re: Where do you see south Carolina the next 5 years?

Sports is a zero sum game. For one team to move up, another team has to move down.

Until recently, USC was pretty much locked into 4th place in the East in football. We did not have the coaching, facilities, recruiting and mindset to move up. That has now changed.

Under Spurrier and Hyman, we now have an overall package that compares favorably with everyone else in the division. Is it now a four-team race, where anyone of the four could win the division. Or has USC supplanted UGA, UT or UF as a member of the big 3?

In the next five years, I think USC stays near the top in football. And, unless Boom is a bust, Florida will come back in a big way. Georgia may also have trouble with their coaching issues, but have too many resources not to be competing.

That leaves Tennessee. Tennessee has no in-state talent base. Florida and Georgia are loaded; USC has enough to draw from, particularly if Clemson and UNC are struggling. Right now Tennessee is suffering from the Kiffin/Fulmer mistakes.

Dooley is doing some good things, but the recruiting is nothing like typical Tennessee talent. Granted it's way early,but Rivals ranks the East as Florida (4), USC (9), UGA (14) and Vandy (42). Tennessee is not even in the top 50. UTenn ranked 13th in 2011.

Back to the OP's question, I see USC being a strong contender in 5 years. UF and UGA will be up there as well, unless their coaches totally choke. UT is likely to be sitting in 4th place. Beyond that, who knows? Probably USC and UT fight it out to be in the top 3, and it turns on which team has the better coach.

Baseball -- USC is a national power so long as Ray Tanner is there. And probably after that as well -- maybe Chad Holbrook takes over.

Hoops -- we suck unless and until we find a great coach. We have the facilities -- CLA is top 3 in the SEC -- but can't ever sustain what little success we have had.

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That leaves Tennessee. Tennessee has no in-state talent base

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When has recruiting ever consistently been a problem for Tennessee?

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Probably USC and UT fight it out to be in the top 3, and it turns on which team has the better coach.

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With equal coaching, I definitely think UT would have an easier time competing. Also, UT would have an easier time hiring a quality coach.

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has USC supplanted UGA, UT or UF as a member of the big 3?

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No, and they never will. Ever. At least not in the next 70 years or so. Winning the east ONE year doesn't erase an entire football history of total shite.

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With equal coaching, I definitely think UT would have an easier time competing. Also, UT would have an easier time hiring a quality coach.

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I have to agree with you On this one.


Have to agree with you about the baseball too, I just don't know enough about it to have an opinion on it.


Basketball though....

Lets go back to the Mcguire days.

But with Football as long as we keep recruiting well in the state and winning during the season. This is our year to make moves while everyone in the east is "down" if we have a failure of a year this year I think it could only hurt us.

I can see 9 win seasons being somewhat regular, but I'm not ready to say we have supplanted the big 3 in the east.

Oh but ya Next Hire is Also Crucial.

We don't want to replace Spurrier with a Ron Zook type coach. aha

before the 2010 season, everyone including myself wrote down Spurrier as failure at SC who'll win no more than 8 games a season. 5 years has passed and I thought jury was already out and it was a done deal.

but then all of a sudden he wins 9 games, a division title, and signs top talent like Alshon, Lattimore, and Clowney. no doubt they took some advantage of UF, UGA, and UT being all down simultaneously but you still have to give SC credit.

they're in their prime and they'll be very good for the next few years. but when Spurrier retires who knows what could happen. it depends if their next coach is a home run hire or not. it's all luck basically, even top tier programs like Bama, USC, Texas, Oklahoma go through crappy coaches before they find a once-in-a-lifetime hire like Saban, Stoops, Carroll, etc.

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Texas hasn't had one of those hires in a while. When they do, it's going to make the Aggies bolt even faster.

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Mack Brown is a good coach. I mean I would put him on the same level as Les Miles and Les is a pretty good coach. It doesn't always have to be about the X's and O's.

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Or has USC supplanted UGA, UT or UF as a member of the big 3?

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No, it only means South Carolina is closer to a program like Ole Miss than Kentucky or Mississippi State. There are several Ole Miss teams in recent years ('03, '08) that would have won the SEC East with ease last year.

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No, it only means South Carolina is closer to a program like Ole Miss than Kentucky or Mississippi State. There are several Ole Miss teams in recent years ('03, '08) that would have won the SEC East with ease last year.

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I agree that we don't have a program that's going to be in the top 5 each and every year. But I think Spurrier has started something here that can be continued. We can compete for top 3 in the east each year and maybe every few years make a run for the SEC.

No doubt, this is a big year. If we win big, who knows.

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that's why I left his name out.

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Yeah, I wasn't trying to insinuate that you thought he was that caliber. I'm just saying I do think they've underacheived. If they hired Stoops, they probably have about 10 conference titles in the past 12 yeras.