Exactly nine years ago, plentiful doom and gloom and negativity surrounded the South Carolina athletics program.
Four months earlier, the 2007 Gamecocks football team concluded a disappointing 6-6 season by losing their last five games - giftwrapping losses to Tennessee and Clemson in the process - and failed to earn a bowl invitation.
The USC men’s basketball team had recently wrapped up Dave Odom’s final season as men’s basketball coach with a 14-18 overall record, 5-11 in SEC play. Fan apathy engulfed a program that two years earlier had captured the second of back-to-back NIT titles.
And the women’s basketball program had finished 16-16 overall, losing to N.C. State in the second round of the WNIT. Average attendance for the 2007-08 season? 1,802.
By early April 2008, Gamecock fans could not have been faulted for believing the USC athletics department was doing little more than treading water, making little progress and going nowhere.
But two moments, five months apart, changed everything.
Three weeks after Susan Walvius “resigned” as women’s basketball coach, USC announced Dawn Staley from Temple had been hired as the program’s new leader, the first female African-American head coach in Gamecock history.
The move was widely applauded by most fans and media.
Until they saw the price tag.
Staley was given a five-year deal providing guaranteed annual compensation of $650,000, raising eyebrows among some Board of Trustee members and the ire of some fans outraged Staley’s salary was higher than Ray Tanner’s wages. But AD Eric Hyman and school president Harris Pastides held firm and eventually convinced the skeptics on the Board (perhaps with a little arm-twisting too) that Staley, a three-time Olympian gold medalist and one of the biggest names in women’s hoops, was worth the money.
Was she ever.
Nowadays, Staley earns well over $1 million per year. But nobody is grumbling (just like few people have complained about Frank Martin’s sideline demeanor the past two seasons), more evidence winning changes people’s perspective towards coaches.
In the wake of Sunday night’s 67-55 national championship victory over SEC rival Mississippi State in Dallas, these words from Staley spoken at her introductory press conference in May 2008, still ring true: “My vision is to bring national prominence to South Carolina.”
Obviously, the savvy Staley’s impact inside and outside the program has been enormous. In terms of community relations, she has few peers in women’s college basketball as the continually rising attendance at Colonial Life Center demonstrates.
Staley’s presence at USC (along with Steve Spurrier and Ray Tanner) was additionally an important factor in Martin agreeing to become the Gamecocks’ men’s basketball coach in March 2012.
In a way, hiring Staley led – directly and indirectly – to luring Martin to Columbia.
The second key moment? It happened in October 2008 when cornerback Stephon Gilmore, who would win the Palmetto State’s Mr. Football award two months later, announced his commitment to the Gamecocks at a press conference at South Pointe High School in Rock Hill.
Gilmore would become one of the crown jewels of the 2009 signing class along with Alshon Jeffery, DeVonte Holloman, D.J. Swearinger and Justice Cunningham.
That quintet would become the foundation for future football success, including the 2010 SEC East crown and three straight 11-win seasons.
Gilmore’s commitment was the signature event that changed the course of Spurrier’s tenure. Gilmore’s decision to sign with the Gamecocks even though they had staggered through two disappointing seasons in 2007 and 2008 (season finished with lopsided losses to Florida, Clemson and Iowa) was undoubtedly a factor in Jeffrey flipping from Southern Cal to the Gamecocks on National Signing Day.
Spurrier always maintained that Gilmore staying loyal to his verbal pledge despite USC’s struggles was a turning point for his tenure, and indeed it was.
Following year? Marcus Lattimore. 2011? Jadeveon Clowney. If no Gilmore, does Clowney sign with the Gamecocks? Probably not.
Martin said last week that when he was recruiting Sindarius Thornwell five years ago he pointed to Lattimore and Clowney as two major and nationally prominent in-state prospects that decided to stay home and play for the Gamecocks.
He hoped Thornwell would do the same thing, and he did.
Beyond the back-to-back national titles for the baseball team, what has happened to both basketball programs and the football team since 2008?
Thirty-three wins and three straight New Year’s Day Bowl games in Florida, 51 wins the past two seasons and a Final Four appearance in 2017 for the men’s hoop team and two Final Four appearances and a national championship for the women’s team.
Surely, you can’t legitimately argue that Staley’s hiring and Gilmore’s commitment are the only reasons for attaining that level of success.
What were they? The genesis.
The transformation of the Gamecocks athletics program had to start somewhere, and those two events are fairly and accurately described as the starting point.
