Started By
Message
Does anyone know why?
Posted on 7/9/25 at 9:05 am
Posted on 7/9/25 at 9:05 am
This isn't a troll thread. Why doesn't South Carolina have a better football history? The smaller tier programs in the SEC, all have a reason for their lack of success at different times. Arkansas was successful until like 2005. Ole Miss had a golden era in the 50s, 60s, and is now doing well. Kentucky has always prioritized basketball, and Hail State is just stuck between Ole Miss and Bama. Why doesn't South Carolina have more of a history outside of like 5 Spurrier years? They are in a more talent-rich state than Arkansas. They have a wealthier group of citizens than Mississippi or Alabama. Not sure why they haven't done more
11
Posted on 7/9/25 at 9:07 am to VFL67
Chicken curse
Also, stuck between Clemson and Georgia?
Clemson isn’t just some new kid on the block, they’ve been a powerhouse for like 50 years and historically will do whatever it takes to win, legal or illegal
Also, stuck between Clemson and Georgia?
Clemson isn’t just some new kid on the block, they’ve been a powerhouse for like 50 years and historically will do whatever it takes to win, legal or illegal
Posted on 7/9/25 at 9:18 am to MizzouTrue
Also, stuck between Clemson and Georgia? Maybe, that whole area is wild, Pennsylvania the dmv and Carolinas is rampant with football talent yet Clemson and Penn state are the only teams to ever capitalize on it.
Posted on 7/9/25 at 9:44 am to MizzouTrue
But its not like clemson has insane football history either. It is objectively better than Carolina's but I wonder why SCAR hasn't been able to recruit better considering they are next to Georgia, NC, heart of SC, and north Florida. I don't permanently live in Carolina but I guess the wealthy people in the state are boosters for Clemson, which is also interesting considering wealthy Carolinians live in the Lowcountry (which is closer to the gamecocks). In my opinion Auburn is situated in a much more complicated area and they have mostly made it work. Gamecocks should have done more in their history, its weird they haven't
Posted on 7/9/25 at 9:47 am to bamabaseballsec
quote:
Pennsylvania the dmv and Carolinas is rampant with football talent yet Clemson and Penn state are the only teams to ever capitalize on it.
Way mores schools in that space though. 5 power 4 schools in the Carolina’s alone, 2 in Virginia 2 in Pennsylvania. Maryland and WV pick off some talent as well.
Posted on 7/9/25 at 9:54 am to VFL67
I've always been impressed with the level of dedication of South Carolina fans to their program. If any program deserves more success than it has had, it's them.
Posted on 7/9/25 at 9:56 am to MizzouTrue
quote:
Clemson isn’t just some new kid on the block, they’ve been a powerhouse for like 50 years and historically will do whatever it takes to win, legal or illegal
All of it true except "powerhouse".
Posted on 7/9/25 at 10:06 am to skrayper
quote:
I've always been impressed with the level of dedication of South Carolina
this. if you haven’t gone to a game in Williams Brice, you should experience it.
Posted on 7/9/25 at 10:07 am to VFL67
The state of South Carolina is finally hitting its growth, but South Carolina is still a small state and used to be a really small state. I remember the drive from Augusta through Columbia back in the day, if you had to take a leak you're best bet was getting off on an exit and drive for about 500 yards and find a shade tree.
If you went back and looked at the GDP of South Carolina 20 or 30 or 50 years ago, you'd realize there really wasn't a lot of money.
And then of course you always had two bigger programs in the same small state.
If you went back and looked at the GDP of South Carolina 20 or 30 or 50 years ago, you'd realize there really wasn't a lot of money.
And then of course you always had two bigger programs in the same small state.
Posted on 7/9/25 at 11:29 am to theballguy
Clemson and South Carolina aren’t cut from the same cloth at all either. A lot of usce history up until 1990’s was very saturated with acc dna(a lot of coaching/admin had mid Atlantic ties especially in the bball area) Clemson history is largely saturated with sec dna. They copied miss st plan to found a college during the land grant issue craze. They copied auburns plan of starting a football team, and largely have been led by bama alumni. The three best coaches in Clemson history are all former bama guys. I think the schools just prioritized football differently until recently.
Posted on 7/9/25 at 11:30 am to VFL67
You could also apply this question to atm
Posted on 7/9/25 at 12:31 pm to VFL67
1. Administrative commitment
2. Small and crowded recruiting footprint. That may be changing with the growth of the area, but there are still a lot of D1 teams in their recruiting area without a massive population base.
2. Small and crowded recruiting footprint. That may be changing with the growth of the area, but there are still a lot of D1 teams in their recruiting area without a massive population base.
Posted on 7/10/25 at 12:10 pm to VFL67
I personally think South Carolina is one of the hardest places to play in football in the SEC. Their crowd noise is pretty wild.
