TheState.com: GoGamecocks: Ron Morris

Morris: Garcia should be starter at QB

Fri, 17 Jun 2011 15:03 EDT

IF WE KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT SOUTH Carolina’s quarterback situation, it is that Steve Spurrier again can yank his starter at a moment’s notice. He has a capable backup to redshirt junior Stephen Garcia in freshman Connor Shaw.

But let’s not go overboard in heaping praise on Shaw at Garcia’s expense. Nearly all reports out of fall camp indicate Shaw is a hard worker. Coaches report he releases the ball quickly and is an excellent runner. He apparently is capable of operating USC’s offense.

Unfortunately, Shaw has not taken a snap under center in a game. He never has played in front of 70,000 fans. He never has faced a pack of Georgia linebackers bearing down on him as he settles into the pocket. He is a freshman.

“In general, that’s a pretty easy assumption to make,” said G.A. Mangus, USC’s quarterbacks coach. “But I think I’ve also seen, as time’s gone on, you see more and more skilled young players playing all across America. … Sometimes, if they’re the best player, and typically that’s why they’re the best player, because they have that mentality that it doesn’t matter whether they’re 18 or 22.”

Still, freshmen do not have a grand history in the SEC. Alabama, Auburn and Mississippi never have turned to a freshman quarterback. Eric Ainge produced the best season for a freshman quarterback in the SEC when he led Tennessee to the East Division championship in 2004 by throwing for 1,452 yards and 17 touchdowns with nine interceptions.

Morris: Holloway case shows inequity with NCAA rules

Fri, 17 Jun 2011 15:04 EDT

The unfortunate case of Murphy Holloway represents the perfect example of the oppressiveness and inequities that exist for NCAA athletes. His case also harks to how petty and pathetic an athletics department can be in punishing an athlete who opts to transfer to another school.

In Holloway's case, Mississippi is the institution that stooped to new lows. Even though Holloway no longer was a student or athlete at Mississippi, the athletics director and basketball coach denied his transfer to either South Carolina or Clemson - his first two preferences.

Should we be surprised? Hardly. This is the state where only in the past decade have fans stopped waving the Confederate flag at Mississippi home football games. This is the school that until a year ago hung on to its mascot, Colonel Reb, a caricature of what appears to be a white antebellum plantation owner.

But this is not to single out Mississippi. Its athletics department simply acted within the rules set down by the NCAA, rules written solely for the benefit of member institutions. Athletes are second-class citizens under NCAA rules.

If you do not believe that, the picture of exploited labor, restricted free trade and general tyranny within the NCAA becomes clear when you take a closer look at Holloway's case.

Morris: Salary insanity makes playoffs a pipe dream

Fri, 17 Jun 2011 15:04 EDT

If you want another reason why college football will never have a playoff, look no further than the raise for USC assistant coach Ellis Johnson recently approved by the South Carolina board of trustees.

I do not begrudge Johnson one dime of the $700,000 he will be compensated for the 2010 season. Johnson deserves market value, and market value for assistant head coaches/defensive coordinators has reached astronomical proportions.

Understand, though, the more athletics departments become fiscally irresponsible, the more they push themselves away from a football playoff. University presidents continue to point to escalating salaries as another example of how athletics departments are divesting themselves from college campuses.

Let's start with Johnson's situation, because his case serves as a good example of how college coaching salaries are being elevated far beyond what is reasonable. Johnson was offered the defensive coordinator's job at Tennessee during the offseason. USC could not match Tennessee's offer, but it did manage to keep Johnson by doubling his salary.

"I have very uneasy feelings about paying a defensive coordinator the amount of money we are paying him," said Eric Hyman, USC's athletics director. "When you have the competition come and offer him this kind of money, what do you do? You have a choice, so you make a business decision on what's the right thing to do considering the circumstances you are in."

Morris: USC's new style brings big results

Fri, 17 Jun 2011 15:04 EDT

Ray Tanner refutes rumors that had him managing throughout most of his USC career from a rocking chair in the dugout. He says there is no truth to talk that he submitted the lineup card before each game, then leaned back and waited for his team's offense to produce three-run homers.

Tanner will tell you, though, there is more managing going on with this South Carolina baseball team. That's because USC is playing a small-ball style longtime fans are not accustomed to seeing.

Tanner has preached to each of his teams over a 23-year career to play with a sense of urgency and heightened awareness. This team has forced Tanner to practice what he preaches.

