Surely you have seen Chris Low’s ESPN.com interview with Steve Spurrier by now.  It is classic, smug, winning Spurrier, dropping unintentional yet intentional truth bombs on rival coaches, backhanding SEC programs, and subtly reminding everyone that he is one of the great figures in the history of college football.  It is a Spurrier we only saw glimpses of in his first few years at South Carolina, but with an SEC East title and historic 11-win season under his belt, he is back to his spry, zinger-slinging self.

My only problem with Low’s interview was it came out of the gates with lightning speed – “you could always count on (Georgia) having two or three key players suspended” and “(Saban) has to go somewhere besides Alabama and win, because they’ve always won there at Alabama” – but kind of sputtered from there.  You have to think there was a lot more substance to the interview, and maybe Low is pacing himself?  Or maybe he had a maximum word count for the story?

I thought about what it would be like to come across Low’s notebook and find the “lost notes” from his interview with the HBC.  If I did I think it might look a little something like this:

On starting next season at Vanderbilt:

“Yeah Coach Franklin has got a nice little thing going up there.  They’ve never won much, kinda like us before a couple years ago.  Honestly don’t expect to see them playing in the Georgia Dome any time soon, even in the Peach Bowl.  But don’t get me wrong, we could go screw around up there and not pitch and catch like we’re supposed to and wind up losing to them…it’s happened before.  But you gotta win those, I mean it is Vanderbilt.  If you can’t beat those guys..well, you know, it’s hard to compete for championships.”

On the Dabo Swinney “rant”:

“That was something wasn’t it?  He was angry, I get that. Heck I might’ve done the same thing if I was him, but probably not the week after losing my third one in a row.  Strange timing.  I would’ve probably waited until March or something when people maybe forgot about those last two games they lost.  What’d they give up?  70?  Man, I thought we did something pretty good until I saw West Virginia beat them.  We got a lot a work to do.”

On Swinney’s idea to scrimmage other schools in the Spring:

“Nah I don’t particularly like the idea, would get too competitive probably and feelings would get hurt.  But the way we got their number right now playing them twice a year might not be a bad thing.  Might want to schedule them every week I guess.”

On his long-standing rivalry with Tennessee:

“Yeah, people ask me when I might retire.  I might just retire right after we lose to Tennessee again…nah, you know, I can’t wait that long.”

On losing to Auburn twice in 2010:

“You ever seen a shooting star Chris?  That’s kinda how I think of Auburn.  One big, expensive shooting star that came and went.  Oh well, at least they got that one, I’m sure they’re proud of that.  Got ’em a t-shirt and all.”

On his boss, Eric Hyman:

“All that stuff with Eric is overblown.  Eric is a good dude.  Wouldn’t cross the street to speak to him, but that’s not the kind of relationship we have anyway.  The kind where we speak.”

On Bubba Watson winning the Masters:

“Yeah ol’ Bubba put it on them didn’t he?  Good fella seems like, hear he went to Georgia.  You know one of my Florida teams was the first visiting team to score half a hundred in Sanford Stadium.  Sure would like to do that again. Almost did it last year.  What was the question again?”

On the South Carolina passing attack:

“Well, we got Connor doing some good things.  He’s probably about the best we’ve had since I’ve been here I guess.  Well, Blake was decent, just had ADD or something.  But we still don’t really know how to throw and catch.  If we have to run the ball, you know, direct snap and stuff, 50 times a game, that’s what we’ll do.  It is what it is.”

On Lorenzo Ward taking over as defensive coordinator:

“I encouraged Ellis to take that Southern Miss job, he deserved it. We’re excited to have Coach Ward take over and we’ve got a lot of confidence in him because he’s gonna get the ball back to me immediately…one way or another.”

More on Nick Saban:

“Nick hasn’t proven anything to me yet. He needs to go someplace like Kentucky and win.  On second thought, Kentucky might be a bad example.  I’m not sure I could win at Kentucky.  But anyway.”

On Bobby Petrino:

“Yeah looks like Bob has a little problem keeping his franks and beans to himself.  Got to have integrity in this game.  If you don’t have integrity I got no use for you.  Cute lady he was with though, I can see how she made him think.  Maybe we might have a chance to beat ’em this year, I don’t know.  Beautiful day though.”

As I listened to Arkansas AD Jeff Long announce the firing of head football coach Bobby Petrino last night, I was struck by two previously unknown facts about the hiring of Jessica Dorrell to Petrino’s staff:

• She beat out 159 other candidates for her position on Petrino’s staff
• Petrino paid Dorrell $20,000 for…er, something. 

