TheState.com: Ron Morris

Morris: Ugly stick knocks grotesque Gamecocks

Fri, 02 Jan 2009 00:02 EST

TAMPA, Fla. Just when you thought South Carolina football could not further embarrass itself in front of a national television audience, it did just that Thursday afternoon in the Outback Bowl.

"Embarrassed, disappointed, all of that," said USC tight end Jared Cook in perfect summation of USC's performance in the loss to Iowa that was not nearly as close as the final 31-10 score indicated.

USC can only hope fans across the country carried a New Year's Eve hangover, forgot the late morning start and did not watch on ESPN. At least USC fans at home had the option of clicking away from the TV at halftime. By then, Iowa held a three-touchdown lead that might as well have been six.

Those USC fans who filled the one corner of Raymond James Stadium at kickoff began to filter out of the stadium before the Gamecocks returned for the second half. They were the smart ones because the third quarter was more of the same for USC in what became a comedy of errors.

One can only hope those fans were tuned into the postgame media conference on their drive home to hear Steve Spurrier offer them somewhat of an apology.

Morris: Don't get married to trophy strife

Thu, 01 Jan 2009 17:12 EST

TAMPA, Fla.

There is a different feel to this, the third Outback Bowl in eight years for the South Carolina football team. That feeling is easy to detect. This USC team realizes the Outback is not the be-all, end-all bowl destination.

That is quite a change in outlook from USC's previous two trips here, when back-to-back victories over Ohio State were considered the apex of not only Lou Holtz's program but the history of the program.

USC conducted pep rallies following both of those victories, parading the trophy around Williams-Brice Stadium. Holtz ordered special Outback Bowl championship watches for each of his assistant coaches.

Well, you might recall that a couple of SEC Media Days ago, Steve Spurrier said USC was ready to begin building a trophy case that housed significant hardware. He said USC's current case included only two funny-looking trophies, referring to the Outback trophies that feature a boomerang.

Morris: Garcia starts over at home

Wed, 31 Dec 2008 20:05 EST

TAMPA, Fla. — Thursday’s Outback Bowl represents the second coming of the savior of South Carolina’s football program. While Stephen Garcia’s original arrival was of biblical proportions, all associated with the program only can hope this new start is met with much more caution.

That might be easier said than done. There are too many elements to Garcia’s tale this week that point to a storybook conclusion. He and the USC team practiced at Garcia’s alma mater, Jefferson High School, where he used the same locker space as he did during his glory days as a Dragons quarterback.

The Outback Bowl is played at nearby Raymond James Stadium, where Garcia grew up attending games of the NFL’s Tampa Bay Buccaneers and where he earned MVP honors in the Hillsborough County all-star game following his senior season of high school.

As even Garcia said this week, everything has been painted into the perfect picture, with the exception of an outstanding performance by the quarterback on Thursday and a USC victory over Iowa.

Garcia long ago was named starting quarterback for the game, leading to speculation that coach Steve Spurrier was as concerned about promoting ticket sales as he was with winning the game. A better theory has it that Spurrier sees a fresh start for a young man whose painful maturation has operated in parallel universes on and off the football field.

Morris: Athletes getting just rewards

Mon, 29 Dec 2008 22:55 EST

TAMPA, Fla. — Make no mistake, the players get the most out of the college football bowl experience, and well they should.

Argue all you want about college athletes getting a free education. The fact is, while coaches earn lavish salaries and administrators drink the finest wines, the players are pretty much serfs during the regular season.

That all changes come bowl time. The athletes have all the fun. They also are showered with gifts and earn a nice paycheck around the holidays. It is as if the NCAA’s guilt over producing billions of dollars in revenue at the expense of amateur athletes finally catches up with it.

So for the bowl game only, the rules are relaxed and players essentially are paid as reward for their long hours on the practice field from August through November and for winning games.

“I’ve had a great time at each one, a lot of fun,” said Justin Sorensen, a senior offensive tackle for South Carolina who, on Thursday, will play in his third bowl game when the Gamecocks meet Iowa in the Outback Bowl. “They make it so it’s fun for the players.”

