Head Coach Hires @ South Carolina

[Legal_fowl]

I don't know about that. I think most of our fan base would be ecstatic with regular 8-9 win seasons. We know we aren't competing for titles.

If Indiana can do it so can we.

 

[18IsTheMan]

If Indiana can do it so can we.

They are 523-719-46 all time, with a 3-11 bowl record.

 

[SouthernBelly]

They are 523-719-46 all time, with a 3-11 bowl record.

I don’t know who 2 of those 3 are.

 

[atl-cock]

Go back in history:

Paul Dietzel: National championship winning coach. Won South Carolina's only conference (ACC) championship; Retired.
Jim Carlen: Won as Head Coach at West Virginia and Texas Tech. When 8 wins in a regular season had never been done at SC and was a psychological barrier, he did it twice, recruited our only Heisman Trophy winner and recruited most of the players, especially offensive line, who went as high as number 2 in the nation in 1984; Fired for NON-football reasons.
Richard Bell: Top assistant to Carlen; but no Head Coaching experience. Fired after one season.
Joe Morrison: Won as Head Coach at UT-Chattanooga and New Mexico. Led South Carolina to its first nationally-ranked seasons (twice in the Top 15). Died
Sparky Woods: Won as a Head Coach (though NOT at a FBS school). Fired after 5 seasons.
Brad Scott: No Head Coaching experience. Offensive Coordinator at national champion FSU; Called by one recruiting source as the best recruiter in the nation. Fired after 5 seasons.
Lou Holtz: Legend. Led SC to 2 Top 20 finishes. Retired
Steve Spurrier: Legend. Led SC to 3 Top 10 finishes. Retired

I can justify everyone of the above hires. But, the only ones who had any notable success in an entire season were Dietzel, Carlen, Morrison, Holtz and Spurrier. What they all had in common was prior success as Head Coaches at FBS schools.

But after Spurrier, what in the world happened?
Will Muschamp: Fired as Head Coach at Florida. What a roll of the dice!!!!!!
Shane Beamer: Never had been an OC nor DC, much less a Head Coach. Why was he hired? OK, some former players did him a favor, at his request, and lobbied for his hire. OK, some thought, even though he was primarily a position coach, they pointed to Dabo being only a position coach before being promoted to Head Coach ("forget" the fact that Dabo was coaching one of the few SEC-type schools in a primarily basketball conference). Undoubtedly, the hope was that they were hiring a young Frank Beamer, ignoring the fact that Frank Beamer proved himself as a Head Coach (at Murray State) prior to being hired by Virginia Tech.

Yes, Ray Tanner deserves a lot of the blame. But, make no mistake about it, the Board of Trustees deserve a lot of the blame, as well. Former players lobbied the Board at the request of and on behalf of Beamer. BOT members whispered in Tanner's ears and they were the ones who pushed to make Tanner as AD.

We mysteriously went off the rails after Spurrier retired.

Check Dietzel's record at Army. Also, he was, for all practical purposes, forced out at USC. Anybody else besides King remember the GROD (Get Rid of Dietzel) bumper stickers?

 

[atl-cock]

Nice summary. Our MO was bringing in former title winning coaches (Dietzel won one at LSU in the '50s) and had some success with that formula with Holtz and Spurrier obviously before Muschamp and Beamer. Dietzel was before my time but I believe he was credited for first using today's fight song and also converting the home field to astroturf. He was coach when my dad was at Carolina. My dad never cared much for Dietzel but liked Carlen and loved Morrison (became a rabid fan during the '84 season and so did his young son). I remember my dad took off from work to attend the Joe Morrison memorial at Williams Brice in '89. They had his casket on display.

Dietzel was a lot of talk and little substance.

 

[Legal_fowl]

Check Dietzel's record at Army. Also, he was, for all practical purposes, forced out at USC. Anybody else besides King remember the GROD (Get Rid of Dietzel) bumper stickers?

Yes he was forced out. I think he remained AD for a time after that.

 

[Rob Hawk]

I don’t know who 2 of those 3 are.

I was present for 1 of those 3. And it was cold that night.

 

[Hoganman1]

This is a great history lesson. Back before Dietzel all the coaches had to do was beat Clemson to keep their jobs.
Frankly, I am not sure what we should do going forward. Until this season I thought we were going in the right direction.
I guess we will see what happens at the end of the season. It may be that once again beating Clemson is something Beamer has to do to get at least one more year.

