In down USC baseball season, radio analyst Tommy Moody tells it like it is
Before heading out Wednesday to Carolina Stadium for that night’s game vs. Wofford, Tommy Moody cast a wary eye at the visiting Terriers.
“The way (South Carolina) has been playing the past 5-6 weeks, Wofford is as much of a challenge as a lower-tier SEC team,” he said.
Turned out Moody – in his 16th season as analyst for WNKT-FM/107.5 The Game’s radio coverage of USC baseball – was correct, as he often is about the Gamecocks. In this most frustrating of seasons, USC won 5-3, but had to hang on for dear life after building an early lead.
A pedestrian 28-21 (10-14 SEC) and headed to No. 3 Texas A&M this weekend, coach Chad Holbrook’s team is on the verge of missing the NCAA postseason for the first time since 1999. Fans accustomed to the high life, topped by back-to-back national titles in 2010-11, predictably are not happy with an 11-18 run after a 17-3 start; witness at least one “Fire Holbrook” website.
No one is more disappointed than Moody, whose deep ties to USC baseball date to his Columbia childhood and four seasons as a walk-on second baseman (1970-73). When your job is to dissect “your” team’s play for listeners, though, analysis and loyalty can clash.
Moody says he sees games through an ex-player’s eyes, the good and, especially this season, the bad. He has a fan’s expectations, too. How to walk that fine line, on-air, between your heart and your head?
“It’s a mixed bag,” the 63-year-old said. “I always give (players) the benefit of the doubt. I don’t look for excuses why a guy didn’t make a play, but I’ve been there, with the lights on you.
“It’s a hard game to play, and I try to be realistic. But when I’m disappointed, I think that comes across, too.”
And disappointment has been a near-constant for USC this season; weak hitting, spotty pitching, mental errors have all contributed. Moody, in fact, says he saw this coming, even when the Gamecocks were ranked as high as No. 6 early in the season.
“No one (seemed to see) the talent drop-off,” he said, “but (USC) lost six juniors to the pros, including the fastest guy on the team in Tanner English. You lost the heart of the program, the pitchers. They had big holes to fill.
“From a physical standpoint, too, the freshmen have not contributed so far. They’re doing the best they can. … (But) the defense isn’t as strong, nor the batting and pitching. With the losses in personnel, to still be in the top 10 in preseason, I didn’t buy it.”
Until this season, Moody had his dream job. In 2000, when both of USC’s radio positions came open, he approached play-by-play announcer Charlie McAlexander about stepping into the booth. “I thought I might be able to do it, and I wanted to give it a shot,” he said.
With training from McAlexander and USC’s legendary “Voice,” the late Bob Fulton, Moody got that shot. Talk about timing; he joined the broadcast team at the dawn of the Gamecocks’ greatest run of success.
But now? Holbrook critics cite a “steady decline” – from NCAA runner-up in 2012, to Super Regional loser in 2013, to a regional loss at home last year – as evidence the program is on a slide. Moody disagrees, pointing to solid recruiting for 2016 and the backing of athletics director Ray Tanner (who as coach from 1997-2011 created those high expectations) and the school board for Holbrook.
“I appreciate 2010-11, so after all those thrills, if (Holbrook’s Gamecocks) don’t get a pass for one bad season … I don’t know what to say,” Moody said. “It’s hard not to trust Ray Tanner; he knows the game. And I think Chad is a great coach and recruiter.
“Even when we were 17-3, I thought, ‘Gosh, how are we 17-3?’ You’d have to say Chad was overachieving; then reality set in.”
He concedes he walks a fine line at times. He’s a Gamecock and an ex-player, but he also says he doesn’t sugarcoat problems he sees. “Then on the way home, I’ll wonder, ‘Did I come down too hard’ on a player/players?”
Fulton remains his role model. “You knew where his heart was, but he tried to play it down the middle,” he said.
He paused, and added, “But Bob didn’t play for Carolina.”
That reality, at times, has made this season as tough for Moody as for the Gamecocks.
This story was originally published May 7, 2015 at 10:02 PM with the headline "In down USC baseball season, radio analyst Tommy Moody tells it like it is."