Culture

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/33908-steve-spurrier-can-you-please-make-south-carolina-a-winner For six seasons the South Carolina Gamecock faithful followed the adventures of Coach Lou Holtz. Described as a magician in more ways than one, he had captured a national title at Notre Dame before temporarily retiring to the television booth. No one in Columbia, S.C. expected Holtz to win a national title, not with a fan and recruiting base so different from South Bend. But Holtz had served two tours of duty at places very much like South Carolina in N.C. State and Arkansas. Holtz went 33-12 in Raleigh and 66-21 at Fayetteville. He walked into the home of the roosters with a sparkling overall record of 216-95. He left six years later, after going 33-37. Surely he set the table for the man who would follow him. Didn't he? Marching into the vacancy came the most feared coach in the southeast, Steve Spurrier. The 1966 Heisman Trophy winner had cut his teeth on Carolina as a 19 year old Sophomore quarterback at Florida, leading the Gators to a 37-0 victory. He had distinguished himself as "a miracle worker" by taking the reins at Duke in 1987, winning the ACC co-championship 2 years later, and going 20-13 in his three years in Durham. After leaving for his Alma Mater in 1990, he set up a dynasty in Gainesville. He went 122-27 in 12 seasons, won a national championship, and created havoc across the southeast with his offensive schemes. Certainly it should be the time of the Gamecock. They have waited for this moment since the days of Steve Wadiak, Alex Hawkins, Billy Gambrell, and Dan Reeves. There have been flashes in the pan. The ACC champs of '69, the Bowl bound Carlin's Darlins of '75 that destroyed arch-rival Clemson 56-20 in the final game of the season, the George Rogers Heisman Trophy era, the 1984 unit that was ranked No. 2 in the country going into the 10th game of the season, and the Todd Ellis led '87 group that may have been the most talented Gamecock team of all are all examples. Now that Darth Visor is the head ball coach, the world would pay for years of indignities. That's the way it was supposed to happen. bleacherreport 7/1/08

http://www.fortmilltimes.com/124/story/212877.html HATTIESBURG, Miss. — Southern Miss has added a pitcher to its 2009 signing class and lost another. Coach Corky Palmer has signed Jeff Stanley, who is transferring from Daytona Beach (Fla.) College, but lost pitcher Chad Poe. Stanley led Daytona Beach in innings pitched (66) and strikeouts (39) last season. Poe, a Bossier Parrish Community College transfer, has decided to sign a pro contract after the Philadelphia Phillies took him in the 27th round of the Major League Baseball draft. Fort Mill Times 7/2/08

http://www.cstv.com/sports/m-basebl/stories/070108aax.html INDIANAPOLIS - The NCAA recognized the Southern Miss baseball program for academic success this past season in a letter sent from NCAA President Myles Brand to Head Coach Corky Palmer today. Palmer lead the Golden Eagles to a sixth consecutive NCAA Regional, another 40 win season on the field and a 2.96 core GPA in the classroom for the 2007-08 academic year. The NCAA Public Recognition Award is for those teams which have a Division I Academic Progress Rate in the top 10 percent of their respective sport. Of the 297 Division I schools that participate in baseball only 30 schools were publicly recognized by the NCAA for academics. Of the 30 school that the NCAA honored only five also had success on the field as well by advancing to a NCAA Regional; Southern Miss, Bucknell, Columbia, Michigan and North Carolina cstv.com 6/1/08