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USC to keep Ellis as football play-by-play
Morgan’s replacement will be for baseball and men’s basketbally only, says school
Tommy Suggs and Todd Ellis
Erik Campos/ecampos@thestate.com
CommentsUSC plans to keep Todd Ellis in his play-by-play role for football and will hire someone to do the men’s basketball and baseball broadcasts to replace Mike Morgan, a USC spokesman said Thursday.
Athletics director Eric Hyman will conduct the search as he did when hiring basketball coaches Darrin Horn and Dawn Staley last year, said Steve Fink, USC media relations director.
Hyman plans to meet with Gamecock Club members to see what fans are looking for in an announcer before beginning the interview process.
Morgan resigned under pressure April 21 midway through his 10th season as the play-by-play voice for the Gamecocks’ baseball team.
Ellis, the former Gamecocks’ quarterback who owns the school’s all-time passing yardage record, succeeded Charlie McAlexander as the play-by-play man before the 2003 season.
USC will be going against an SEC trend. Ten of the 12 SEC schools have play-by-play announcers who handle football and men’s basketball. Alabama is the other conference school with separate play-by-play announcers.
USC has no shortage of candidates hoping to be the next voice of the Gamecocks’ baseball and men’s basketball teams.
The school has received a large number of applicants for Morgan’s former position, according to a spokesman for the school’s media-rights holder.
John Justus of ISP Sports said USC would continue to use Derek Scott and Brad Muller for the remainder of baseball season before making a full-time hire this summer.
“Ultimately, it’s ISP’s hire,” Fink said. “But we’ll have some kind of recommendation.”
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