Thankfully, A Milestone Passes Quietly
posted by Scott Hood, Monday, May 18, 2009
The South Carolina baseball team’s sweep over SEC East rival Georgia last week marked a milestone for the USC athletic department.
By beating the Bulldogs three straight times, USC finished 17-13 in the SEC. Considering USC started slowly with a 2-4 mark in their first two series, that’s a pretty good record.
But we’re talking big picture here.
As a result of USC’s late season surge, the Gamecocks finished .500 or above in the SEC in the three major men’s sports – football, basketball and baseball – in the same academic year for the first time since USC joined the conference in 1992.
In other words, ever.
Surprised? I was.
But should I have been?
Thankfully, I didn't see or hear much celebrating among Gamecock fans over the milestone, and that's the way it should be. Winning, even in the SEC, must be expected if not demanded.
But getting to that point has been arduous, to say the least.
Without question, building a successful athletics program where the three major sports are consistently competitive in the most brutal conference in the nation has proven to be much more difficult than many USC administrators and fans imagined 17 years ago.
As Eric Hyman likes to say, the good news is USC is in the SEC and the bad news is USC is in the SEC.
So, while the milestone signifies a step forward for the Gamecocks, there is a long way to go before USC can finally say they’ve ‘arrived’ in the SEC.
Of course, it will take more than just one year of success within the SEC to convince me the tables have finally turned. The key is to do it again next year and the year after that and the year after that. And on and on.
Hopefully, five years from now, we can look back and say the 2008-2009 year represented the turning point in improving USC’s middle-of-the road standing within the SEC.
USC is on the right course, in my opinion, towards achieving that goal. The tens of millions of dollars being invested in facility improvements will help, no doubt, but so will the ‘no excuses’ mindset Hyman and some of the coaches like Steve Spurrier, Darrin Horn and Dawn Staley have brought to the department.
The process has been excruciatingly slow – too slow for many fans – and will remain incredibly expensive. That’s why the YES program and parking fees and higher ticket prices are here to stay.
For sure, two hundred million dollars – the amount it’s supposed to cost to bring Hyman’s vision of an Athletics Village to life – will buy a lot of steele and brick and mortar.
But it won’t come with any guarantee of victory.
That’s because building a consistent winner across the board in the SEC takes a lot more than running down to Lowe’s and purchasing some building supplies and throwing them together like they’re Lincoln Logs.
As I’ve often said before, success in the SEC requires athletes and coaches that are mentally tough and refuse to crack under the enormous pressure that comes with being a member of this conference.
If I’m right – and I think I am – this past weekend was encouraging on many fronts. For the first time in a while, multiple USC teams wearing the garnet and black excelled when the tension was at its highest.
The baseball team entered the Georgia series knowing it probably had to win at least two games to assure itself of a NCAA Tournament bid. The Gamecocks didn’t just beat the Bulldogs, they trounced them. The pitching – long a sore spot for some fans - was superb.
The men’s golf team entered the final day of the NCAA Southeast Regional tied for fifth place, the cut line for qualifying for the NCAA Championship.
What did USC do? They ripped through the course, turning in one of the best rounds in school history and finishing in a second place tie with Georgia and Arizona, securing a trip to Toledo along with 30 other schools.
Then we have the women’s tennis team, which first had to beat nationally ranked Tennessee on the Vols’ home court to make the national Round of 16 in College Station, Texas.
There, they beat Washington to advance to the quarterfinals and a clash with Georgia. In an epic battle against the heavily favored Bulldogs, USC fell, 4-3, on Sunday.
I know baseball, men’s golf and women’s tennis don’t capture the fancy of some USC fans, but all these teams hopefully paved the way this past weekend towards establishing USC as a force in the SEC.
How often have we seen any USC team playing its best at the end of the season? Unfortunately, it hasn’t happened enough. Maybe this weekend showed that will become a thing of the past.
I thought women’s tennis coach Arlo Elkins captured the significance of the weekend with this insightful quote on USC’s website following Sunday’s excruciating and heartbreaking loss to Georgia:
“This is what I told this team: I wanted them to set the standard not for this team here but for years to come and getting to the quarters was one and getting to the Final Four would have been it also. But, the reason they really set the standard is not for their wins and losses; they set the standard because of the attitude that they had. You know, we used to be satisfied with winning a round in the regional tournament and now they're really mad that they lost in the quarters, so that's a step forward and now we just have to take it from here."
Of course, he was talking specifically about his team, but that quote, with limited exceptions, applies universally to the USC athletic program.
Are you listening Gamecock football team?