Morris: USC watching budget, even at a bowl game

Mon, 29 Dec 2008 09:42 EST

TAMPA, Fla.

ERIC HYMAN IS determined to make sure South Carolina contributes to his athletics department coffers by participating in Thursday’s Outback Bowl.

“We look at our costs, and we try to keep the budget under the amount of money that we get for the bowl,” Hyman said. “From an administrative standpoint, my philosophy has always been you keep it within your budget.”

Translation: USC is guaranteed a healthy paycheck from the Southeastern Conference for playing in the bowl game; beyond that, it is up to USC to control costs and secure an even bigger profit.

The bowl-game financial formula is not complicated. The Outback Bowl pays $3.2 million each to the SEC and the Big Ten Conference, of which Iowa is a member. The SEC keeps about $2 million of that money and gives USC $1.2 million to cover all expenses.

Staley offers grand gesture

Wed, 24 Dec 2008 23:04 EST

CHRISTMAS HAD A lot more cheer for some 75 grandparents around the Midlands today, thanks to South Carolina women’s basketball coach Dawn Staley. Having watched her mother raise grandchildren, Staley says she never wants to forget those who do the same.

Continuing a practice she started in Houston, Staley recently saluted area grandparents with a banquet that was co-sponsored by Select Health of South Carolina. The grandparents were showered with comfort gifts such as blankets, pillows and lotions. Then there was the pot of gold for each grandparent, a bucket of 30 gold dollar coins.

“Grandmothers usually buy for other people and provide for so many things for their families that they never really spend time or money on themselves,” Staley said. “That was the only criteria, that they spend the money on themselves.”

Ruth and Julius Williamson were among the grandparents honored at the banquet, which was held Dec. 10 at Brookland Baptist Church in West Columbia. The Williamsons have two grown children, and in the past 12 years, have taken custody of their four grandchildren.

“Our daughter made a couple of bad decisions,” Ruth Williamson said. As a result, 12-year-old Mariano, 10-year-old Micah, 8-year-old India and 7-year-old Ajha are in the care of their grandparents.

Morris: Spurrier's Heisman a lifelong experience

Sat, 13 Dec 2008 00:13 EST

Much drama surrounds tonight’s nationally televised announcement of the Heisman Trophy winner from New York City. The suspense is particularly high this year because it is anyone’s guess as to the winner among finalists Tim Tebow of Florida, Sam Bradford of Oklahoma and Colt McCoy of Texas.

That was hardly the case in 1966 when Steve Spurrier won the coveted trophy as a quarterback at the University of Florida. Spurrier was called to the university president’s office at 12:45 p.m. on Nov. 22 to take a long-distance telephone call from Richard Digon, chairman of the Heisman Award committee.

There were no television cameras, radio microphones or newspaper reporters in sight. Upon being told of his winning, Spurrier had to spread the news himself by first calling his parents in nearby High Springs, Fla., then his wife of three months, Jerri, at their Gainesville apartment.

Little did Spurrier know that one telephone call would affect the remainder of his life. Even after later playing in the NFL, coaching Florida to a national football championship and earning a place in the College Football Hall of Fame, Spurrier said he is most closely associated with being a Heisman Trophy winner.

“It’s with you the rest of your life,” the 63-year-old Spurrier said this week. “Usually, the rest of your life you’re introduced at banquets and things as Heisman Trophy winner ... ”

Morris: Five books to put on your list

Thu, 11 Dec 2008 21:22 EST

MY ANNUAL CHRISTMAS review of books worth reading includes a heavy football flavor with a couple of regional offerings.

SOUTHERN FRIED FOOTBALL

By Tony Barnhardt. 236 pages

Triumph Books. $25.95

Not a lot of new ground is covered here, but Barnhardt’s book serves as a nice review of why college football is so special in the South. The book chronicles the great players, coaches, teams and even radio voices with outstanding black-and-white photos.