"As a manager, I tell myself, 'Don't take a pitch off. Don't relax on a single pitch,' because there is a sense of urgency," Tanner says. "There are a lot of buttons that could be pushed or have to be pushed, and decisions that have to be made."

Tanner gleefully admits this new approach is different from any team he has coached, either at North Carolina State or USC. Previously accustomed to littering the field with designated hitters, Tanner has opted to play defense over hitting. That goes hand-in-hand with having a deep and talented pitching staff.

Morris: Shake-up should put USC back in the ACC

Fri, 17 Jun 2011 15:04 EDT

Another surge of realignment is on the college athletics horizon. This will be the third shakeup of the conference landscape since 1989. This one is likely to be the Big One, the realignment that cements most schools in conferences for decades to come.

Let's suppose we are rearranging conferences in a perfect world. Under our rules, every school will be an ideal fit in a new conference and every conference will end up with the best-case scenario.

Notre Dame, of course, is going to make the first move. Let's assume Notre Dame does not want to become the 12th member of the oddly named Big Ten Conference. The Fighting Irish remains an independent in football, and a member of the Big East in basketball.

The first moving van pulls into Columbia, Mo., where Missouri shifts from the Big 12 to the Big Ten. The move causes a domino effect never before seen in college athletics, one that will leave South Carolina where it should have been all along - in the Atlantic Coast Conference.

Missouri's departure for the Big Ten creates the perfect opening for Arkansas, which leaves the Southeastern Conference for the Big 12. For Arkansas, it means a return to a league with many of its natural rivals - Texas, Oklahoma, Texas A&M, Texas Tech and Oklahoma State.

Morris: Poll reveals there are too many polls

Wed, 21 Apr 2010 00:55 EDT

SOUTH CAROLINA'S baseball team this week is ranked Nos. 10, 10, 5, 14, 9, 8 and 12. Those rankings, respectively, are by Baseball America, USA Today/ESPN, Collegiate Baseball, the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association, Rivals.com, PGCrosschecker.com and Boyd's World RPI.

Those are the rankings we know of. Tracking down polls by Teambaseball.com or Collegebaseball360.com is more difficult. There could be more polls out there in Internetland because it comes down to this: If someone has a website and remotely follows college baseball, that site has a poll.

"There are two ways to look at it," says Ray Tanner, USC's coach. "On one hand, you say, there are too many polls, which ones do you recognize and which ones do you put stock in? The other part of it is it's good for college baseball because people are taking the time to create more interest."

In analyzing the polls, it probably is best to break them down into Internet and non-Internet categories. Anything with a '.com" on the end of it probably is not taken too seriously by fans, players and coaches.

Even Allan Simpson, an editor with PGCrosschecker.com, admits his poll is mostly for fun. His poll lets readers know the site is interested in college baseball but really is about scouting and grading prospects.

Morris: Charmed life for USC's DeMars

Fri, 17 Jun 2011 15:03 EDT

When Kent DeMars sits late at night at his desk in the same cramped office at the Roundhouse where he has worked for 26 years, the South Carolina tennis coach must believe the stars outside always are perfectly aligned.

How else to explain the charmed life DeMars has lived in tennis. DeMars grew up in East St. Louis next door to Jimmy Connors' family. How can you possibly have another interest when there is a tennis court in the field behind your homes?

Fast forward a few years and DeMars is headed for a high school coaching job when he receives a call from Jimbo Connors - Jimmy's father - telling him instead to take the head coaching job at Southern Illinois-Edwardsville. When Jimbo Connors recommends you for the job, you take it, even if that college has no program.

Seven Division II championships later, DeMars happens to need change for a dollar bill to purchase a newspaper outside a coffee shop in Athens, Ga., when he bumps into an associate athletics director from USC. A few days later, DeMars is offered the school's tennis coaching job, accepts it and is off to Columbia, where he will retire at the end of this season as USC's all-time leader in wins.

Call it good karma, or good kismet, DeMars says he has had a way of being in the right place at the right time. Time and time again.

Morris: Spurrier needs to change approach with Garcia

Fri, 17 Jun 2011 15:04 EDT

IF THE POINT of Steve Spurrier browbeating Stephen Garcia throughout the spring was to ensure an offseason of diligent workouts by the junior quarterback, well, let's call it Mission Accomplished. Garcia is likely to be the hardest worker on the USC team this summer.

Now, if Spurrier's goal is to inspire Garcia to lead South Carolina to an SEC East championship in 2010, maybe it is time for Mission Confidence Builder. More than anything, for USC to be a championship football team, Garcia needs to play with confidence.

