Enough Already! Bewailing Two Well-Worn Tales
posted by Scott Hood, Friday, December 12, 2008
First, we had the commotion earlier this week with Duce Staley of 107.5 “The Game” confronting former South Carolina assistant coach David Reaves on the air about the latter’s alleged misconduct on the recruiting trail since departing Columbia. The interview led to two days of discussion about the appropriateness of Reaves’ actions.
Then, within the last 24 hours, we’ve had to deal with the hoopla about Auburn purportedly offering their heading coaching job to Steve Spurrier. Several media outlets reported Thursday the Tigers were on the verge of offering their job to Spurrier, a scene reminiscent of two years ago when Alabama and Miami rumors were rampant.
Here is my official reaction to both stories: Enough already!
Let’s talk about Reaves first. Not surprisingly, Reaves denied most of what Staley threw at him, including the accusation he had bad mouthed the university and/or Spurrier.
What did they expect Reaves to say? Did they really think Reaves would acknowledge the truthfulness of the accusations, even if they were? Good luck on that.
Reaves left USC almost two weeks ago. He’s gone and, in my opinion, should be forgotten. Unless he’s out there on the recruiting trail stealing recruits away from USC by breaking NCAA rules, the best approach is to ignore him.
In short, if the only thing he’s doing is engaging in negative recruiting, well that’s part of the deal of competing in the SEC. Recruiting is a brutal, dirty, bare-knuckle business. Things are said. Teams negatively recruit each other.
Do I wish it wasn’t that way? Yes. When it comes to recruiting in the SEC, you can’t say the gloves are off because they’ve never been on in the first place. Simply, recruiting is not for the faint of heart.
Reaves chose to cast his career lot with his inexperienced brother-in-law rather than Steve Spurrier. The next few years will prove if he was correct. At this point, I have my doubts Lane Kiffin will succeed in the brutal SEC, but we’ll see how it goes in Knoxville.
Was Staley wrong in confronting Reaves? Not necessarily. Obviously, he had some concerns. But to keep talking about it day after day? That’s where it starts becoming tedious. Move on. Reaves has, and he’s not coming back anytime soon, if ever. I’m sure he appreciated the platform to talk about Tennessee on a Columbia sports talk radio station.
Speaking of monotonous, it appears Gamecock Nation has survived the latest efforts by the media outside of the Palmetto State to create a story involving Spurrier where none exists.
The latest school to fall into the trap of thinking Spurrier would leave USC for so-called “greener pastures” elsewhere is Auburn. By this point, Spurrier, who spoke about the rumors in Tampa on Thursday night, will set a new record for being linked to the most SEC head coaching jobs by the time he departs USC in four or five years.
The Auburn rumors were all about one thing: the Tigers’ obsession with securing a “big name” coach to counter the well-documented success of Nick Saban, who was totally taken over the State of Alabama in just two seasons.
Did Auburn try to make contact with Spurrier through third parties? Absolutely. But to suggest Spurrier was even considering leaving USC or report Auburn was close to “offering” the job to the HBC, as one Alabama-based TV station apparently did Thursday, was patently false.
Sources with knowledge of the situation told me late Thursday night that Auburn was prepared to offer Spurrier about $2 million per year for five years and make Steve Spurrier, Jr. the “head coach in waiting” at nearly $1 million per year, but that Spurrier (or his agent) told the third-party intermediaries up front that neither he nor his son were interested and that they were going to “finish the job” at USC.
By this point, only the most cynical among us would question Spurrier's sincerity given the number of opportunities he's had to leave over the last three years.
So, the talks with Auburn never even approached the preliminary stages - in fact they never got off the ground - and there were no contract negotiations to speak of. In short, Spurrier is staying at USC, hopefully for as long as he still wants the job.
As I’ve said before, the incessant job rumors concerning Spurrier are based on a single fundamental belief by outsiders – that USC doesn’t deserve a head coach of Spurrier’s stature and that he would be better off at a program with a “better chance" of winning the SEC championship.
To put it bluntly, jealousy has fueled most of these rumors going back two years when Alabama and Miami were supposedly pursuing Spurrier. People simply can't believe Spurrier is coaching at South Carolina.
Here’s a pertinent question: why would Spurrier leave the Gamecocks now? USC is a New Year's Day bowl win away from securing an eighth victory on the season and it appears the Gamecocks are close to putting together another Top 10 recruiting class to rival the heralded 2007 group.
Right now, Spurrier is in the process of accomplishing exactly what he was hired to do – building a solid foundation and turning USC into a legitimate contender in the SEC.
Remember, Spurrier hasn’t just broken the record for most wins by a USC head coach in his first four years, he’s smashed it. The old record was 24. He now has 28 heading into the Outback Bowl.
Has he fulfilled all of his goals? Heck no. Not even close. But that’s something he talks about all the time.
The good news for USC fans, though, is Spurrier plans to stick around Columbia long enough to give his vision a chance of becoming reality.