Ron Morris' guide to best, worst bowls

Mon, 08 Dec 2008 23:49 EST

TO BORROW A line from Burl Ives, have a holly, jolly bowl season, it's the best time of the year. It does not get any better than this, with bowl games from Dec. 20 through Jan. 8, played in Washington, D.C., Honolulu, Detroit and Shreveport, and including teams from Buffalo, Florida Atlantic as well as Florida and Oklahoma, and with names such as the MagicJack St. Petersburg Bowl, the San Diego County Credit Union Poinsettia Bowl and the Bell Helicopter Armed Forces Bowl.

The beauty of it all is that everybody goes bowling these days. OK, almost everybody. Of the 119 teams that competed this season, 68 (57 percent) will play in a bowl game. Arkansas State, Bowling Green, Louisiana-Lafayette and San Jose State are the only 6-6 bowl eligible teams left at home, perhaps proving there were not enough bowl games this year.

Following is your guide to the best and worst of the bowl games:

FIVE-STAR BOWLS

BCS championship, Oklahoma vs. Florida — Proving once again the BCS works by having the nation's two best teams squaring off for the championship.

Morris: Spurrier needs to stop criticism

Sun, 07 Dec 2008 18:09 EST

Steve Spurrier can be mighty stubborn. Consider his refusal to remove struggling quarterback Chris Smelley during South Carolina’s loss at Clemson as evidence.

Yet even in the late stages of his illustrious coaching career, Spurrier has shown some propensity to change. He scrapped his pass-happy offense in 2006 to better suit the skills of running quarterback Syvelle Newton. He turned over his beloved play-calling to his son this season. He also stopped meddling with the defense, allowing coordinator Ellis Johnson freedom to run that unit.

Now, the time has come for another big change in Spurrier’s methods. His public chiding and condemnation of players has reached the point of diminishing returns. His comments no longer appear to be motivating in nature, but rather harmful.

For his benefit, and the benefit of his program, Spurrier should curtail making public his critical comments of players. Spurrier needs to take to heart the business methods of praising in public and criticizing in private.

Spurrier’s way does not appear to be working anymore. That comes to light because of the contrasting styles exhibited during USC’s humbling loss at Clemson one week ago. One team played with confidence and dealt well with adversity. The other played scared and crumbled when facing any obstacle. My guess is the teams reflected the approach of their coaches.

Morris: Little comparison between ACC, SEC

Fri, 05 Dec 2008 10:19 EST

I plead guilty. I jumped to the early conclusion that Atlantic Coast Conference football stunk to high heaven this season. As it turns out, that smell was coming from the Southeastern Conference.

By season’s end, the ACC was a better league than the SEC in almost every area. Give the SEC credit for having arguably the top two teams in the country in Alabama and Florida. In every other comparison, the ACC came out on top.

The ACC won six of 10 head-to-head meetings. Four ACC teams are among the top 25 in the BCS rankings, compared to three SEC teams. The average national ranking for ACC teams in the Sagarin ratings is 30.4, compared to 46 for SEC teams. Further, 10 of the ACC’s 12 teams are eligible for bowl games. The SEC could not fill its bowl slots and will send eight teams.

By the conclusion of the regular season, the bigger question was not whether the ACC surpassed the SEC, but how did this come about?

There were several factors. First, nearly every ACC team improved as the season rolled along. Only Alabama, Florida and Mississippi in the SEC could say the same. Next, perhaps for the first time in its history, the ACC has a solid stable of coaches that can match that of the SEC. Finally, let’s face it, the SEC had a down season.

Morris: Clemson happy to wager on Swinney

Tue, 02 Dec 2008 00:36 EST

CLEMSON TO COLLEGE FOOTBALL fans across the country, Clemson’s hiring Monday of Dabo Swinney as its next coach must appear to be a huge gamble. Swinney counts six games as an interim coach for experience. Most fans nationally probably cannot correctly pronounce either of his names.

Yet Terry Don Phillips introduced Swinney at Memorial Stadium without hesitation, completely confident he just hired the next great college football coach.