Frankly, Spurrier's continued public derision of Garcia has grown tiresome. For the good of their relationship, the team's fortunes and the unity of the USC fan base, it is time for a new motivational tactic from Spurrier.

Understand, there usually is a lot more method than madness to Spurrier's modus operandi. No one ever has doubted Spurrier's ability to teach the fundamentals of playing quarterback. Few have questioned the way he plays quarterbacks against each other in an effort to get the most out of the No. 1 guy.

So to second-guess the methods of one of college football's all-time greatest coaches is treading dangerous waters. Spurrier's coaching stripes include an ACC championship at Duke, seven SEC titles at Florida and a national crown with the Gators.

Morris: Mungo took leading role in USC athletics

Fri, 17 Jun 2011 15:03 EDT

There was no greater champion of athletics at the University of South Carolina than Mike Mungo. There also was no one who kept a closer eye on spending for USC athletics than Mungo.

Mungo, a USC board of trustees member for parts of six decades, died Sunday. He was 82.

Mungo was a member of the board during two of the most critical decisions in the history of the USC athletics department. He insisted, even late in life, that USC should not have seceded from the Atlantic Coast Conference, as it did in 1971. He also was instrumental in pushing USC to enter the Southeastern Conference in 1992.

Mungo was into his second year on the board in 1970 when USC began to consider its move out of the ACC, where it had been a charter member, since 1953. He said then, and repeated to anyone who would listen later, that the decision was short-sighted. He often said USC's decision to leave the league was one of the worst ever made by the university.

But Mungo remained on the board long enough for USC to correct the error, in his mind. By 1991, when USC first learned of a pending invitation to join the SEC, Mungo led the charge.

Morris: Spurrier aims to have Plan B at QB

Fri, 17 Jun 2011 15:04 EDT

STEVE SPURRIER DOES not want another season where Stephen Garcia is his only option as South Carolina's quarterback. Spurrier did not particularly care for having his hands tied a season ago when Garcia went the distance, never having to glance over his shoulder at the competition or find a seat on the sideline.

Spurrier always has cottoned to the idea of having a second option with his quarterbacks. He wants a capable backup if for no other reason than to serve as a threat to the starter. One of his primary teaching tools with quarterbacks long has been: Play smart and efficiently or find a seat on the bench.

Thus, Spurrier made it abundantly clear at the conclusion of the disastrous Papajohns.com Bowl that he would not go into this season with only one quarterback at his disposal.

It was no secret this spring that Spurrier wanted improvement from Garcia. Then he wanted a strong enough showing by freshman Connor Shaw to make things interesting when fall practice begins.

Garcia obviously did not make the kind of strides in the spring Spurrier sought because, when asked if a backup was found in the spring, Spurrier bowed up a little.

Morris: Tanner never forgets influence of mentor

Fri, 17 Jun 2011 15:03 EDT

Ray Tanner remembers the nervousness that came with being a college head baseball coach for the first time, particularly for someone not far removed from being one of the players at 27 years old.

Tanner can immediately recount that first win at N.C. State, a 7-1 decision over Western Carolina. Jeff Hartsock, he will tell you, was the winning pitcher.

Beyond that, Tanner can recall the calm confidence he carried into the dugout that day in late February 1988. It is the same self-assurance Tanner has possessed every game he has coached the past 23 seasons at both N.C. State and South Carolina, a belief in himself and his philosophy that has him on the verge of 1,000 career wins.

When he reaches that milestone - he entered the weekend with 995 wins - Tanner will recognize his assistant coaches over the years, the administrations at N.C. State and USC for their support, and the players who have made him the 44th coach in Division I history to reach 1,000 wins.

Then he likely will call Sam Esposito, who lives in a retirement home outside Boone, N.C., to give him the news. Esposito was Tanner's coach at N.C. State, then his boss in the dugout for seven years when Tanner served as an assistant coach.

Morris: Program's pioneer spirit must chart a new path

Thu, 01 Apr 2010 22:00 EDT

KELSEY BONE DROPPED a bomb on the South Carolina athletics department Wednesday when she decided to leave the women's basketball program.

Before you dismiss her transfer as insignificant because she is not a he and does not play football, men's basketball or baseball, consider the reaction a year ago when Bone announced she was headed to Columbia.

