Powerful Allies Will Help Spurrier
posted by Scott Hood on Wednesday, August 08, 2007
I’ve even seen posts bemoaning the prospect of Spurrier eventually departing USC over the issue.
If you’re one of those people, I offer this: Don’t worry, be happy.
Spurrier isn’t going anywhere.
Why am I so confident? I’ve been around Spurrier enough over the last 2-1/2 years to get a good read on his mannerisms and how he operates.
Heck, I've been hanging around Spurrier for so long he'll occasionally crack a joke at my expense.
The primary purpose of his words Sunday was to assure high school coaches, recruits and their families that USC is a credible academic institution and a great place to play college football.
Obviously, some of USC’s assistant coaches had received feedback from a number of recruits questioning whether they would suffer the same fate as Arkee Smith and Michael Bowman if they went ahead and committed to the Gamecocks.
So Spurrier went out before the media and told everyone that during his discussions on the matter with President Andrew Sorensen, he promised to implement a more “streamlined” process for reviewing applications for admission from football players.
Spurrier’s position is that if a recruit meets the minimum NCAA standards, that is, they’re approved by the NCAA Clearinghouse, they should be admitted into the university.
I’ve seen nothing to indicate university officials have agreed to adopt that standard. Instead, it simply appears Sorensen has agreed to “tweak” the review process to provide quicker responses on players.
Over the last two days, the battles lines have been drawn. Bill Bearden, USC’s NCAA Faculty Representative, has been quoted as saying he doesn’t necessarily agree with Spurrier’s position. He believes USC has the right to place the bar higher.
Here’s the dilemma Bearden, Sorensen and provost Mark Becker will possibly face in their anticipated fight to keep changes in the academic review process to a minimum: they lack the final decision-making authority at the university.
That privilege goes to the Board of Trustees.
And after attending numerous Board meetings over the last 2-1/2 years, I assure you Spurrier has powerful allies sitting on that body.
One of them is Dr. Eddie Floyd, a former Chairman of the Board, and an avid supporter of Spurrier, the football program and the athletic department in general.
If you recognize the name that’s because Floyd donated millions of dollars for the construction of the football office building adjacent to the North Stands at Williams-Brice Stadium.
It’s not named in his honor for nothing.
Having heard him speak many times at periodic Board meetings, Floyd understands one concept very clearly: the head football coach isn’t just the face of the program (Spurrier’s statement on Sunday) but the face of the entire university.
The academic people may not like that but it's true.
Floyd also grasps how fortunate USC is to have Spurrier as its head football coach. He's still regarded by some as the finest coach in the country. All those spanking new condos surrounding Williams-Brice Stadium and the proposed 8,000-seat expansion wouldn’t be possible without Spurrier.
Floyd, one of the most influential members of the Board, criticized USC’s administration in the wake of Spurrier’s Sunday press conference, saying a “failure of leadership” had brought about the problem.
A number of other trustees support Spurrier, as well. Othniel Wienges, chairman of the Intercollegiate Activities Committee, has suggested that changes to the process are necessary.
Translation: when Steve Spurrier ain’t happy, nobody’s happy.
Knowing some of the personalities involved, here’s my educated opinion of what will happen over the next few months: Athletic Director Eric Hyman will appoint a committee to study the issue of admissions for athletes and determine how the other 11 SEC schools handle the situation.
Spurrier asks simply for a level playing field. If a majority of SEC schools are accepting football players upon approval by the NCAA Clearinghouse, you can bet that’s the direction USC will go.
Once he has the information, Hyman will prepare a report and formulate a proposal for the Board to consider. I suspect Spurrier may even have some input in drafting the proposal.
In the end, I believe Spurrier will get what he wants: a streamlined process in which the admissions decision is based entirely on whether the player is approved by the NCAA Clearinghouse.
Once he's approved, he’s in.
No questions asked.
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With all the attention in the mainstream media this week of Steve Spurrier’s nearly four-minute tirade Sunday against South Carolina’s admissions process, I don’t blame some of you for feeling a bit overwhelmed.
