re: South Carolina over the years ....

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Yeah isn't it crazy? We won the football title in '69, won the basketball title in '70 and then left in '71.

eta: I can't remember who but there is a host on 107.5 who will sometimes mention that he believes that the worst thing that we ever did for our athletic program was leave the ACC.. but the best thing we ever did was join the SEC.

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The fan base was split down the middle on leaving the ACC. It was not uncommon to see, or hear of, fights on the street over that question.

There were "Get out of the ACC" bumper stickers on cars .... signs in peoples' yards. A streaker ran across campus with it painted on his back and ACC on his arse.

It was the main subject on TV sports reports every night. It was in the paper every day. Gene McKay and Bill Benton opened their popular morning radio show with the news every morning.

Dietzel always said, "The first step is the hardest one ... getting us out of the ACC. We will one day be in the SEC if we take care of business."

He was right.

But McGuire was a basketball man so he was an ACC man.

There was only so much bullshite we could take from Tobacco Road .... and they pushed us past our limits.

I dunno who said it on 107.5 the game ... but he is a fool. I would suspect it was either Benji Norton maybe, or the Phillips guy? Could have been Hubbs is it? I dunno. The few times I've listened I've heard some really ridiculous stuff from some who claim to be experts.

Had we not bitten the bullet and left the ACC, the ACC would have destroyed us.