It was the same manner in which Phillips hired a relatively unknown Les Miles at Oklahoma State and insisted that Miles bring aboard little-known Mike Gundy as the team’s offensive coordinator. Both of those hires worked just fine for Oklahoma State, and both have made names for themselves the past decade.

At Clemson, Phillips can boast of hiring Oliver Purnell as men’s basketball coach. Purnell also lacked the marquee quality sought by many athletic programs, yet he has proved to be one of the brighter minds in the nation’s top basketball league, the ACC.

Phillips is fast developing a reputation for finding the jewels within the bed of oysters. He is quite certain Swinney will be the next.

Morris: Amid Spurrier's rust, in Dabo Tigers trust

Sun, 30 Nov 2008 20:29 EST

CLEMSON

A Hall of Famer with 170 victory notches on his coaching belt strolled one sideline at Memorial Stadium on Saturday. A wet-behind-the-headsets coach whose experience is a mere six games with “interim” attached to his name stood across the field.

It was difficult to tell which was which during Clemson’s 31-14 thrashing of South Carolina. Clemson was much tougher than USC, much stronger than USC, made fewer mistakes and controlled the line of scrimmage.

Here is the topper of all toppers: Clemson was the better-coached team. Put bluntly, veteran Steve Spurrier got schooled by the youngster, Dabo Swinney.

Spurrier admitted as much. “What do you want me to do? I’m frustrated, too,” Spurrier said. “Yes, I thought we could play with these guys. It turned out we couldn’t. They were just better than us. That’s all you can say about that.

Morris: USC, Clemson both on the rise

Sat, 29 Nov 2008 16:21 EST

Since The Associated Press poll was established for the 1936 season, South Carolina and Clemson have played each other 73 times. Both teams entered the game with a national ranking only three times.

That number alone speaks volumes to the rivalry’s lack of national significance over the years. It also speaks to the lack of national prominence established by both programs.

Saturday’s game will mark the 45th time since 1936 that neither team carried a national ranking. Yet, despite those eye-popping figures of ineptitude, both programs are on their way to national relevancy.

No doubt, Clemson is further along in the process. The Tigers have been challenging for ACC championships for most of the past decade with Tommy Bowden as coach. Bowden never could capture that elusive title, but give him credit for building a solid foundation that will serve the program well for years to come.

By contrast, in the same 10-year period, USC had a two-year run of high-level success before suffering from the wayward ways of a coach who left the program with NCAA probation. The result is a Steve Spurrier-led program in the fourth season of major rebuilding.

Morris: Can Tigers win 1 for the Dabo?

Wed, 26 Nov 2008 20:34 EST

CLEMSON

The buzz surrounding South Carolina's rivalry game against Clemson is as great as it ever has been. Only this year, all the talk has little to do with the game.

There is talk about Dabo Swinney's job status and how it hinges on the outcome of Saturday's game. There is talk about Clemson needing to defeat USC to become bowl-eligible. There is talk about whether a win sends USC to the Outback Bowl, or perhaps a loss puts the Gamecocks in the Chick-fil-A Bowl.

So who really cares if Steve Spurrier will use Chris Smelley and Stephen Garcia at quarterback, or whether Clemson's secondary will mix things up and play more man-to-man coverage against USC's receivers?

This 106th meeting between the teams is not so much about the game as it is about the surrounding story lines.

Morris: Spurrier continues search for answers at QB

Tue, 25 Nov 2008 00:15 EST

STEVE SPURRIER KNOWS all about juggling quarterbacks. He has rotated the starters in nine of his 19 seasons as a college football coach at Duke, Florida and South Carolina. Only once has it not worked.

Unfortunately for USC and its fans, this happens to be that one season, the one in which Spurrier has found few answers in any of his quarterback options. The result has been a tumultuous season, one in which Spurrier has publicly lambasted both Chris Smelley and Stephen Garcia.

Yet despite the obvious problems Spurrier has encountered in “coaching up” his quarterbacks, Spurrier believes the team, as well as Smelley and Garcia, have weathered the storm without a lot of damage.