Her decision was celebrated as one made by a program-changer ... not just the women's basketball program, but the entire athletics program. She was considered by some to be the top women's basketball recruit in the nation. In no other major sport had USC ever landed the top high school player in the country, until Bone.

It was stunning news that a player from Houston, who could have played for any traditional power in the country, instead chose to be part of a budding program that she could lead to national prominence.

Bone's decision was celebrated by Dawn Staley and her staff, by other USC coaches, and by the USC athletics administration. Bone's signing verified to the athletics department that it could get done at USC. Her signing signaled that USC had what it takes to recruit and sign the nation's best athletes.

Morris: Coaches can help right injustice

Fri, 17 Jun 2011 15:05 EDT

I AM NOT ONE TO LEAD cheers, but give me some pom-poms when it comes to the Legislative Black Caucus' latest effort to prevent the University of South Carolina board of trustees from becoming all white.

The Black Caucus could have shrugged its collective shoulders and permitted the legislature to vote yet another white man onto the USC board of trustees.

Instead, the Black Caucus rightfully went public with its fight. Before it was too late, the Black Caucus got the word out that this state is facing yet another calamity. Unfathomable as it might seem in 2010, the 20-member USC board of trustees could be lily white in another month.

What was the most effective way to get the word out that our legislature continues to turn its back on diversity in this state? That is easy: Take the message to the world of sports, where the most citizens will sit up and take note.

Do not think for a minute that the Black Caucus believed it could persuade USC football prospects to change their minds about playing football for the Gamecocks. That was not the purpose of calling USC recruits, according to state Rep. Todd Rutherford, a Richland County Democrat and a member of the Black Caucus.

Morris: Purnell, Horn win style points

Fri, 17 Jun 2011 15:03 EDT

The lingering question following Clemson's early exits from the ACC and NCAA tournaments has to do with the Tigers' style of play: Can a team play full-court basketball throughout the regular season and retain enough energy to advance in postseason play?

The question is pertinent because it not only applies to Clemson basketball but to South Carolina hoops as well. Oliver Purnell has constructed a consistently successful program due in large part to his teams' style of play. Darrin Horn is in the building stages of a similar project with his teams attempting to play a baseline-to-baseline game.

Yet Purnell's teams have lost three consecutive opening-round games in the NCAA tournament, and Horn's teams have faded down the stretch of the regular season in each of his two seasons.

Both coaches say a cumulative effect of fatigue is merely an excuse.

"One of the toughest things you face sometimes is kids reading so much about being tired and worn down, and a lot of times kids are looking for excuses and looking for a path of least resistance," Purnell says. "One of the issues in our country with our youth is bearing down and working hard and being confident."

S.C. rates as hoops hotbed

Fri, 19 Mar 2010 20:35 EDT

Fans across the country might not know the exact whereabouts of Clemson, Winthrop and Wofford, but the trio of NCAA participants is putting the state of South Carolina on the college basketball map.

For only the fourth time since 1989, the state has three or more representatives in the NCAA tournament. While that might not sound particularly impressive, consider that the basketball tradition-rich state of North Carolina has only two teams - Duke and Wake Forest - in the tournament field.

Or, consider that South Carolina has as many representatives in the 65-team bracket as Kentucky, where natives will tell you the game was invented and has flourished ever since. In the University of Kentucky, Louisville and Murray State, the state of Kentucky has nothing on South Carolina.

The most knowledgeable of sports fans might reasonably conclude football is the sport of choice in South Carolina. Still, the state deserves due recognition as fast developing into a hoops hotbed.

"There are players in this state, and it's a great basketball state," says no less an authority than Bobby Cremins, the head coach at College of Charleston. His 21-11 club opened play Wednesday night at Eastern Kentucky in the College Basketball Invitational.

Hank Small: Hundreds mourn home run hero

Tue, 09 Mar 2010 06:31 EST

ATLANTA - Childhood friends were there. So, too, were many former South Carolina and minor-league teammates. Family members came from all over to pay their final respects to Hammerin' Hank Small.

The funeral service turned into a celebration of Small's life, one he lived to the fullest.

"I loved Hank Small," said Jeff Grantz, a teammate of Small's at USC, who stood in a pew to address the gathering of about 300 at Second Ponce de Leon Baptist Church. "He was a great friend and an awesome teammate. He was the greatest hitter I've ever seen."

Small, the first true home run hitter in USC baseball annals, died last Wednesday at age 56 after a freak fall at his new home in Griffin, Ga. He left behind his mother, three brothers, an ex-wife, two daughters and countless admirers.

