He coached at USC, now he helps UNC. How Sparky Woods remembers his time with Gamecocks
South Carolina entered the SEC with Sparky Woods as its head football coach. Nearly three decades later, the Gamecocks will enter the 2019 season with Woods on the opposing sideline.
Woods, in his first year as North Carolina’s senior advisor to the head coach, said Saturday’s UNC-USC game should be about the players who “wear the blue and the ones who wear the red.” And not about “a bunch of old coaches.”
Woods is 65 now and well removed from his five-year run in charge of the Gamecocks. That was a time — 1989-93 — of transition, rebuilding and replacing at USC. Woods’ final record was 24-28-3. Some other numbers from that era ... “I didn’t know that I would have three presidents and two athletic directors,” Woods said.
Woods, at 35 and fresh off four consecutive winning seasons at Appalachian State, was hired by King Dixon, but fired by the late Mike McGee. Woods’ arrival at USC came 16 days after Joe Morrison’s death and four months following the explosive Sports Illustrated story — authored by Gamecock lineman Tommy Chaikin — that exposed steroid use inside USC’s program.
“Of course I didn’t know what was ahead — joining a conference and all that,” Woods told The State on Monday. “I did know about some of the challenges that were there with the history of the steroid scandal. I think we had a 19 percent graduation rate at the time. ... Coach Morrison had died three days before Signing Day. So they signed without a coach. So they came in without a head coach. They signed four or five quarterbacks and all this. They didn’t know what kind of offense the new coach would run, so on and so forth.
“So it was a tough time.”
Woods still managed to lead USC to winning seasons each of his first two years. He went 12-19-2 over his last three — including an 8-11 mark in the SEC — but did land a memorable win over Clemson in ‘92.
“I remember being with King and his dreams of what could be done at South Carolina,” Woods said, “and I thought they were all good. I remember going with him to that pit area across the street to ask the guy for that land to build the practice fields there. I remember seeing all those facilities long before they were built.
“I think the thing that was disappointing for me was how the people … the changes happened so fast, we lost a president and then two more. So I think people who came in really didn’t understand where we had started and the progress we had made until there.
“And then jumping into that conference, too, made it a bigger challenge to win games.
“I thought overall it was a great place. I was excited about it. Like the University of North Carolina, it’s a great place to go to, great people who care about their school. So it was an honor for me to work there as it is to work here at North Carolina.”
Woods has been a part of 14 college or NFL staffs in his career. A lot of them came with Mack Brown on his résumé. The two met at Appalachian State in the early 1980s and have remained in touch. When Brown became UNC’s head coach for a second time this offseason, Woods, who spent his previous 11 years at VMI (head coach) and Richmond (assistant), reached out to an old friend.
“I contacted him because I had interest,” Woods said. “We were at Richmond at the time, coaching, and I enjoyed my time there. But this was an opportunity to get back to the Power 5 level.
“I did think this was an opportune time to come here. I thought this was a good time. And I think he’s going to do great things here. And we all hope it starts this fall. But I think he’s going to do great, great things while he’s here.”
Saturday will mark the fourth USC-UNC game Woods has been directly affiliated with, but first since the Tar Heels — led by Brown — beat his Gamecocks in 1991.
“I’m excited,” Woods said.