When I heard those two things I thought myself a fool for believing Petrino ever had a chance to retain his job.  Even if the “Save Bobby Petrino” rally had attracted a half million people, there was no way Petrino was going to be the head coach at Arkansas in 2012. 

But as I alternated between the press conference and the reaction on Twitter, an interesting narrative began to build around Jeff Long.

“Give him credit for doing what had to be done.”

“Making the most of an impossible situation.”

“He’s a good man and doesn’t deserve to have to deal with this.”

“Long is showing extraordinary leadership.”

“Tremendous courage.”

“Class act.”

“Proud of Arkansas, Jeff Long, and proud to be an SEC fan.”

Ahem, can we hold off for just a minute here?  I have a couple of things to point out.

First, JEFF LONG HAD NO CHOICE BUT TO FIRE BOBBY PETRINO.  I can honestly say I know next to nothing about Mr. Long as an AD or a person, but let’s not give the man too much credit for electing to move forward with the only sensible option he had.  Had he tried to keep Petrino and the media found out about the preferential treatment and the $20K (why are people not making a bigger deal out of this?) then Long would’ve lost his job as well.  So he was not only doing the right thing, he was also covering his own backside from career suicide.

Second, as a lifelong Falcons fan (take a moment to feel sorry for me), my only other memory of Mr. Long is of him standing at a podium “calling the Hogs” with Petrino while Atlanta twisted in the wind with regular season games still left to play. 

Jeff Schultz of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution sums it up best:

If character was a priority, Arkansas never would have hired Petrino to begin with. Everybody knew his resume. In fact, Long would be out of a job himself. He interviewed Petrino without the Falcons’ permission four years ago while the coach was under contract to Atlanta and still in the middle of a season.  This wasn’t up to Long any more than it was up to the blithering protesting fans who were screaming, “Woo Pig Sooie!” at rally for Petrino Monday. It was up to his bosses, the smart people, who realized this could cost the university millions.

In the end, the right thing was done, and the University of Arkansas will be better off for it. 

But let’s not make Jeff Long out to be the hero.  He was only the messenger.    

 

It hasn’t been 24 hours yet, and I’m pretty sure that every opinion, tweet, photoshop, gif and blog post has been executed on the Bobby Petrino scandal.  Instead of giving an official stance from TRC…HE’S A BUM AND HE GETS WHAT HE DESERVES HA HA AND I’LL NEVER FORGIVE HIM FOR WHAT HE DID TO THE FALCONS…um, sorry, I guess that kinda gives away my stance…but anyhoo…

This is just the kind of incident that causes the little part of the internet that deals with sports fly off its axis, and makes people act like anything from priests to stand-up comedians, and everything in between.  So here, in case you’ve missed anything, are the best of Bobby and Jess from the last 24 hours:

• The Jessica Dorrell wedding site.  That’s right, it now links to nothing.  That’s because people got a hold of it and posted some of the nastiest, cruelest, meanest, and downright hilariousest stuff I’ve read in a long, long time.  Unfortunately I was late to the party and only got a taste of the shenanigans.  For those of you who missed it, you can catch a few of the greatest hits in the comments section of this EDSBS.com post.  Did she deserve that kind of cruelty?  I don’t know, but if she WAS having an affair with her 51-year old employer, husband and father of four while planning her own wedding, did she not?
• Also from EDSBS, “Las Cronicas de Boss Hawg: The Motorcycle of Lust!”
• This GIF.  
• Dabo reassures Clemson fans.
• Even with that reassurance, a photo surfaces…
• Pat Forde with an insightful post and a list of Petrino’s shady coaching history I’LL NEVER FORGIVE HIM FOR SCREWING MY FALCONS!!! (sorry again)
• Dennis Dodd says Petrino’s a goner.
• Andy Staples is not so sure.
• Mike Bell thinks “those goobers” at Arky will keep Petrino. 
• Matt Hayes at Sporting News says Arky should pick up the phone and call Gus Malzahn, right now.  Sorry Feathered Warrior.
• Here’s the predictable finger wag, courtesy of John Pennington at Mr. SEC.  Thank you for staying above the fray reputable news man.

Will Petrino keep his job?  Probably not.  Just in case I’m already working on a GIF of Gus Malzahn riding into Fayetteville with Tyler Wilson on a feral pig pulling a wagon full of cash.

Conflicting reports surfaced yesterday about USC basketball players Damontre Harris and Anthony Gill requesting releases from their scholarships.  We think (operative word here is think) it was originally reported by The Big Spur.  Then, according to our friend Adam over at Life of a Gamecock, Carey Rich of 560 The Team said Gill requested his release after inquiries from ACC schools (plural).  More on that in a minute.

