A Positive Trend Is Developing
posted by Scott Hood, Monday, July 07, 2008
If you want evidence the USC athletic department is finally headed in the right direction, look no further than the previous hirings of Darrin Horn (MBB) and Dawn Staley (WBB) by Eric Hyman in order to jumpstart both basketball programs, as well as Steve Spurrier’s winter decisions to bring Ray Rychleski and Ellis Johnson aboard.
Another piece to the puzzle fell into place Monday when Chad Holbrook was introduced as the new associate head coach for the USC baseball team.
Every high successful Division I athletic department excels in five key areas: administration, coaches, players, facilities and fan support.
With Hyman, I believe USC has the administrator in place willing to make the tough decisions to take the Gamecocks to the next level and beyond.
In terms of facilities, that’s clearly a work in progress. But USC will eventually get there despite the steep price ($200 million-plus) which will be shouldered largely by the fans.
Fan support? That goes without question.
That means we’re down to coaching and players.
We’ve seen time and time again over the last decade how important coaches really are. This isn’t the NBA where players dominate the league and head coaches are – literally, except for a rare exception – discardable commodities.
Bottom-line, if you want to compete and win in the SEC, you have to have great coaches on the payroll. Athletic directors recognize this point, which is why the cost of retaining the top coaches has escalated rapidly over the last few years.
And the best coaches are typically the best recruiters. The truly irreplaceable ones can both recruit well and handle the in-game strategy.
We’ve experienced that reality first-hand in Columbia. Dave Odom was a good in-game strategy coach, but he and his staff failed miserably when it came to recruiting.
Brad Scott as a decent recruiter (remember, he signed most of the key players on the 2001 and 2002 Outback Bowl teams)
But the hyper-competitive SEC insists on, first and foremost, signing great players. That’s why I love Ray Tanner’s quick decision to hire Holbrook as the new associate head coach.
If you’ve paid attention to North Carolina over the last several years, you’ve seen the considerable talent the Tar Heels have compiled, particularly on the mound.
It’s hardly a quirk of fate UNC has participated in the last three College World Series, and reached the championship series twice.
They’ve had good position players, but the Tar Heel pitching staff was the difference. It’s not a gigantic leap to say UNC had one of the top five pitching staffs in the country from 2006-2008.
I can assure you that if USC had matched UNC’s quality on the mound the last four years, the Gamecocks would have advanced to Omaha multiple times.
As UNC’s recruiting coordinator, Holbrook heeded a philosophy of searching out and signing the best pitching arms he could. If he continues with that strategy with the Gamecocks, USC should be in good shape for the next several years.
With Holbrook directing USC’s recruiting, and the new ballpark serving as the bait, I believe the talent level on USC will rise rapidly over the next few seasons. The 2009 class will start the trend (thank you Monte Lee) and continue to get better.
I predict the same thing for both basketball programs. The 2008-2009 season could be a rough ride for both Horn and Staley considering the exodus of players following their respective hirings, but the long-term picture is bright.
The men’s basketball team has just nine true scholarship players. USC will handle the non-conference schedule, but approaching .500 in the SEC will be difficult considering the lack of depth.
The 2007-2008 year wasn’t the best of times for the USC athletic department. Too many close losses dulled the fans’ sensitivity by the time the middle of June arrived.
But the hiring of the aforementioned coaches and the completion of construction of three key facilities assures the 2008-2009 year will be more successful. It will certainly be more entertaining.
However, the road leading to USC becoming an elite SEC program across the board will be long, tiring and expensive.
But even a journey of 1,000 miles begins with a single step. That step has already been taken. Now we’ll see where the road leads.
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I know the jury is still out because the games must still be played, but I’m certainly encouraged by the South Carolina coaching hires over the last eight months.
If you want evidence the USC athletic department is finally headed in the right direction, look no further than the previous hirings of Darrin Horn (MBB) and Dawn Staley (WBB) by Eric Hyman in order to jumpstart both basketball programs, as well as Steve Spurrier’s winter decisions to bring Ray Rychleski and Ellis Johnson aboard.
Another piece to the puzzle fell into place Monday when Chad Holbrook was introduced as the new associate head coach for the USC baseball team.
Every high successful Division I athletic department excels in five key areas: administration, coaches, players, facilities and fan support.
With Hyman, I believe USC has the administrator in place willing to make the tough decisions to take the Gamecocks to the next level and beyond.
In terms of facilities, that’s clearly a work in progress. But USC will eventually get there despite the steep price ($200 million-plus) which will be shouldered largely by the fans.
Fan support? That goes without question.
That means we’re down to coaching and players.
We’ve seen time and time again over the last decade how important coaches really are. This isn’t the NBA where players dominate the league and head coaches are – literally, except for a rare exception – discardable commodities.
Bottom-line, if you want to compete and win in the SEC, you have to have great coaches on the payroll. Athletic directors recognize this point, which is why the cost of retaining the top coaches has escalated rapidly over the last few years.
And the best coaches are typically the best recruiters. The truly irreplaceable ones can both recruit well and handle the in-game strategy.
We’ve experienced that reality first-hand in Columbia. Dave Odom was a good in-game strategy coach, but he and his staff failed miserably when it came to recruiting.
Brad Scott as a decent recruiter (remember, he signed most of the key players on the 2001 and 2002 Outback Bowl teams)
But the hyper-competitive SEC insists on, first and foremost, signing great players. That’s why I love Ray Tanner’s quick decision to hire Holbrook as the new associate head coach.
If you’ve paid attention to North Carolina over the last several years, you’ve seen the considerable talent the Tar Heels have compiled, particularly on the mound.
It’s hardly a quirk of fate UNC has participated in the last three College World Series, and reached the championship series twice.
They’ve had good position players, but the Tar Heel pitching staff was the difference. It’s not a gigantic leap to say UNC had one of the top five pitching staffs in the country from 2006-2008.
I can assure you that if USC had matched UNC’s quality on the mound the last four years, the Gamecocks would have advanced to Omaha multiple times.
As UNC’s recruiting coordinator, Holbrook heeded a philosophy of searching out and signing the best pitching arms he could. If he continues with that strategy with the Gamecocks, USC should be in good shape for the next several years.
With Holbrook directing USC’s recruiting, and the new ballpark serving as the bait, I believe the talent level on USC will rise rapidly over the next few seasons. The 2009 class will start the trend (thank you Monte Lee) and continue to get better.
I predict the same thing for both basketball programs. The 2008-2009 season could be a rough ride for both Horn and Staley considering the exodus of players following their respective hirings, but the long-term picture is bright.
The men’s basketball team has just nine true scholarship players. USC will handle the non-conference schedule, but approaching .500 in the SEC will be difficult considering the lack of depth.
The 2007-2008 year wasn’t the best of times for the USC athletic department. Too many close losses dulled the fans’ sensitivity by the time the middle of June arrived.
But the hiring of the aforementioned coaches and the completion of construction of three key facilities assures the 2008-2009 year will be more successful. It will certainly be more entertaining.
However, the road leading to USC becoming an elite SEC program across the board will be long, tiring and expensive.
But even a journey of 1,000 miles begins with a single step. That step has already been taken. Now we’ll see where the road leads.
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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 @.