I’ve even seen posts bemoaning the prospect of Spurrier eventually departing USC over the issue.
If you’re one of those people, I offer this: Don’t worry, be happy.
Spurrier isn’t going anywhere.
Why am I so confident? I’ve been around Spurrier enough over the last 2-1/2 years to get a good read on his mannerisms and how he operates.
Heck, I've been hanging around Spurrier for so long he'll occasionally crack a joke at my expense.
The primary purpose of his words Sunday was to assure high school coaches, recruits and their families that USC is a credible academic institution and a great place to play college football.
Obviously, some of USC’s assistant coaches had received feedback from a number of recruits questioning whether they would suffer the same fate as Arkee Smith and Michael Bowman if they went ahead and committed to the Gamecocks.
So Spurrier went out before the media and told everyone that during his discussions on the matter with President Andrew Sorensen, he promised to implement a more “streamlined” process for reviewing applications for admission from football players.
Spurrier’s position is that if a recruit meets the minimum NCAA standards, that is, they’re approved by the NCAA Clearinghouse, they should be admitted into the university.
I’ve seen nothing to indicate university officials have agreed to adopt that standard. Instead, it simply appears Sorensen has agreed to “tweak” the review process to provide quicker responses on players.
Over the last two days, the battles lines have been drawn. Bill Bearden, USC’s NCAA Faculty Representative, has been quoted as saying he doesn’t necessarily agree with Spurrier’s position. He believes USC has the right to place the bar higher.
Here’s the dilemma Bearden, Sorensen and provost Mark Becker will possibly face in their anticipated fight to keep changes in the academic review process to a minimum: they lack the final decision-making authority at the university.
That privilege goes to the Board of Trustees.
And after attending numerous Board meetings over the last 2-1/2 years, I assure you Spurrier has powerful allies sitting on that body.
One of them is Dr. Eddie Floyd, a former Chairman of the Board, and an avid supporter of Spurrier, the football program and the athletic department in general.
If you recognize the name that’s because Floyd donated millions of dollars for the construction of the football office building adjacent to the North Stands at Williams-Brice Stadium.
It’s not named in his honor for nothing.
Having heard him speak many times at periodic Board meetings, Floyd understands one concept very clearly: the head football coach isn’t just the face of the program (Spurrier’s statement on Sunday) but the face of the entire university.
The academic people may not like that but it's true.
Floyd also grasps how fortunate USC is to have Spurrier as its head football coach. He's still regarded by some as the finest coach in the country. All those spanking new condos surrounding Williams-Brice Stadium and the proposed 8,000-seat expansion wouldn’t be possible without Spurrier.
Floyd, one of the most influential members of the Board, criticized USC’s administration in the wake of Spurrier’s Sunday press conference, saying a “failure of leadership” had brought about the problem.
A number of other trustees support Spurrier, as well. Othniel Wienges, chairman of the Intercollegiate Activities Committee, has suggested that changes to the process are necessary.
Translation: when Steve Spurrier ain’t happy, nobody’s happy.
Knowing some of the personalities involved, here’s my educated opinion of what will happen over the next few months: Athletic Director Eric Hyman will appoint a committee to study the issue of admissions for athletes and determine how the other 11 SEC schools handle the situation.
Spurrier asks simply for a level playing field. If a majority of SEC schools are accepting football players upon approval by the NCAA Clearinghouse, you can bet that’s the direction USC will go.
Once he has the information, Hyman will prepare a report and formulate a proposal for the Board to consider. I suspect Spurrier may even have some input in drafting the proposal.
In the end, I believe Spurrier will get what he wants: a streamlined process in which the admissions decision is based entirely on whether the player is approved by the NCAA Clearinghouse.
Once he's approved, he’s in.
No questions asked.
- Permalink, Discuss, Blog Home
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Scott Hood. Since February of 2005, Scott has covered the South Carolina football, men's basketball and baseball programs for GamecockCentral. He may be reached by email at scottblog(at)gamecockcentral.com. Replace (at) with @.