Around the same time, David Cloninger filed a report on Gamecock Central with direct quotes (good for him) from Harris and Gill saying indeed they had NOT requested releases and were still in the process of making decisions about their respective futures.  Apparently neither has spoken to new Gamecock coach Frank Martin aside from possibly a team meeting.

So, what to make of all this?  Well, as the old adage goes, where there is smoke there is fire (unless, of course, you’re Auburn and/or Cam Newton).  I believe Harris and Gill were probably soured by their experience in Columbia this past season, and even the prospect of getting top-flight coaching going forward may not be enough to keep them around.

The good news is reports of their departures seem very premature, and Coach Martin will have the chance to basically “recruit” them back into the program.  Let’s hope he’s successful.

Sweeping on…

People are strange. I texted the Harris and Gill news to fellow TRCers Tbone and Gman yesterday, and got a surprising response from both.  The response from the normally rabid doom-and-gloomers?  “So what.”

So what?  I know we sucked this past season, and there are a few players who if they requested their release, or were “encouraged” to find another program, I wouldn’t have so much of a problem.

But Harris is a difference-maker in the middle.  His offensive skill set needs work, but he made the SEC all-defensive team and was the team’s leading rebounder.  He would leave a big hole in the middle of the USC lineup if he left.

Gill…eh, I don’t know what to make of Anthony.  Every time I watched the Gamecocks play I heard the announcers rave about #13.  How mature he was for a freshman, how smooth his game is, what an outstanding player he’s going to be.  What I saw was a kid who was raw, and at times pretty soft.  He had some bright moments, but more often than not he seem overwhelmed by his surroundings.  I certainly don’t want to lose him, I think he has a lot of potential.  But I can’t say I’m as excited about him as our SEC play-by-play and color guys were.  Nevertheless…

The bottom line is we can’t afford to lose either, much less both.  The recruiting season is all but over, and the pickings that are left are pretty slim.  I’m confident somehow Frank Martin will bring in a couple of quality players, but the first two quality players he needs to concentrate on are already on campus.

Whoa, wait, back it up, you say ACC schools contacted Gill?  How is that even remotely within NCAA rules?  I’m waiting to hear your explanation about how poaching is now legal.  Go…

NEWS FLASH:  South Carolina has problems at quarterback!  Luckily, I have taken my medications and resigned myself to the fact this is simply going to be a perpetual problem as long as Steve Spurrier is head coach at USC.  We finally have a guy we like as a starter (c’mon, we all loved Stephen, but admit it, you didn’t sleep well at night) but apparently none of the backups can hit the broad side of a Cockaboose with a paddle.  Stay healthy Connor.  Stay healthy.

Open auditions Saturday, meet Ray Tanner at the pitcher’s mound.  The USC baseball team is close to putting things together, I can feel it.  With Michael Roth pitching on Fridays, you have to like your chances.  Colby Holmes has given us a solid Sunday starter, and the bats are getting a little better at hitting with RISP.  But Lordy, we have got to fix that Saturday starter thing.  Since Matt Price moved back to solidify the bullpen we have seen two miserable Saturday starts (or Friday as was the case against Florida.)  Forrest Koumas has been a shadow of the gritty freshman we saw last year.  Evan Beal looked extremely promising early in the year, but got smacked around against Vandy.  Beal will get another shot I believe, but if he doesn’t work out how about Adam Westmoreland?

Cash money yo.  We’re a little late on this one, but from the world of Dabo, his incoming nephew-of-a-Hall-of-Famer QB has apparently been dipping into the family coffers.  On March 26 he Tweeted (on Twitter no less) “Got Stack On Top of Stacks! With Clemson Paper Clips! #Swag haha — Chad Kelly (@ChadKelly12)” along with this photo:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

#Swag ha ha indeed.  Except the tweet and photo have since been removed, so somebody must’ve not appreciated his #Swag ha ha.  But thanks to the miracle of the internets the photo still exists, and thanks to the miracle of saved drafts the tweet still exists.  Mike Bellamy says “hi”. 

Will they every learn?  Oh, wait, they’re at CTU, so I guess not.  HEY-OHHHHHHHHH!

yay sec yay kentucky way to go.  Ah mush.  While I’m proud to be a member of the greatest conference in the continental United States, my conference affiliation does not obligate me to celebrate a Kentucky national title in basketball.  It just doesn’t, and I won’t do it.  So there.