Posted on 7/10/25 at 1:02 pm to bamabaseballsec
quote:with all the alumni, enrollment, and money, aTm football stays mediocre throughout the years.....it must be the weird cult crap that weighs them down, haha.
You could also apply this question to atm
Posted on 7/10/25 at 1:27 pm to VFL67
quote:
wealthy Carolinians live in the Lowcountry
The wealth in the lowcountry is mostly transplants. Kiawah Island is like Jupiter Island in Florida, the people who live there have no ties to the state other than it being their retirement/vacation home.
Posted on 7/10/25 at 3:26 pm to VFL67
they've been screwed. got stuck in the metro for a couple of years. one of their best coaches died while he was still the coach there. forgot his name, but he was a good coach that had some more years in him.
Posted on 7/10/25 at 3:31 pm to GeauxBurrow312
quote:
The wealth in the lowcountry is mostly transplants. Kiawah Island is like Jupiter Island in Florida, the people who live there have no ties to the state other than it being their retirement/vacation home.
Not entirely right but also not wrong. Charleston and Kiawah have become over crowded. The towns between Charleston and Savannah though are still filled with the old guard wealthy southerners. The people who always lived there aren't gone rather they have just moved to the surrounding counties and tiny towns.
Posted on 7/10/25 at 3:52 pm to VFL67
quote:
Arkansas was successful
Posted on 7/10/25 at 5:08 pm to VFL67
A lot of this is because of their history.
First, when the old Southern Conference split and the SEC was formed... they chose to stay with the Southern Conference. After shedding a bunch of smaller teams like Furman and VMI and such... The Southern Conference became the ACC in 1953... and from the get go was a "basketball conference"..
South Carolina tried to be a basketball school in the ACC. Particularly when they got Frank McGuire after his UNC scandal... They had only limited success in basketball and football in the ACC.
Meanwhile, Clemson being a boy's school and a military school tended to gravitate more towards football with long time old school coach Frank Howard... During period Carolina had some good coaches but nobody stayed very long.
Carolina quit the ACC in 1971 over some academic requirements and they were independent for 20 years. Again, with only modest success despite having decent coaches.
During that same time... Clemson established themselves as the football power of the ACC as Miami and FSU hadn't yet joined the conference. Everybody else was still focused on basketball.
Had South Carolina joined the SEC in the early 1930s...and focused on football... perhaps they would have established some tradition. Or had they stayed in the ACC and focused on football... perhaps they could have been what Clemson ended up being.
First, when the old Southern Conference split and the SEC was formed... they chose to stay with the Southern Conference. After shedding a bunch of smaller teams like Furman and VMI and such... The Southern Conference became the ACC in 1953... and from the get go was a "basketball conference"..
South Carolina tried to be a basketball school in the ACC. Particularly when they got Frank McGuire after his UNC scandal... They had only limited success in basketball and football in the ACC.
Meanwhile, Clemson being a boy's school and a military school tended to gravitate more towards football with long time old school coach Frank Howard... During period Carolina had some good coaches but nobody stayed very long.
Carolina quit the ACC in 1971 over some academic requirements and they were independent for 20 years. Again, with only modest success despite having decent coaches.
During that same time... Clemson established themselves as the football power of the ACC as Miami and FSU hadn't yet joined the conference. Everybody else was still focused on basketball.
Had South Carolina joined the SEC in the early 1930s...and focused on football... perhaps they would have established some tradition. Or had they stayed in the ACC and focused on football... perhaps they could have been what Clemson ended up being.
Posted on 7/10/25 at 5:16 pm to VFL67
there's some amusing stuff in here so far - but none is at the core of "why" ...
I'll add this right now - Clem's Son's entire athletic booster club was established to reach the poorer rural farmers all across SC - IPTAY - the acronym will explain what their levels of giving were and still are today and it's as little as $10/year - it was the OG GoFundMe model -
Carolina's Gamecock Club never really chased our more wealthy working professional alumni in the Medical Law Business fields until Spurrier arrived in 2005 - the Gamecock Club was established in 1945 and for the next 60 years operated like was still 1945 -
carry on
I'll add this right now - Clem's Son's entire athletic booster club was established to reach the poorer rural farmers all across SC - IPTAY - the acronym will explain what their levels of giving were and still are today and it's as little as $10/year - it was the OG GoFundMe model -
Carolina's Gamecock Club never really chased our more wealthy working professional alumni in the Medical Law Business fields until Spurrier arrived in 2005 - the Gamecock Club was established in 1945 and for the next 60 years operated like was still 1945 -
carry on
This post was edited on 7/10/25 at 5:19 pm
Page 1 of 2
Popular
Back to top
Follow SECRant for SEC Football News