They all had stories to tell about the affable Small, whose 48 career home runs stood as a USC record until two seasons ago. The baseball stories were mostly about his towering home runs.

Morris: Series format proves perfect fit for all

Fri, 17 Jun 2011 15:05 EDT

TALK ABOUT EVERYTHING falling into place. Two outstanding college baseball games. Beautiful weather throughout. Overflow crowds. In the end, the new format for the South Carolina-Clemson baseball series was a smashing success.

Eric Hyman liked it. Mike deMaine, the Greenville Drive general manager, liked it. Jack Leggett liked it. Ray Tanner liked it, save for the outcome of Sunday's Clemson blowout win at Carolina Stadium.

Clemson rode a pair of grand slams and five home runs to a 19-6 victory in the finale. Regardless of which team you pull for, the important part of Sunday's game was that it provided a series winner. There was a rubber game.

"Isn't baseball meant to be played in a series, for the most part?" Tanner asked rhetorically afterward. "I like that aspect of it. It seemed to go very well. Three different sites, great crowds and you get a series winner."

In the 10 previous seasons, USC and Clemson played under a four-game format with two games played on an early weekend, then the other two played one week apart during the middle of the week. Three times in the previous decade, no winner was determined after the teams split the four games.

Morris: SEC MVP a matter of heart or head

Fri, 17 Jun 2011 15:04 EDT

If you are voting with your heart, Devan Downey is the runaway winner for SEC player of the year. He does more with his talent than perhaps any player in the country. At 5-foot-9, he often plays like the biggest man on the court.

How can you not side with a player who, despite his vertical liability, not only leads the conference in scoring but competes with a heart bigger than the arenas he plays in? Downey single-handedly injected the "life" back into USC's Colonial Life Arena this season.

Unfortunately for Downey and USC fans, the SEC player of the year does not go to the crowd favorite. It goes instead to the best overall player. So, let's examine the race with our heads instead of our hearts.

In addition to Downey, Kentucky's dynamic freshman duo of 6-4 guard John Wall and 6-11 forward DeMarcus Cousins have emerged as the leading candidates for the honors. And I do mean honors, since the SEC inexplicably continues to recognize a winner named by the league coaches as well as by The Associated Press.

Scoring matters since the ultimate object is to put the ball in the hoop. So, give Downey full credit for averaging a league-leading 22.9 points per game. Wall averages 16.7 and Cousins 16.3.

Morris: Very little left of season's promise

Fri, 17 Jun 2011 15:04 EDT

South Carolina's postseason chances and Devan Downey's SEC player of the year candidacy continued to swirl down the same drain Saturday afternoon at Colonial Life Arena.

Where once the talk was of USC maneuvering its way into the NCAA tournament, now it centers around whether the Gamecocks can make their way into the NIT. At 14-12 following an eight-point loss to Tennessee, USC needs to steal a couple of wins down the stretch against teams it probably should not beat ... just to get in the NIT.

Meanwhile, Downey's player of the year bubble probably has burst in unison with USC's late-season slide. During USC's four losses in the past five games, Downey 's performance has been anything but spectacular. His 30 percent shooting - 29 percent from 3-point range - during that stretch attests to that.

It is a sad scenario because Darrin Horn admittedly sacrificed much of his program building in order to win with this year's club. That meant abandoning the trapping and pressing style of defense he prefers and focusing much of his team's offense on his star senior, Downey.

"Completely, to some degree," said Horn when asked how much sacrifice to program building he has made. His mixed-message answer was not nearly as confusing as his team's play during a pivotal part of the second half when a couple of botched plays allowed Tennessee to increase its lead from 1 to 5 points as 3 seconds ticked off the clock.

Morris: NCAA tourney expansion is a losing bet

Fri, 17 Jun 2011 15:04 EDT

ALL THIS TALK about NCAA tournament expansion? Forget about it.

First of all, it is not going to happen because college presidents will not let it happen. Additionally, it is a bad idea, one that can't even be justified by boatloads of additional money from TV networks.

The NCAA tournament has operated with 64 or 65 teams since 1985. It rightfully has claimed to be one of the most exciting events in all of sports. No other event captures the undivided attention of its fan base in addition to appealing to non-fans like the NCAA tournament.

Television ratings on CBS soar. Office bracket pools are as much a part of the sports landscape as bets on the Super Bowl and the Kentucky Derby.

So why consider messing with a good thing? It's simple: money.