Mo Claiborne has a “4” attached to his name, and it has nothing to do with his 40 time.  I’m so unaffected by the story that Morris Claiborne scored a four (4) on his Wonderlic test during the NFL Combine, and I’m totally on board with the linked story – I don’t WANT to know Claiborne’s, or anyone’s, score.  It’s an amazingly low score (that I didn’t want to know) for sure, but people need to bag the righteous indignation and pray Mr. Claiborne stays healthy and finds someone to manage his millions well.  His life will center around recognizing formations, running, jumping and tackling well.  He’ll probably make more with one stroke of his pen than I’ll make in a lifetime, and good for him.  How was he able to get admitted to LSU, much less remain there for three years?  Hey, you don’t look behind my curtains and I won’t look behind yours.  (I speak not for the University of South Carolina, my lowlife opinions are mine and mine alone.)

A Hog Crashes a Hog.  Coming up next: Spurrier gets spurred, Miles gets mauled, Saban gets trampled, and Richt becomes a sickly little dog that catches cold from a stiff breeze and dies.  Bulldog indeed.  Child, please.

Tool of the Week.  Congratulations Chris Singleton, the TRC Tool of the Week.  Mr. Singleton bought $10,000 worth of lottery tickets once the Mega Millions pot grew to $656 million.  He said it was “either that or blow it in the club”.

Oh, excuse me Mr. Singleton, when you’re done wiping your ass with hundies, Allen Iverson is on line two.  And the starving children of Africa are on line three.

Buck. Out.

It has been a while since we’ve had a podcast, so we have a lot to pack into 30 minutes, including:

• How in the world we passed over Tommy Amaker for Frank Martin
• The strange case of Ray Tanner pinch-hitting Michael Roth
• Women’s basketball (just kidding)
• Carolina’s Pro Day
• This week in Dabo!!!

Listen live, or listen later, right here:

TRC Unleashed Episode 21

https://twitter.com/#!/LarryWilliamsTI/status/185150783749230594

In other news, Sammy is bad at math.

And bad at losing.

If all goes as planned – and as Gamecock fans we know to be extremely cautious with our expectations and emotions – Frank Martin should be announced as the new head basketball coach at South Carolina tomorrow morning.  This is an outstanding hire for USC, and anyone who thinks differently is just plain stupid (but I respect your stupid opinion).

Let’s begin by looking at some of the other names mentioned during the search:

• Tubby Smith – blah, this ain’t 1998 people, and it may not have panned out that well even if it was.
• Tommy Amaker – double blah. Sure, he got Harvard to the tournament this year, but his stint at Michigan was a disaster.
• Shaka Smart – If he didn’t go to Illinois, there was no way he was coming here.  Aside from Smart’s Final Four last year, Martin’s resume is still more impressive.
• Jeff Capel/Steve Alford – Medium-sized names, but a second chance at the big time was not what we needed to offer here.
• Gregg Marshall – Ah, here we go. You want to get some feathers ruffled, this is the topic to do it with. Hey, I don’t deny Marshall has done a great job at both Winthrop and Wichita State, but he would still be my second choice at best here.

As for Martin, he took a moribund Kansas State program that had gone to two NCAA tournaments in 15 years, and proceeded to take them to the dance in four of his five years.  His tournament teams won at least one game each time they participated (a fact that should not be lost on the University of South 1973! Carolina) and in 2010 took the Wildcats to the Elite Eight where they were upset by Butler.

Martin is an ace recruiter, having brought talent to KSU from Florida, Texas, New York and Ohio among other states.  He landed McDonald’s All-American Michael Beasley and Parade All-American Bill Walker to Manhattan, Kansas.  He took lightly recruited guard Jacob Pullen and developed him into a Devan Downey-like point guard on his team that went to the Elite Eight.  With the much-lamented dearth of talent in the state of South Carolina, it will be interesting to see if he can lure the same type of thoroughbreds to Columbia. (BTW, on a local radio show today former Texas coach Tom Penders said of Manhattan, KS – “Even on a nice day there’s a 40 mile an hour wind blowing dirt in your face.”  That must’ve taken quite a salesman. Columbia sounds like Turks and Caicos compared to central Kansas.  Side note: No offense Omaha, we still love you and want you to move to South Carolina but understand you have commitments.)

Frank Martin is an A++ hire for South Carolina.  A guy with a national brand (the media loves him), a proven winner at a high level, an outstanding recruiter, and an intense teacher of the game.

Many people were calling for a “Spurrier-like” hire for our basketball program.  Given our realistic options, I’d say Frank Martin is just that.