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The last few days have hardly been the media’s finest hour.
First, we had the commotion earlier this week with Duce Staley of 107.5 “The Game” confronting former South Carolina assistant coach David Reaves on the air about the latter’s alleged misconduct on the recruiting trail since departing Columbia. The interview led to two days of discussion about the appropriateness of Reaves’ actions.
Then, within the last 24 hours, we’ve had to deal with the hoopla about Auburn purportedly offering their heading coaching job to Steve Spurrier. Several media outlets reported Thursday the Tigers were on the verge of offering their job to Spurrier, a scene reminiscent of two years ago when Alabama and Miami rumors were rampant.
Here is my official reaction to both stories: Enough already!
Let’s talk about Reaves first. Not surprisingly, Reaves denied most of what Staley threw at him, including the accusation he had bad mouthed the university and/or Spurrier.
What did they expect Reaves to say? Did they really think Reaves would acknowledge the truthfulness of the accusations, even if they were? Good luck on that.
Reaves left USC almost two weeks ago. He’s gone and, in my opinion, should be forgotten. Unless he’s out there on the recruiting trail stealing recruits away from USC by breaking NCAA rules, the best approach is to ignore him.
In short, if the only thing he’s doing is engaging in negative recruiting, well that’s part of the deal of competing in the SEC. Recruiting is a brutal, dirty, bare-knuckle business. Things are said. Teams negatively recruit each other.
Do I wish it wasn’t that way? Yes. When it comes to recruiting in the SEC, you can’t say the gloves are off because they’ve never been on in the first place. Simply, recruiting is not for the faint of heart.
Reaves chose to cast his career lot with his inexperienced brother-in-law rather than Steve Spurrier. The next few years will prove if he was correct. At this point, I have my doubts Lane Kiffin will succeed in the brutal SEC, but we’ll see how it goes in Knoxville.
Was Staley wrong in confronting Reaves? Not necessarily. Obviously, he had some concerns. But to keep talking about it day after day? That’s where it starts becoming tedious. Move on. Reaves has, and he’s not coming back anytime soon, if ever. I’m sure he appreciated the platform to talk about Tennessee on a Columbia sports talk radio station.
Speaking of monotonous, it appears Gamecock Nation has survived the latest efforts by the media outside of the Palmetto State to create a story involving Spurrier where none exists.
The latest school to fall into the trap of thinking Spurrier would leave USC for so-called “greener pastures” elsewhere is Auburn. By this point, Spurrier, who spoke about the rumors in Tampa on Thursday night, will set a new record for being linked to the most SEC head coaching jobs by the time he departs USC in four or five years.
The Auburn rumors were all about one thing: the Tigers’ obsession with securing a “big name” coach to counter the well-documented success of Nick Saban, who was totally taken over the State of Alabama in just two seasons.
Did Auburn try to make contact with Spurrier through third parties? Absolutely. But to suggest Spurrier was even considering leaving USC or report Auburn was close to “offering” the job to the HBC, as one Alabama-based TV station apparently did Thursday, was patently false.
Sources with knowledge of the situation told me late Thursday night that Auburn was prepared to offer Spurrier about $2 million per year for five years and make Steve Spurrier, Jr. the “head coach in waiting” at nearly $1 million per year, but that Spurrier (or his agent) told the third-party intermediaries up front that neither he nor his son were interested and that they were going to “finish the job” at USC.
By this point, only the most cynical among us would question Spurrier's sincerity given the number of opportunities he's had to leave over the last three years.
So, the talks with Auburn never even approached the preliminary stages - in fact they never got off the ground - and there were no contract negotiations to speak of. In short, Spurrier is staying at USC, hopefully for as long as he still wants the job.
As I’ve said before, the incessant job rumors concerning Spurrier are based on a single fundamental belief by outsiders – that USC doesn’t deserve a head coach of Spurrier’s stature and that he would be better off at a program with a “better chance" of winning the SEC championship.
To put it bluntly, jealousy has fueled most of these rumors going back two years when Alabama and Miami were supposedly pursuing Spurrier. People simply can't believe Spurrier is coaching at South Carolina.
Here’s a pertinent question: why would Spurrier leave the Gamecocks now? USC is a New Year's Day bowl win away from securing an eighth victory on the season and it appears the Gamecocks are close to putting together another Top 10 recruiting class to rival the heralded 2007 group.
Right now, Spurrier is in the process of accomplishing exactly what he was hired to do – building a solid foundation and turning USC into a legitimate contender in the SEC.
Remember, Spurrier hasn’t just broken the record for most wins by a USC head coach in his first four years, he’s smashed it. The old record was 24. He now has 28 heading into the Outback Bowl.
Has he fulfilled all of his goals? Heck no. Not even close. But that’s something he talks about all the time.
The good news for USC fans, though, is Spurrier plans to stick around Columbia long enough to give his vision a chance of becoming reality.
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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 @.