 

[Skuddy]

We all have been asking the same question(s) why did Tanner hire SB, perhaps the better question would be (and we will never get the true answer).
1. What or who pointed you in the direction of SB in the first place ?
2. How many other candidates were looked at, how many of those where interviewed ?
3. What was it about SB, that made him stand out above all the others, and led you to believe that you could entrust him with one sport that generates the most income for the Athletic Department.

I heard that it was a member of the BoT that told him to go after Beamer and to "not F it up". This is just what I heard and have no direct knowledge.

 

[SouthernBelly]

I heard that it was a member of the BoT that told him to go after Beamer and to "not F it up". This is just what I heard and have no direct knowledge.

A board member was the first to bring Beamer to everyone’s attention. Josh Pate has a segment on it, really about how surprisingly inefficient some coaching searches are, using SC as an example. Came out about a year after Beamer was hired, called the Will Muschamp Emails.

 

[gamecock stock]

Check Dietzel's record at Army. Also, he was, for all practical purposes, forced out at USC. Anybody else besides King remember the GROD (Get Rid of Dietzel) bumper stickers?

I too remember GROD. I was a member of that club back in the day. I tried to post on Pepsodent Paul kindly. He would have happily stayed as AD. But Carlen wanted that job as well as Head Coach. The BOT wanted Carlen as Head Coach. So, they gave Carlen that job too. If I recall correctly, Dietzel eventually became AD at LSU.

 

[Skuddy]

A board member was the first to bring Beamer to everyone’s attention. Josh Pate has a segment on it, really about how surprisingly inefficient some coaching searches are, using SC as an example. Came out about a year after Beamer was hired, called the Will Muschamp Emails.

Why do we seem to always be the example of how NOT to do something.

 

[18IsTheMan]

I think our saving grace now is we have a serious AD. As Finebaum put it...state of the art AD. He's young and plugged into the current climate of college athletics. I don't know if he'll get too contaminated by the culture here, but if not, I assume he'll make sensible moves.

 

[gamecock stock]

I think our saving grace now is we have a serious AD. As Finebaum put it...state of the art AD. He's young and plugged into the current climate of college athletics. I don't know if he'll get too contaminated by the culture here, but if not, I assume he'll make sensible moves.

Donati was a great hire by Dr. Amiridis. I have been greatly critical of the BOT for their butting in regarding athletics. But, they did good in hiring Dr. Amiridis.

 

[atl-cock]

I too remember GROD. I was a member of that club back in the day. I tried to post on Pepsodent Paul kindly. He would have happily stayed as AD. But Carlen wanted that job as well as Head Coach. The BOT wanted Carlen as Head Coach. So, they gave Carlen that job too. If I recall correctly, Dietzel eventually became AD at LSU.

That sounds right.

Today, especially in D-I the AD is not a coach in any sport at her/his school. Too many responsibilities for each position and, IMO, becomes a conflict of interest, i.e., potential favourtism towards your own sport. The discord between Dietzel and McGuire is an excellent example of this.

 

[atl-cock]

I think our saving grace now is we have a serious AD. As Finebaum put it...state of the art AD. He's young and plugged into the current climate of college athletics. I don't know if he'll get too contaminated by the culture here, but if not, I assume he'll make sensible moves.

Sounds like Donati will do his best to advise the "fams" that they may have to choose between more winning sports and doing things the way they've always been done.

 

[kidrobinski]

…Too many responsibilities for each position and, IMO, becomes a conflict of interest, i.e., potential favourtism towards your own sport. The discord between Dietzel and McGuire is an excellent example of this.

I see several, one in particular, holding Carlen on a pedestal. In my opinion that occurrence was a poison from which we may never recover.

 

[gamecock stock]

Sounds like Donati will do his best to advise the "fams" that they may have to choose between more winning sports and doing things the way they've always been done.

When Donati has a chance to fill the football Head Coach job, based on his one opportunity to fill such a job, he will look for someone with successful FBS Head Coaching experience. Going the other way never has worked out for us (Bell, Scott. Muschamp). They were monumental failures. People should be bright enough to learn from what they have lived through. But, unfortunately, some are not.

 

[atl-cock]

I see several, one in particular, holding Carlen on a pedestal. In my opinion that occurrence was a poison from which we may never recover.

I'm sure you hope you are wrong, but fear you are right.