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Maybe you’ve heard it. Maybe you haven’t.
The South Carolina baseball team’s sweep over SEC East rival Georgia last week marked a milestone for the USC athletic department.
By beating the Bulldogs three straight times, USC finished 17-13 in the SEC. Considering USC started slowly with a 2-4 mark in their first two series, that’s a pretty good record.
But we’re talking big picture here.
As a result of USC’s late season surge, the Gamecocks finished .500 or above in the SEC in the three major men’s sports – football, basketball and baseball – in the same academic year for the first time since USC joined the conference in 1992.
In other words, ever.
Surprised? I was.
But should I have been?
Thankfully, I didn't see or hear much celebrating among Gamecock fans over the milestone, and that's the way it should be. Winning, even in the SEC, must be expected if not demanded.
But getting to that point has been arduous, to say the least.
Without question, building a successful athletics program where the three major sports are consistently competitive in the most brutal conference in the nation has proven to be much more difficult than many USC administrators and fans imagined 17 years ago.
As Eric Hyman likes to say, the good news is USC is in the SEC and the bad news is USC is in the SEC.
So, while the milestone signifies a step forward for the Gamecocks, there is a long way to go before USC can finally say they’ve ‘arrived’ in the SEC.
Of course, it will take more than just one year of success within the SEC to convince me the tables have finally turned. The key is to do it again next year and the year after that and the year after that. And on and on.
Hopefully, five years from now, we can look back and say the 2008-2009 year represented the turning point in improving USC’s middle-of-the road standing within the SEC.
USC is on the right course, in my opinion, towards achieving that goal. The tens of millions of dollars being invested in facility improvements will help, no doubt, but so will the ‘no excuses’ mindset Hyman and some of the coaches like Steve Spurrier, Darrin Horn and Dawn Staley have brought to the department.
The process has been excruciatingly slow – too slow for many fans – and will remain incredibly expensive. That’s why the YES program and parking fees and higher ticket prices are here to stay.
For sure, two hundred million dollars – the amount it’s supposed to cost to bring Hyman’s vision of an Athletics Village to life – will buy a lot of steele and brick and mortar.
But it won’t come with any guarantee of victory.
That’s because building a consistent winner across the board in the SEC takes a lot more than running down to Lowe’s and purchasing some building supplies and throwing them together like they’re Lincoln Logs.
As I’ve often said before, success in the SEC requires athletes and coaches that are mentally tough and refuse to crack under the enormous pressure that comes with being a member of this conference.
If I’m right – and I think I am – this past weekend was encouraging on many fronts. For the first time in a while, multiple USC teams wearing the garnet and black excelled when the tension was at its highest.
The baseball team entered the Georgia series knowing it probably had to win at least two games to assure itself of a NCAA Tournament bid. The Gamecocks didn’t just beat the Bulldogs, they trounced them. The pitching – long a sore spot for some fans - was superb.
The men’s golf team entered the final day of the NCAA Southeast Regional tied for fifth place, the cut line for qualifying for the NCAA Championship.
What did USC do? They ripped through the course, turning in one of the best rounds in school history and finishing in a second place tie with Georgia and Arizona, securing a trip to Toledo along with 30 other schools.
Then we have the women’s tennis team, which first had to beat nationally ranked Tennessee on the Vols’ home court to make the national Round of 16 in College Station, Texas.
There, they beat Washington to advance to the quarterfinals and a clash with Georgia. In an epic battle against the heavily favored Bulldogs, USC fell, 4-3, on Sunday.
I know baseball, men’s golf and women’s tennis don’t capture the fancy of some USC fans, but all these teams hopefully paved the way this past weekend towards establishing USC as a force in the SEC.
How often have we seen any USC team playing its best at the end of the season? Unfortunately, it hasn’t happened enough. Maybe this weekend showed that will become a thing of the past.
I thought women’s tennis coach Arlo Elkins captured the significance of the weekend with this insightful quote on USC’s website following Sunday’s excruciating and heartbreaking loss to Georgia:
“This is what I told this team: I wanted them to set the standard not for this team here but for years to come and getting to the quarters was one and getting to the Final Four would have been it also. But, the reason they really set the standard is not for their wins and losses; they set the standard because of the attitude that they had. You know, we used to be satisfied with winning a round in the regional tournament and now they're really mad that they lost in the quarters, so that's a step forward and now we just have to take it from here."
Of course, he was talking specifically about his team, but that quote, with limited exceptions, applies universally to the USC athletic program.
Are you listening Gamecock football team?
Link to this entry - Discuss this entry - Return to 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 @.