The Gamecocks' "head ball coach," Steve Spurrier, has threatened to vacate his position due to South Carolina's admissions process.From ajc.com:
Spurrier was angered that receiver Michael Bowman of Wadesboro, N.C., and Arkee Smith of Jacksonville, Fla., were cleared by the NCAA to enroll, yet were turned down by the university. The rest of the Gamecocks football team officially reported Friday for preseason camp.
"Hopefully, I truly believe this is the last year this is going to happen, because I can't operate like that," Spurrier said. "I can't operate misleading young men."
Spurrier signed a contract extension, which included a raise of nearly a half-million dollars, that ties him to South Carolina through 2012. However, he said if things didn't change on admissions "then I have to go somewhere else, because I can't tell the young man that he's coming to school here," then not have him admitted.
Gamecock fans believe that Spurrier is targeting his displeasure at the university's president, Dr. Sorenson. This is the second instance in Spurrier's tenure at USCe in which the university administration and the football program have clashed over admissions.
No one presently knows where Spurrier might end up if he carries through with his threat, but fans of other SEC schools are no doubt hoping it would be in a different conference. For now, Spurrier remains a Gamecock, as the university has pledged to improve and refine its processes such that this won't happen again.
(Psst, Steve: how would you feel about going back to Duke? The Roof is on fire in Durham... )
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
8-06-2007 @ 11:57AM
Ryan Ferguson said...
Thomas,
I did read the entire press conference transcript as well as numerous comments from fans on a South Carolina message board. I think this represents Spurrier reasonably well. Of course he's going to make the standard comments about remaining the head coach at South Carolina, not leaving to go anywhere else, etc. Every coach does that. But the interesting thing he did was indicate that if this happens again, he's outta there. He said that clearly and it wasn't misconstrued here at FanHouse.
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8-06-2007 @ 12:37PM
Thomas said...
As soon as I saw Spurrier's presser, I knew media around the country would have a field day with partial, out of context quotes.
Ryan, please do some research next time. Take in the whole presser. And then write your piece.
I know the whole truth isn't as flashy as just the line where Spurrier says he'll might have to go somewhere else, but I urge you to be an against-the-grain journalist and report the facts, even if they don't get as much attention.
Here's another clip from Spurrier's press conference:
“In my opinion, we made a mistake in doing this. I’m not criticizing the president. He said we’re going to change how we do it. But for our credibility — mine and the coaching staff — I just want the high school coaches, the parents of players and all them to know — that that’s not going to happen here if I continue to be the coach,” said Spurrier, who agreed to a contract extension last year that gave him a $500,000 raise and keeps him at USC through the 2012 season.
“I plan on being the coach here a long time. We can have a heckuva big-time college football program here at South Carolina if we want to do things the right way,” Spurrier added. “Hopefully, and I truly believe this is the last year this is going to happen because I can’t operate like that. I can’t operate misleading young men.”
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