“What’s fortunate is we’ve not lost all these games while we’re going through this quarterback situation,” Spurrier says. “I think I’ve milked it about as good as I can as far as our record is.”

Truth be known, USC’s sterling play on defense is mostly responsible for the Gamecocks’ 7-4 record and likely appearance in the Outback Bowl. Only in USC’s 31-24 victory at Mississippi did the offense seem to click, and the Gamecocks managed more than 400 yards (405) for the only time this season.

Morris: All signs point to Swinney as next coach

Mon, 24 Nov 2008 07:46 EST

Dabo Swinney will be Clemson’s next head football coach.

It makes too much sense. As much as it is a bit risky for Clemson to hire a coach with virtually no head coaching experience, Swinney is the perfect fit.

Clemson does not need an overhaul of its program. Rather, it needs a coach who can do some tweaking, and Swinney is the person who can take a solid program and elevate it to a championship level.

In almost every coaching hire at a major-college program, the athletics director hires to the weaknesses of the previous coach. In Clemson’s case, Tommy Bowden’s weaknesses were few. He built a solid program through consistently outstanding recruiting. He stayed free of NCAA probation. His players, for the most part, graduated and steered free of trouble.

Where Bowden came up short — besides not winning an Atlantic Coast Conference championship — was that he did not ingratiate himself to the Clemson community.

Morris: Women's game has star power

Fri, 21 Nov 2008 00:02 EST

I’M GOING OUT on a limb here and saying that women’s basketball at South Carolina will be a money-making venture in the near future. Not only that, if USC follows my plan, the sport’s popularity will soar over the next few seasons.

My three-point plan is simple, not particularly costly and will have basketball fans flocking to see the Gamecocks play. First, USC and new coach Dawn Staley must win and win big, which will happen sooner than you think. Next, USC must vow to keep ticket prices family affordable through the continued economic downturn. Finally, USC must renovate the Carolina Coliseum and play all of its women’s games there.

Let’s address the issues in reverse order.

The Carolina Coliseum should again be a palace for basketball, the women’s variety. A few million dollars added to Eric Hyman’s master facilities plan can breathe new life into an arena that once was the Taj Mahal for basketball in the Southeast.

I’m convinced male fans will attend games at the Carolina Coliseum just to rekindle the memory of USC’s finest hours in any sport. On top of that, fans can again understand what a joy it is to watch a game in an arena built for basketball instead of for circuses and rodeos.

Morris: USC success is a long time coming

Wed, 19 Nov 2008 09:22 EST

LOST IN THE shuffle of a big win against Arkansas and a humiliating loss to Florida was a major milestone for the South Carolina football program. The Gamecocks have clinched a fifth consecutive non-losing season.

That might not sound like much to most college football fans, but it has not happened at USC since the team posted seven consecutive winning seasons from 1928 through 1934. Just how long ago was that? Consider:

• There were no national college football rankings, which began with The Associated Press poll in 1936.

• The stock market crashed in 1929, leading to the Great Depression.

• USC finished the 1928 season with a 6-2-2 record, including 2-2-1 in the Southern Conference. That was good for a five-way tie for ninth place in the 22-team league.

Morris: Florida delivers old-school beating

Sun, 16 Nov 2008 00:10 EST

GAINESVILLE, Fla.

STEVE SPURRIER MIGHT have experienced longer days on a coaching sideline, but none could have been more painful than Saturday’s at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium.

Spurrier’s South Carolina offense was inept, unable to find the end zone on the same Florida Field where many of his Gator teams wore the grass out with touchdown celebrations. His team’s decorated defense was bludgeoned by a Florida offense that displayed the kind of fast-attack weapons Spurrier’s teams once did at Florida.

The 56-6 romp was the kind of whipping Spurrier often put on teams when he coached at Florida. It was the kind Spurrier administered on USC many times, the worst of which was a 63-7 decision against the Gamecocks in 1995.

Afterward, Spurrier attempted to diffuse the impact of such an embarrassing performance in his second return to the place he won a Heisman Trophy as a player and a national championship as a coach.