Points, Columbia bar Group Therapy, and renamed it "Steve Taneyhill's Group Therapy." Taneyhill has ownership of Prime Restaurant and Whiskey Lounge located in Spartanburg, South Carolina, open in the summer of 2022.[7]
