BACK TO SQUARE ONE
Posted 11:43 a.m., December 3, 2008
By TRAVIS HANEY
The Post and Courier
COLUMBIA – Just as quickly as South Carolina coach Steve Spurrier moved to hire a new offensive assistant, the deal to bring in veteran SEC assistant Woody McCorvey is off.
Spurrier said Wednesday morning through a release that he intends to wait until January, until after the bowl game, to make hires for his two offensive vacancies.
Quarterbacks coach David Reaves informed Spurrier on Saturday night that he planned to join brother-in-law Lane Kiffin’s new staff at Tennessee. Spurrier moved Sunday morning to fire offensive line coach John Hunt.
It appeared one of those spots had been filled when it was confirmed Tuesday night that McCorvey, who’d coached at Alabama, USC, Tennessee and Mississippi State since 1990, would come back to Columbia.
McCorvey was the Gamecocks’ receivers coach for one season under Brad Scott in 1998.
“I acted too hastily in confirming that coach McCorvey would be joining our staff,” Spurrier said through the release. “After thoroughly reviewing the entire situation and all the issues involved, we felt it was best to go to the bowl game with our current staff and add the two new coaches in January.”
-- Th
|
Comments
Posted by softbatch on December 3 at 1:01 p.m.
TH, being around Spurrier a lot more than the rest of us, do you see anything different about him lately? He doesn’t seem like the same coach since the Florida game. Going from one extreme (playing 2 QBs every other play) to another (playing a QB who obviously needed to be pulled), calling players out for not wanting to play, having all this movement with assistant coaches, etc….I understand he has always been a little different than other coaches and all of this may just be end-of-the-year stuff, but it just seems to me that he is losing a lot of patience coaching in Columbia and his decision making has been a bit questionable.
Posted by thaney ( Travis Haney ) on December 3 at 2:35 p.m.
Your question is a fair one. I wish there was more conversational discussion like this on the blog. So, feel free to encourage your friends to engage me or others.
I think Spurrier is generally frustrated. But probably not as much as the end of last season. Despite the undeniable problems the past couple of weeks, USC is in a bowl game and a pretty good one. Beating a bad Tennessee team this year is basically the difference in the two seasons.
But that's all just generally speaking. He's been frustrated in a different way about the QB position since he got here. I suspect it's because he's always held QBs to a higher standard since it's the position he played pretty darned well in college.
But, unlike past years, he doesn't have a pure athlete like Syvelle Newton to plug in there, or a reliable experienced guy like Blake Mitchell to play. Mitchell always played his best ball from November on.
Chris Smelley wants to play well, work hard and win. But he doesn't have the physical tools to be consistently successful. Stephen Garcia has had effort and youthful, um, difficulties and isn't there yet.
That's why you've seen the extremes at the QB position. Spurrier is reaching, trying different things, because he doesn't know what else to do. At least at this point. If he can get Garcia through a spring practice, it would help GREATLY. Same goes for Summerville's Reid McCollum, who Spurrier has said might have a future at the position.
He's always been a quirky dude when it comes to assistants, but a lot of coaches are. (And remember one, Reaves, left on his own.) In the case of McCorvey, I'm not sure that was necessarily Spurrier pulling the plug on the deal. Could've been, but that isn't the impression I've been given. I think the structuring of the contract is what led to its ultimate failure.
Is Spurrier losing patience? Yes. He's not a man accustomed to losing.
Does he have enough to keep trying at USC? Yes. But I'm not sure he'll last the length of his contract at the current pace. The Gamecocks need to make strides -- eight or nine regular-season wins, sniff the SEC East title more than they have -- next year for Spurrier to make it to 2011.
-- Th
Post a comment