On to the sweep…

I’d rather be lucky…Gamecock Man over at Garnet and Black Attack beat me to writing about it, but one of my predominant thoughts once the Frank Martin hire started to look realistic was “lucky”. Lucky because if Martin and Kansas State AD John Currie had even a decent relationship, Martin would’ve never even peeked southward at our job.  It appears Currie and Martin had a strained relationship at best, and once Currie suspended Jamar Samuels from the NCAA tournament shortly before the Wildcats’ first round game, the relationship was irreparably damaged.  Eric Hyman pounced, and Martin apparently saw a shiny new arena and better support and resources in South Carolina, and jumped at the position.

Mad props to the Tar Heel.  Speaking of Eric Hyman, we spend quite a bit of time giving our AD the business over various issues, but he deserves quite a bit of credit for this move.  It has been fast, stealthy, efficient, and hopefully tomorrow…FINAL.

Almost Pro Day.  Gamecock Pro Timing Day is Wednesday, and we will all be on the edge of our seats to see if C.C. Whitlock can perform well enough to work himself into the late rounds of the draft.  Oh, and Stephen Garcia will be in town too.  I hope he has some good, Christian handlers with him (not Baptists though, which I’m sure goes without saying).

Redemption Time.  Alshon Jeffery gets a chance Wednesday to reverse his fortunes after a disastrous non-performance at the NFL Combine.  He needs a big day to move back into the upper half of the second round.  A monster day could get him back into the first round, but even with that the doubt he has created may be too much to overcome.

Last place don’t feel too good.  However, I feel better about our baseball team after this past weekend at Florida.  Being able to win one game and take the other down to the wire against Florida was, in my estimation, a step in the right direction.  UF is by far the best team in the country, and the way we played most of the weekend tells me we are still upper echelon, even with our abundance of youth and inexperience.  The record will take care of itself as long as we can stabilize the Saturday and Sunday starters. The season don’t start until June, folks.

Jesus loves CTU.  That’s the only explanation I can give for the report that CTU is a finalist for the nation’s number one recruit, DE Robert Nkemdiche.  At various points his leader has been Alabama, LSU and Ole Miss (one of these things is not like the other because his brother plays for the Rebels).  After a couple of visits to the upstate with teammates, now a trifecta (Nkemdiche and his two teammates) for the kitties doesn’t seem to be out of the realm of possibility.  We can make fun and taunt and put flaming dog poo on his porch, but somehow Dabo is doing something right on the recruiting trail.  (cough…$$$$$…cough…oh, Robert, looks like you dropped something)

70-33.  Just felt the need to add that after semi-complimenting Dabo.

Girl power.  Congratulations to Dawn Staley and the Lady G’s for their impressive season and deep run in the women’s tourney.  TRC has now surpassed our quota for writing about women’s basketball by 300%.

Yay for us.

As most of you have already heard/read/screamed like a little girl about, the University of South Carolina Board of Trustees called a special meeting for Tuesday morning at 10:00 am.  Per numerous media outlets, this meeting will involve an executive session (i.e. closed to public) discussion regarding a “contractual matter.”

What, you may be asking, is this innocuous-sounding “contractual matter”?

Based on our well-placed and nonexistent sources, we are confident that the meeting will almost certainly be about one of the following:

– The re-hiring of Darrin Horn.   Based on the not-so-subtle jabs he’s currently taking at us (ouch and ouch!) we’ve rethought the firing and are begging him to return.  Oh, and Calipari thinks he’s the right fit for the job.

– An amendment to the HBC’s contract, requiring him to wear a shirt in public.  Once was funny, but the second time is like peeking at your old man in the shower.  Or worse, your mother.

– The addition to campus of an actual Dave Odom Memorial Credibility Warchest, which each of our major sport’s head coaches will be required to fill.   With gamecock championship banners.  And soon.

– The firing of Ray Tann . . . I can’t even type it.  It’s that beyond ridiculous.

– The hiring of Ray Tanner as Athletic Director.  Now that came off the fingertips nice and sssmmoooottthhh.

– Approval of construction of a bronze statue outside the CLA of Gregg Marshall for his lifetime contribution to college basketball.

– Clarification of the Spur position.  Is it an outside linebacker?  Is it a safety?  The BOT’s limited football acumen needs satisfying AAARRGGGGGHHHHHH!!!

– Deeding CTU back over to the ACC.  Turns out that owning them is boring.  Oh, and they smell like the low piece of the pasture, if you know what I mean.

– The reinstatement of Stephen Garcia.

– Approval of the contract that will make Frank Martin the head basketball coach at South Carolina.  One second thought:  naw, couldn’t be something that good.